 Nevertheless, because most of the important individuals during the best-recorded periods of Roman history possessed all three names, the "tria nomina" remains the most familiar conception of the Roman name.For a variety of reasons, the Roman nomenclature system broke down in the centuries following the collapse of imperial authority in the west.The praenomen had already become scarce in written sources during the fourth century, and by the fifth century it was retained only by the most conservative elements of the old Roman aristocracy, such as the Aurelii Symmachi.