Expert: Francesco Marchesani - 1/19/2011

Question
So then is Shoemaker correct in his response to your answer to the original question?

Answer
Hello,
the information Shoemaker gives about barbers in ancient Rome is correct, however I don't agree with his conclusion: "Thus, the etymological evidence and the zeitgeist of Greco-Roman culture suggests the Crispinus twins were ancient Roman barbers turned Gallic shoemakers."

Crispinus refers, most probably, to an ancestor's physical characteristic (curled hair), not to a profession, and this is very typical of Roman names.

Even if Crispinus referred to an ancestor's profession, this doesn't automatically implies that all the persons carrying that name practice the same profession (Michael Schumacher is surely not a shoemaker, Elisabeth Taylor is not a seamstress and Dwight Eisenhower wasn't an iron worker), it just tells us that somebody, in the past, probably worked as a barber.