Interesting and quite persuasive as far as Saul not actually changing his name upon conversion.

I do have a question, though, just based on my own knowledge of Roman and Hellenistic history. People who lived in Celicia were indeed by Paul’s lifetime Roman citizens by birthright. But they spoke Greek, not Latin like most citizens in the Eastern portion of the empire.

While they called themselves Romans (and while eastern Mediterraneans continued calling themselves Romans for many centuries, long after the fall of the Western empire) I don’t think Latin as a language was very common with them. Indeed, educated Latin-speaking Romans were usually bilingual, whereas Greek-speaking Romans were more usually monolingual in Greek.

Of course, it seems apparent that Paul spoke Latin, but ... Did Greek-speaking Romans give themselves and their children Latin cognomins? Clearly, elite eastern Romans did – senators and those aspiring to high political and military careers. But did ordinary people?

Wasn’t Paul from a merchant family? Tentmakers? I believe that would have excluded his family from senatorial class. If so, would he have been expected to have a Latin name rather than a Greek name?

I don’t know, I’m just asking the question, because it doesn’t seem likely from what I know as a disinterested amateur of ancient Roman and Greek history.