A mononymous person is an individual who is known and addressed by a mononym, or "single name". In some cases, that name has been selected by the individual, who may have originally been given a polynym ("multiple name"). In other cases, it has been determined by the custom of the country or by some interested segment of the public.
The structure of persons' names has varied across time and geography. In some communities, individuals have been mononymous; that is, each person has received only a single name. Alulim, first king of Sumer, is one of the earliest names known; Narmer, an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, is another. Later, Biblical names were typically mononymous, as were names in the surrounding cultures of the Fertile Crescent. Ancient Greek names also followed the pattern, with second names only used to avoid confusion, as in the case of Zeno the Stoic and Zeno of Elea.
A notable departure from this custom occurred among the Romans, who by the Republican period and throughout the Imperial period used multiple names: a male citizen's name comprised three parts, praenomen (given name), nomen (clan name) and cognomen (family line within the clan) — the nomen and cognomen being virtually always hereditary. Post-antiquity most of them are, however, mononymous in most contexts: examples are Cicero (also known as Tully: Marcus Tullius Cicero), Pompey (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus), Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro), Nero (Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus) or Juvenal (Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis).
A person is a being, such as a human, that has certain capacities or attributes constituting personhood, the precise definition of which is the subject of much controversy.[vague language] The common plural of "person", "people", is often used to refer to an entire nation or ethnic group (as in "a people"), so the plural "persons" is often used in contexts which require precision such as philosophical and legal writing.
In ancient Rome, the word "persona" (Latin) or "prosopon" (πρόσωπον: Greek) originally referred to the masks worn by actors on stage. The various masks represented the various "personae" in the stage play, while the masks themselves helped the actor's voice resonate and made it easier for the audience to hear.
In Roman law, the word "persona" became used to refer to a role played in court, and it became established that it was the role rather than the actor that could have rights, powers, and duties, because different individuals could assume the same roles, the rights, powers, and duties followed the role rather than the actor, and each individual could act in more than one role, each a different "person" in law.[tortured english][citation needed]
Prithviraj Sukumaran (born 16 October 1982 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala) credited mononymously as Prithviraj, is an Indian film actor and producer best known for his work in Malayalam cinema.
He made his debut in 2002 in the Malayalam film Nandanam, and has since acted in more than sixty films, notably Stop Violence (2002), Swapnakoodu (2003), Akale (2004), Classmates (2006), Vaasthavam (2006), Chocolate (2007), Thirakkatha (2008), Santosh Sivan's Urumi (2011) and Indian Rupee (2011). He won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in Vaasthavam.
Prithviraj made his debut in Tamil cinema through Kana Kandaen in 2005. His other notable films in Tamil are Parijatham (2005), Mozhi (2007) and Mani Ratnam's Raavanan (2010). His debut in Telugu films was through Police Police in 2010. Prithviraj is debuting in Hindi films through Aiyaa (2012) for which shooting is currently progressing.
As a producer he started his production company, August Cinema, along with Santosh Sivan and Shaji Natesan. August cinema has produced the films Urumi and Indian Rupee.