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Ceremonies, such as baptism, can be used to give names.

A name (etymology: from OE nama; akin to OHG namo, Latin nomen, and Greek όνομα, ultimately from PIE: *nomn- ^[1]) is a label for a human or animal, thing, place, product (as in a brand name) and even an idea or concept, normally used to distinguish one from another. Names can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. A personal name identifies a specific unique and identifiable individual person. The name of a specific entity is sometimes called a proper name (although that term has a philosophical meaning also) and is a proper noun. Other nouns are sometimes, more loosely, called names; an older term for them, now obsolete, is "general name". Look up name in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Etymologies redirects here. ... Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon[1], Old English: ) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ... The (Late Old High) German speaking area of the Holy Roman Empire around 950. ... For other uses, see Latins and Latin (disambiguation). ... In the Roman naming convention used in ancient Rome, male names typically contain three proper nouns which are classified as praenomen (or given name), nomen gentile (or Gens name) and cognomen. ... The Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) is the hypothetical common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans. ... This article is about modern humans. ... For other uses, see Animal (disambiguation). ... In philosophy, an object is a thing, an entity, or a being. ... ... For other uses, see Brand (disambiguation). ... IDEA may refer to: Electronic Directory of the European Institutions IDEA League Improvement and Development Agency Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Indian Distance Education Association Integrated Data Environments Australia Intelligent Database Environment for Advanced Applications IntelliJ IDEA - a Java IDE Interactive Database for Energy-efficient Architecture International IDEA (International Institute... For other uses, see Concept (disambiguation). ... In set theory and its applications throughout mathematics, a class is a collection of sets (or sometimes other mathematical objects) that can be unambiguously defined by a property that all its members share. ... In mathematics, categories allow one to formalize notions involving abstract structure and processes that preserve structure. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Anthroponym. ... This article is about the philosophical issues relating to a certain class of nominative words. ... A proper noun is a noun that picks out a unique entity. ... Obsolescence is when a person or object is no longer wanted even though it is still in good working order. ...

The use of personal names is not unique to humans. Dolphins also use symbolic names, as has been shown by recent research.^[2] Individual dolphins have individual whistles, to which they will respond even when there is no other information to clarify which dolphin is being referred to. For other uses, see Dolphin (disambiguation). ...

Naming is the process of assigning a particular word or phrase to a particular object or property. This can be quite deliberate or a natural process that occurs in the flow of life as some phenomenon comes to the attention of the users of a language. Many new words or phrases come into existence during translation as attempts are made to express concepts from one language in another. For other uses, see Word (disambiguation). ... Look up phrase in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Phenomena (disambiguation). ... This article is about psychological concept of attention. ... Look up translate in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Concept (disambiguation). ...

Either as a part of the naming process, or later as usage is observed and studied by lexicographers, the word can be defined by a description of the pattern to which it refers. Word Usage is how a word, phrase, or concept is used in a language. ... The pursuit of lexicography is divided into two related disciplines: Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. ... For other uses, see Pattern (disambiguation). ...

Besides their grammatical function, names can have additional or pure honorary and memorial values. For example, the posthumous name's primary function is commemorative. Japanese name Kanji: Hiragana: Korean name Hangul: Hanja: Vietnamese name Quốc ngữ: Hán tá»±: A posthumous name (諡號) is an honorary name given to royalty, nobles, and sometimes others, in some cultures after the persons death. ...

Care must be taken in translation, for there are ways that one language may prefer one type of name over another. For example, there are "merchants' and sailors' terms" for their own convenience: the spellings Leghorn, Genoa, and Rome do not appear on Italian maps. Also, a feudal naming habit is used sometimes in other languages: the French often refer to Aristotle as "le Stagirite" from one spelling of his place of birth. Finally, claims to preference or authority can be refuted: the British did not refer to Louis-Napoleon as Napoleon III during his rule. Livorno, sometimes in English Leghorn, (population 170,000) is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. ... For other uses, see Genoa (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Rome (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation). ... ...

Philosophical accounts of names

Romeo and Juliet

In the play Romeo and Juliet, Juliet famously says: Romeo and Juliet in the famous balcony scene by Ford Madox Brown For other uses, see Romeo and Juliet (disambiguation). ...

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;

It has been argued^{[attribution needed]} that Shakespeare reveals the boundaries of the term name by proposing that a rose would smell sweet regardless of what we call it; therefore suggesting that a name attached to a person should not change them.

Frege

Proper names function the same way as common nouns do in many natural languages. Philosophers have thus often treated the two as similar in meaning. In the late nineteenth century, Frege argued that certain puzzling features of both names and nouns could be resolved if two aspects of the meanings of names and nouns could be recognized, sense and reference: In linguistics, a noun or noun substantive is a lexical category which is defined in terms of how its members combine with other grammatical kinds of expressions. ... Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege (8 November 1848, Wismar – 26 July 1925, IPA: ) was a German mathematician who became a logician and philosopher. ... The distinction between Sinn and Bedeutung (usually but not always translated sense and reference, respectively) was an innovation of the German philosopher and mathematician Gottlob Frege in his 1892 paper Über Sinn und Bedeutung (On Sense and Reference), which is still widely read today. ...

• A sense, which is equivalent to some sort of description (a dog is a 'domestic canine animal')
• A referent, the thing or things that meet that description (all dogs in the world)

Proper names are in this sense, special cases of nouns with only one referent, the person themselves. In general, a reference is something that refers or points to something else, or acts as a connection or a link between two things. ...

Russell

Main article: Theory of descriptions

Bertrand Russell believed that true names must never be equivalent to a description, but conceded that most of the apparent "names" in English really were equivalent to descriptions, specifically to definite descriptions. In this position, there are two different functions nouns can serve: The theory of descriptions is one of the philosopher Bertrand Russells most significant contributions to the philosophy of language. ... Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970), was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, advocate for social reform, and pacifist. ... A definite description is a denoting phrase in the form of the X where X is a noun-phrase or a singular common noun. ...

• Describing (and perhaps indirectly referring)
• Referring (directly, without description)

Russell's position is that that most or all English names really do the former. This position came to be known as Descriptivism with respect to singular terms, and was prominent through much of twentieth-century analytic philosophy. Descriptivist theory of Names is a view of the nature of the meaning and reference of proper names generally attributed to Gottlob Frege and Bertrand Russell. ... Analytic philosophy (sometimes, analytical philosophy) is a generic term for a style of philosophy that came to dominate English-speaking countries in the 20th century. ...

Kripke

In 1970 Saul Kripke gave a series of lectures arguing against Descriptivism, and holding, among other things, that names are rigid designators, expressions that refer to objects independently of any properties those objects have. However, often descriptions are used to pick out references, to explain to others which objects are being discussed by reference to an agreed-upon property. According to this theory, it does not follow that any of the agreed-upon properties constitute the meaning of the name. Saul Aaron Kripke (born in November 13, 1940 in Bay Shore, New York) is an American philosopher and logician now emeritus from Princeton and teaches as distinguished professor of philosophy at CUNY Graduate Center. ... In modal logic and the philosophy of language, a term is said to be a rigid designator when it picks out the same thing in all possible worlds in which that thing exists (and picks out nothing in those possible worlds in which it does not exist). ...

Kripke's work led to the development of various versions of the Causal theory of reference, which in various forms claims that our words mean what they do, not because of associated descriptions, but because of the causal history of the acquisition of that name in a vocabulary. // Overview A causal theory of reference is any of a family of views about how terms acquire specific referents. ...

In religious thought

Further information: Names of God

Holy name redirects here. ...

Judaism

Names are attributed added significance in traditional Jewish sources.

Biblical names

In the Old Testament, the names of individuals are meaningful; for example, Adam is named after the "earth" (Adam) from which he was created. (Genesis 2)

A change of name indicates a change of status. For example, the patriarch "Abram" is renamed "Abraham" before he is blessed with children. His wife, "Sarai" is similarly renamed "Sarah." (Genesis 17)

Throughout the Bible, characters are given names at birth that reflect something of significance or describe the course of their lives. For example: Solomon meant peace, and the king with that name was the first whose reign was without warfare. Likewise, Joseph named his firstborn son Manasseh (Hebrew: "causing to forget") as a gesture of forgiveness to his brothers for selling him into slavery.

Hebrews did not have a surname which was passed from generation to generation. However, they were typically known as the child of their father. For example: David, son of Jesse. In a sense, they used their fathers' first names as their own last names, a practice done by most Muslims today.

Talmudic attitudes

The Babylonian Talmud maintains that names exert a mystical influence over their bearers, and a change of name is one of four actions that can avert an evil heavenly decree, that would lead to punishment after one's death. Rabbinical commentators differ as to whether the name's influence is metaphysical, connecting a person to their soul, or bio-socio-psychological, where the connection affects his personality, appearance and social capacities. The Talmud also states that all those who descend to Gehenna will rise in the time of Messiah. However, there are three exceptions, one of which is he who calls another by a derisive nickname. The Talmud (Hebrew: ) is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs, and history. ... Plato (Left) and Aristotle (right), by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome) Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the ultimate nature of reality, being, and the world. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... EXAMPLE:Laughbox,Blondie,BamBam,Pinkie,etc. ...

Technical names for names

An anthroponym (Gk. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A hydronym (from Greek hudor, water and onuma, name) is a proper name of a body of water. ... An ethnonym (Gk. ... For other uses, see Alias. ... A pen name or nom de plume is a pseudonym adopted by an author. ... Words in English with the suffix -onym refer to classes of words with a particular property. ...

Naming convention

For Wikipedia's own naming conventions see Wikipedia:Naming conventions

A naming convention is an attempt to systematize names in a field so they unambiguously convey similar information in a similar manner.

Several major naming conventions include:

• In computer programming, identifier naming conventions
• In computer networking, computer naming schemes
• In the sciences, systematic names for a variety of things
• In astronomy, planetary nomenclature
• In classics, Roman naming conventions

Naming conventions are useful in many aspects of everyday life, enabling the casual user to understand larger structures. Programming redirects here. ... In computer programming a naming convention is a set of rules for choosing identifiers. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... A naming scheme is a plan for naming objects. ... There are millions of possible objects that can be described in science, too many to create common names for every one. ... For other uses, see Astronomy (disambiguation). ... Planetary nomenclature, like terrestrial nomenclature, is used to uniquely identify a feature on the surface of a planet or natural satellite so that the feature can be easily located, described, and discussed. ... For other uses, see Classics (disambiguation). ... By the Republican era and throughout the Imperial era, a name in ancient Rome for a male citizen consisted of three parts (tria nomina): praenomen (given name), nomen (gentile) (name of the gens or clan) and cognomen (name of a family line within the gens). ...

Street names within a city may follow a naming convention; some examples include: Abbey Road in London A street name or odonym is an identifying name given to a street. ...

• In Manhattan, roads that go across the island (East-West) are called "Streets", while those that run the length of the island (North-South) are called "Avenues". Manhattan streets and avenues are numbered, with "1st Street" being near the southern end of the island, and "219th Street" being near the northern end, while "1st Avenue" is near the eastern edge of the island and "12th Avenue" near the western edge.
• In Ontario, numbered concession roads are East-West whereas "lines" are North-South routes.
• In San Francisco at least three series of parallel streets are alphabetically named, e.g. Irving, Judah, Kirkham, Lawton, Moraga, Noriega, Ortega, Pacheco, Quintara, Rivera, Santiago, Taraval, Ulloa, Vicente, Wawona.
• The same tendency is seen in central Boston, Massachusetts, where Arlington Street is followed by roads to the west running parallel to it and named Berkeley, Clarendon, Dartmouth, Exeter, Fairfield, Gloucester, and Hereford.
• In Brampton, Ontario, different sections of town all have streets starting with the same letter and the alphabetical order reflects chronology.
• In Phoenix, Arizona, roads east of Central Avenue are termed streets while those west are Avenues.

Large corporate, university, or government campuses may follow a naming convention for rooms within the buildings to help orient tenants and visitors. This article is about the borough of New York City. ... Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Latin: Loyal she began, loyal she remains) Capital Toronto Largest city Toronto Official languages English (de facto) Government Lieutenant-Governor David C. Onley Premier Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament House seats 107 Senate seats 24 Confederation July 1, 1867 (1st) Area... A concession is a facility operated under a contract or license. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Boston redirects here. ... Nickname: Location in the Region of Peel, in the Province of Ontario Coordinates: , Country Province Region Peel Incorporation 1853 (village)   1873 (town)   1974 (city) Government  - Mayor Susan Fennell  - Governing Body Brampton City Council (click for members)  - MPs Navdeep Bains, Colleen Beaumier, Ruby Dhalla, Gurbax Malhi  - MPPs Vic Dhillon, Linda Jeffrey... For the novel by Michael Crichton, see Timeline (novel). ... Nickname: Location in Maricopa County and the state of Arizona Coordinates: , Country State County Maricopa Incorporated February 25, 1881 Government  - Type Council-Manager  - Mayor Phil Gordon (D) Area  - City  515. ...

Parents may follow a naming convention when selecting names for their children. Some have chosen alphabetical names by birth order. In some East Asian cultures, it is common for one syllable in a two syllable given name to be a generation name which is the same for immediate siblings. In many cultures it is common for the son to be named after the father. In other cultures, the name may include the place of residence. Roman naming convention denotes social rank. Generation name is half of the two-Chinese character given name given to newborns in the same generation of one surname lineage. ... ...

Products may follow a naming convention. Automobiles typically have a binomial name, a "make" (manufacturer) and a "model", in addition to a model year, such as a 2007 Chevrolet Corvette. Sometimes there is a name for the car's "decoration level" or "trim line" as well: e.g., Cadillac Escalade EXT Platinum, after the precious metal. Computers often have increasing numbers in their names to signify the next generation. Car redirects here. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... The Chevrolet Corvette is a sports car that has been manufactured by Chevrolet since 1953. ... This article needs cleanup. ... General Name, Symbol, Number platinum, Pt, 78 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 10, 6, d Appearance grayish white Standard atomic weight 195. ...

Courses at schools typically follow a naming convention: an abbreviation for the subject area and then a number ordered by increasing level of difficulty.

Many numbers (e.g. bank accounts, government IDs, credit cards, etc) are not random but have an internal structure and convention. Virtually all organizations that assign names or numbers will follow some convention in generating these identifiers. Airline flight numbers, Space shuttle flight numbers, even phone numbers all have an internal convention. This is a list of missions flown by space shuttles. ... A telephone number is a sequence of decimal digits (0-9) that is used for identifying a destination telephone line in a telephone network. ...

Brand names

Main article: Brand

The process of developing a name for a brand or product is heavily influenced by marketing research and strategy to be appealing and marketable. The brand name is often a neologism or pseudoword. For other uses, see Brand (disambiguation). ... Consumer research redirects here. ... A marketing strategy[1] [2] is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. ... A pseudoword is a unit of speech or text that appears to be an actual word in a certain language (at least superficially), while in fact it is not part of the lexicon. ...

See also