Onomastics (Onomatology) is the study of proper names of all kinds and the origins of names. The word is derived from the Greek word ὄνομα (onoma), meaning name. Toponymy or toponomastics, the study of place names, is one of the principal branches of onomastics. Anthroponomastics is the study of personal names. A name is a label for a thing, person, place, product (as in a brand name) and even an idea or concept, normally used to distinguish one from another. ... Greek (Greek Ελληνικά, IPA – Hellenic) is an Indo-European language with a documented history of 3,500 years. ... Toponymy is the taxonomic study of place names, their origins and their meanings. ...

For some cultures (and celebrities), only one name is needed to indicate a certain person without ambiguity. In others, a single personal name may be insufficient, requiring alteration to a hypocoristic/diminutive nickname or addition of a byname based on a specific individual's traits, family, home, occupation, or other. In most of the world, individually-based bynames have become hereditary family names, perhaps retaining little descriptive resemblance to the ancestral namesake's modern descendants. A given name specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name. ... A hypocoristic is a pet name or term of endearment. ... A diminutive is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object named, intimacy, or endearment. ... A nickname is a short, clever, cute, derogatory, or otherwise substitute name for a person or things real name (for example, Tom is short for Thomas). ... A family name, or surname, is that part of a persons name that indicates to what family he or she belongs. ...

Most of Western culture uses the name order indicated by the common synonymous phrases "first name" for personal name and "last name" or "surname" for family name. However, this is inconsistent with traditional Asian and Hungarian usage, which places the family name before the personal name.

See also

• etymology, the study of word origins.
• -onym, listing the technical kinds of names.

Etymology is the study of the origins of words. ... Words in English with the suffix -onym (from the Greek onoma which means name) refer to words with a particular property. ...

External links

• The Open Directory onomastics category
• Information about how given names are related to each other and their origins (translation, nickname, combination, short form, ...)
• Gymnastics with Onomastics - how different languages and cultures form names