 However, although all three elements of the Roman name existed throughout most of Roman history, the concept of the "tria nomina" can be misleading, because not all of these names were required or used throughout the whole of Roman history.During the period of the Roman Republic, the praenomen and nomen represented the essential elements of the name; the cognomen first appeared among the Roman aristocracy at the inception of the Republic, but was not widely used among the plebeians, who made up the majority of the Roman people, until the second century BC.Even then, not all Roman citizens bore cognomina, and until the end of the Republic the cognomen was regarded as somewhat less than an official name.