I thought that the cognomen was separate so that when you got one of the special cognomina for doing something in the game (ie, Africanus), it would only replace the existing cognomen, not the nomen as well.
For instance, if you were Publius Cornelius_Scipio, and you conquered Carthage or whatever, you would become Publius Africanus. The way EB has it, Publius_Cornelius Scipio would become Publius_Cornelius Africanus. Still not accurate obviously (should be P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus), but maybe better?
What I would like to know is what is with the Cornelii fetish? :D Three out of five of the original Roman characters are Cornelii (Cnaeus Cornelius Blasius, Cnaeus [Cornelius] Scipio Asina, and Lucius Cornelius Scipio... the latter two were brothers). Did some mnai exchange hands or something? Hehehe
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