Noricorum units were named after the Norici, which was either the name of a single tribe that became generalised to denote all the tribes in the eastern (Julian) Alps or, according to Pliny the Elder, an alternative name for the most prominent of these tribes, the Taurisci, a Celtic-speaking tribe (not to be confused with the Taurini on the other side of the Alps). Strabo reports that the Norici, in common with the Vindelici, frequently raided their neighbours and killed all their male-born captives.