The name Caligula was a derisive taunt which actually meant “little boots”. Apparently in his early days when he was expected to rape and plunder small villages with his guards he wasn’t much of a fighter and the big brawny soldiers made fun of his tiny feet behind his back. Of course, once he was installed as emperor they wouldn’t dare call him that on penalty of torture and execution.
The period after the assassination of Julius Caesar and the eventual rise of his adopted son Octavius to become Caesar Augustus was a cautionary tale of law and order breaking down with the failure of the Roman Republic in 39 BC. There was no longer any clear successor to Augustus so they propped up ambitious thugs and connected idiots like Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and finally Nero who really completed the destruction of the Roman Republic.
“The name Caligula was a derisive taunt which actually meant “little boots”. Apparently in his early days when he was expected to rape and plunder small villages with his guards he wasn’t much of a fighter and the big brawny soldiers made fun of his tiny feet behind his back.”
Actually, it was an affectionate nickname nickname given to him by soldiers as a child because of the miniature uniform he wore. He was only two to four years old at the time.