A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

was a surname, of rare occunrence

in the Antonian and Cornelian gentes at Rome. Merenda signifies the mid-day meal (Fest. m v. p. 123, Muell. ed.; Non. p. 28, 32; comp. Isidor. Orig. 20.2.12), and the word, unchanged in form, is extant in the modern Neapolitan dialect. The Merenda branch of the Gens Antonia was patrician (Dionys. A. R. 10.58) [ANTONIA GENS].