The name of the patrician gens from which Claudius (Clodius) Pulcher came is the
gens Claudia. Traditionally, it has been assumed that Clodius was the plebeian version of the name, but Clodius had used the spelling with an "o" before 59 B.C. when he was adopted, and when Clodius was adopted it was into a different plebeian gens. Also, his sister Clodia (once, Claudia, and thought to be the Lesbia about whom Catullus composed poems) was not adopted, so this assumption seems doubtful. In defense of the tradition, however, Lintott says that in 60 B.C. Clodius tried (and failed) to be made a plebeian via a
plebiscitum, so the thought of being plebeian was already there. Clodius may reflect the pronunciation he preferred. Pulcher means beautiful and Clodius Pulcher's family seems to have been blessed with good looks. Earlier Claudians had included extraordinarily good and bad men.