"Odaenathus" is the Latin transliteration of the king's name; he was born Septimius Odainat in . His name is written in transliterated Palmyrene as . "" (Septimius), which means "born in September", was Odaenathus' family "gentilicium" (Roman surname), adopted as an expression of loyalty to the Roman Severan dynasty and the emperor Septimius Severus who had granted the family Roman citizenship in the late second century. (Odainat) is the Palmyrene diminutive for ear, related to in Arabic and in Aramaic. Odaenathus' genealogy is known from a stone block in Palmyra with a sepulchral inscription that mentions the building of a tomb and records the genealogy of the builder: Odaenathus, son of Hairan, son of Wahb Allat, son of Nasor. In Rabbinic sources, Odaenathus is named "Papa ben Nasor" (Papa son of Nasor); the meaning of the name "Papa" and how Odaenathus earned it is unclear.