 These are known as patronymic surnames, because they are derived from the name of the original bearer's father.Even after the development of the nomen and cognomen, filiation remained a useful means of distinguishing between members of a large family.Filiations were normally written between the nomen and any cognomina, and abbreviated using the typical abbreviations for praenomina, followed by for "filius" or "filia", and sometimes for "nepos" (grandson) or "neptis" (granddaughter).