The nomen Tullius is a patronymic surname, derived from the old Latin praenomen Tullus, probably from a root meaning to support, bear, or help.
Manius is found only among the patrician Tullii at the beginning of the Republic, and there are individual instances of Sextus and Tiberius.
Plutarch reports that the surname was given to an ancestor of the orator, who had a cleft in the tip of his nose in the shape of a chickpea, or cicer.
At the beginning of his career, Cicero was urged to adopt a more auspicious surname, but he declined, stating that he would make the name famous.
[8] Most other surnames found with the Tullii of the Republic belonged to freedmen, but a number of the family bore no cognomen.