There is a common misconception that the phrase ‘caesarean birth’ derives from Julius Caesar's birth. This story can be traced back to Pliny the Elder, who remarked that the name ‘Caesar’ comes from the verb ‘cut’ () because “The first of the Caesars is said to have been cut from his mother's womb and the family take their name from this” ( 7.9). Except, of course, there were others with the name Julius Caesar before the was that, if there was no chance that the mother could be saved, a baby could legally be cut from the womb rather than dying along with the parent.
