Meaning and history
Lucianus is an ancient Roman cognomen and the Latin source of names such as Lucian and Luciano. It was formed from Lucius, a Roman personal name traditionally associated with Latin lux, “light,” though the historical derivation is not completely certain. Saint Lucian of Antioch, a third-century Christian scholar and martyr, helped preserve the name in Christian use. The satirist Lucian of Samosata is commonly known by the English form Lucian rather than Lucianus.