Talk:Name

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

More information Associated task forces: ...
Close

The lead

The lead is currently (28.7 Dec 2008) too long and inclusive and fails in its purpose: to succinctly but accurately define the subject. The word easily gets us into philosophical hair-splitting, which is not appropriate in a lead. Better to briefly define it, point out the deeper implications of the concept, and list the various subtypes of a name.

The lead currently begins with "A name is a label for a noun..........". I don't think so. If it's a label, it's a label for a thing or concept, not for a noun. But even "label" is not a good choice of words because that connotes a physical object (a name tag) more than "name" does.

How about:

A name is a word or phrase that identifies something. The "something" being identified can be a specific person, animal, object, place, or idea or it can be a general class or group of such entities.

The concept expressed by this word is a basic one in language (grammar, semantics, and lexicography) and philosophy (metaphysics and epistemology).

In English grammar, a name is expressed as a noun or noun phrase.

[Then on to a discussion of the subtypes: proper name, general name, personal name, etc.]

Frappyjohn (talk) 21:37, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

San Francisco example

The article claims that there are "at least three" series of parallel streets that are named alphabetically in San Francisco, but I can only think of one series, the Sunset District streets referenced direectly in the article. Could somebody please clarify where the other two series are?The Opressed One 19:43, 27 November 2006 (UTC) ..k;lk;kl —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.238.248.120 (talk) 05:33, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

They cross each other in Bayview: Coleman Donahue Earl Fitch Griffith Hawes Ingalls Jennings Keith Lane Mendel Newhall Phelps Quint Rankin Selby Toland Upton, versus Burke Custer Davidson Evans Fairfax Galvez Hudson Innes Jerrold Kirkwood LaSalle McKinnon Newcomb Oakdale Palou Quesada Revere Shafter Thomas Underwood VanDyke Wallace Yosemite Armstrong Bancroft Carroll Donner Egbert Fitzgerald Gilman Hollister Ingerson Jamestown Key LeConte Meade. (Thomas Guide 2003) —Tamfang (talk) 10:56, 31 May 2023 (UTC)

Plato in the Philosophical Discussion

Plato in the stylus discusses two types of philosophical views on names, namely naturalism that all names have inherent meaning and another view in which names are purely the convention of societies. If I had the time I'd summarize the work and its relevance to meaning here but I'm extremely surprised that Kripke and Russell are mentioned before Plato.

someone should rectify it.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.24.196.209 (talk) 04:28, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

uncharted pieces

i'd suggest a disambiguity step: named - interned domain name server daemon.


It seems to be that the external link "Copernicus Consulting - Trademark & Naming Experts" is less of a useful link and more of an advertisement for a service.


It seems like the names of person section should be in a separate article, but Personal name is misleading, since the term is commonly a synonym for the first name. Name of a person is graceless but accurate. Also, Arabic name etc should be something like Names of Arabic persons or some such since they don't say anything about the naming of places or objects. Stan 07:32 31 May 2003 (UTC)

I agree completely. I'm starting Human names. Akb4 20:49, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Posted by an anon user under Common and Scientific Names; not sure what they meant, as there is no such article. Elf | Talk 00:39, 2 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I was wondering the Name density of everyone. Please go to that topic and edit it.

Elf | Talk 00:39, 2 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Someone said spam?

"the word name is also used for cow(Bos taurus) killing in New York"

This doesn't sound to me like it means anything. Delete?

Similar names are an interesting anomaly in the English language and for that matter culture. Names like Janice and Deborah can be, for all practical purposes, be considered similar to one. Conversely, uncommon names, like Chad, do not actually exist in the real world. The essence of fiction.

That was an eminent example of a mild and loony WP:VANDAL joke. I don't know when you said that, because you forgot to sign your posts with ~~~~, so therefore I took the oportunity to explain the pretty obvious. Rursus dixit. (mbork3!) 14:02, 12 September 2010 (UTC)

Not only Iceland

In Russia (as well as at the very least Ukraine and Belarus) patronymics are used until this very day. A person has a first name, patronymic and than a family name Beta m

Low quality?

"Behind the Name etymology of names" has been removed under the pretense of being low-quality website, but personally I have managed to find much more information on it than on Ancestry.com, and the information is actually internationalized not limited to United States, which is very important (you know there are other countries out there. I'll wait for a response, and then restore the link if there will be no reason provided to back up why this was a "low-quality website." Beta m (talk)

Since behindthename.com is for first names only, the link should only be in the Given name article (which does have the BTN link). The ancestry.com link covers both first and last names. It is unfortunate that name selection for ancestry.com is so American/British-centric, but the Oxford books they use for references do give some of the most complete and most accurate name etymologies that I have ever seen. Compare "Gregory", for example, where the ancestry.com information is the only place that I've ever seen that explains why the name was so popular with popes and saints (it's basically an ecclesiastical pun) compare with . What I most wanted to do was delete the babynamebox.com link, which has been spammed into practically every name-oriented article in the Wikipedia, and has very minimal definitions (plus eliminate the MSN "dress" in the ancestry.com link). If you really want to add the link back in, I will not get into a revert war, but I hope that you understand my reasoning. BlankVerse 05:21, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Point about given names taken, I won't put it back. I just found this link while searching for something else, and thought I'd add it to this article, not realizing that it was already available in the one that is more appropriate. Beta m (talk)

Proper names, in intro

Can the intro be fixed by someone more knowledgable, as to whether it includes named non-living entities or not? For example the following:

  • "My dog's name is Jim"
  • "That building is Buckingham Palace"
  • "The planet's name is Jupiter"

FT2 (Talk) 10:53, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

nyc example

I'm rewriting the bit about nyc street names. Right now it reads:

In Manhattan, street names are numbers and East-West streets are "Streets" whereas North-South streets are "Avenues".

I think this would be pretty rough to read for many people, especially if they aren't totally fluent in English. Akb4 19:09, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Verbal Usage for naming?

I hate to be well, how do you say, technical, or overtly politically correct, but... The line which reads that "naming" is a "verbal" label, sort of struck me as odd. Because language has a wide variety of adaptations, some of which are non-verbal, such as ASL, better known as American Sign Language, commonly used by the Deaf or Hard of Hearing, I have taken out the word "verbal". Also, almost every culture around the world has used visual, facial, or body cues to express ideas, and/or emotions. These are also non-verbal elements. A deaf person does have the ability to name things.

Thanks, Ryver wolf 69.245.175.43 04:23, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

The word verbal seems to have taken over from oral in popular language, because oral gives some people the giggles, but the root verbum means word. The elements of sign language are words discrete arbitrary signs even though their medium is different. Tamfang 06:09, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

cynonymy

Why is DOG names linked from this page?

Why not? Tamfang 02:29, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

Because it's been decided it's not relevant to link to human name websites. Linking to a dog name site, from a names page is clearly link spam. If it's not, then it's just as relevant to add at least another 100 links at the bottom of the page, to cat names, fish names, people names, Muslim names, boy names, etc, any type of name.

This is a link to a commercial site for the purpose of internet marketing on the term "dog names". It is not a link made for the purpose of providing a relevant link to a site having real value to the topic of names.

Animal use of names

I have removed the above section, which had the text:

Recently, research has demonstrated a long-speculated concept in animal communication - that at least one species other than humans use symbolic, personal, names. At present this has been identified only in dolphins, who use whistling communication to convey information including the equivalent of personal names. The names are specific to individuals, who will respond even when the voice, speaker, inflection and other cues are removed from the sound. .

This is a misleading summary of the research. In reality, dolphins do not use whistles in any sense remotely similar to the human use of names. What the research showed was mere that a dolphin can identify another dolphin by listening to the other dolphin's personal whistle. Dolphins do not then go on to use other dolphins' whistles to refer to that dolphin or anything of the sort.

See Language Log's summary. Haeleth Talk 09:57, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

Doubled first section

Why is section "Use of names" repeated twice on screen now (20:03, 15 December 2006 (UTC)) but is just once in the source code?

rozek19

Self-reference

There are two links to Wikipedia:Naming conventions. One ought to be removed, but which one: the one at the top (because it is more on-topic under the header) or the one under the naming conventions header (because it's not helpful if Wikipedians can't access it easily)? --Gray PorpoiseYour wish is my command! 22:19, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Shakespeare

Naming

Names in religious thought

Article lacks discussion of logos

named is the common name for the BIND name-daemon on Unix/Linux systems, not just the past tense of "to name"

Vandalism

Concept of naming in Buddhism

Names Given to Items

Possible confusion

Naming systems

Fictional names

User Jaibhim forcing pictures from his community into the article

Nickelroy is vandalizing by removing Name change movement photograph

Naming traditions

Problematic use of "within" for "in."

Semi-protected edit request on 23 October 2019

Self-namegiving controversy

Syntax Housekeeping

mediacy

Roman naming

Semi-protected edit request on 18 September 2023

Nome cermelho

Names for animals and plants

Selfnaming, selfname, self-chosen name

Ring name

"Definitions of name" listed at Redirects for discussion

Related Articles

Wikiwand AI