When did latin names like Gaius, Villius, etc, disappear and why?

Question

I would like a specific time period. I also want to know when common latin began to disappear from street use and when it began to become replaced by Italian. Thanks!

Answer 1

Pagan Greek, Latin and Celtic names gradually gave way to Christian names everywhere in the Roman Empire as Christianity gained more and more converts. The pace quickened after the Emperor Constantine embraced Christianity in 312 A.D. and again after Emperor Theodosius I made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in 391 A.D.

Some pagan names eventually became Christian names but Gaius and Villius were not among them. I think it's safe to say that by the last decade of the 4th century, the Romans had completely stopped using these names.

The morphing of Vulgar Latin to Italian was a gradual one.

Some Spanish and Italian-like characteristics already appear in the Latin of the Pompeiian inscriptions of Italy and in the Vindolandia tablets found in Northern England, which date from the 1st century A.D. For example, cerevisia for "beer," Spanish cerveza; camisia for "shirt" instead of subucula, cf. Spanish camisa, Italian camicia, and caballi for "horses" instead of equii cf. Spanish caballos, Italian cavalli etc.

The earliest written documents in Italian, like Spanish, date only from the 10th century A.D. However, probably as early as the beginning of the 6th century A.D., the Italian language was already a separate entity from Latin. A new daughter language of Latin along with Proto-Spanish, Proto-French and Daco-Romanian.

Answer 2

Well, I don't think it was a simple switch. I think the change from Latin could have started as early as 300 AD, but it would be maybe until 900 AD that Italian was forming. I have Poem by San Francesco D'assisi and it looks striking like Latin, yet it's considered Italian, and that's in the 1100s.
Remember that Vulgar Latin also had influence and helped change the rate of evolution for the language.

Answer 3

i'm questioning once you're a fan, like me, of the hot television series "Merlin", wherein Gaius is the call of the King's royal common practitioner & youthful Merlin's mentor/caregiver. with the aid of this practice, I do kinda like the call Gaius and that i think of it sounds solid paired with Bourdon.

Answer 4

When it comes to names, they did not disappear, they naturally incorporated themselves into other languages and changed gradually
Take Julius, for one
It is Julio, Julia, etc...

Answer 5

Time blurs history.