Why is Attila the Hun specified as "the Hun"? Was that a more common name at the time? Did he need differentiated from "Attila the Guy From South Rome" or whatever?

by Reading-Raptor
deMohac

Follow-up question. In his youth, was he actually "Attila the Guy From South Rome"? I read several times, mostly on internet pages that don't quote any sources, that Attila may have been a hostage in Rome in his younger days, as part of the exchange of hostages for a peace treaty, and may have known Rome and Roman culture and politics quite well because of that. It this just an urban legend or it is something that is mentioned in the written sources?