The Pedii of the Republic do not seem to have had any hereditary surnames, but one member of the family bore the cognomen Poplicola or Publicola, famous from an early family of the Valerii; the surname means "one who courts the people."Horace, Satirae, i. 10. 28.Chase, p. 107. Although this cognomen appears in other families, the Pedii were connected with the Valerii Messallae, a later family of the Valeria gens which revived the more ancient surname, and it seems clear that it was through this relationship that the name appears among the Pedii.Pliny the Elder, xxxv. 4. s. 7.
