SOMETIME IN 1056 or 1057, Emperor Michael VI presented his nephew, also named Michael, with the imperial title Doux of Antioch, making him one of the most important imperial officials in the extreme southeast of the empire. In addition to the title, according to John Skylitzes, the emperor also bestowed upon him “the name of Ouranos on the occasion of his proclamation because his genos supposedly derived from the ancient Ouranos. The emperor honored him with the title magister of Antioch which that other Ouranos [Nikephoros] had held.”

As the passage suggests, the previous Doux of Antioch, Nikephoros Ouranos, had gained immense fame under Basil II. In 1000, Basil gave Nikephoros extraordinary powers in Antioch, charging him with preventing potential Arab-Muslim incursions in the region. By laying claim to membership in that same genos through the use of the surname (ἐπίκƛησις), the new governor might hope to take part in Nikephoros's fame and good reputation both in Antioch and in the rest of the empire, to openly align himself with local, aristocratic factions, or, at the very least, to make himself more recognizable to the local populace. The emperor had bestowed the name upon his nephew just like an imperial office, and, like an imperial office, the name carried with it a certain cultural resonance and enhanced its bearer's authority, in this case because of the reputation earned by a previous generation. This Michael may or may not have had legitimate genealogical ties to the family of Nikephoros Ouranos. The reality of biological ties, however, was less important than the perception of a link between the man and the genos of Ouranos.

Heritable surnames, as the most visible markers of the genos, served as an important source of political and social capital for members of the Byzantine elite in the tenth through twelfth centuries. Family names served as a kind of shorthand for a range of characteristics that could be manipulated both by members of the family and by outsiders who encountered these individuals or their surname.