Women in the early to mid-Republic were usually known by their family name "(nomen)". A woman from the "gens Aemilia" would be called Aemilia; from the "gens Cornelia", Cornelia; from the "gens Sempronia", Sempronia; and so on. If there were many daughters, a cognomen such as Tertia ("Third") could indicate birth order, for example, Aemilia Tertia, the wife of Scipio Africanus. (She, however, is better known as Aemilia Paulla.) The comparative adjectives "Maior" and "Minor", meaning "the Elder" and "the Younger" when attached to a name, might distinguish between two sisters; for example, the daughters of Gaius Laelius Sapiens are known as Laelia Maior and Laelia Minor.