| Term | Meaning | Example(s) |
|---|
| Acronym | An abbreviation that sounds like a word formed usually formed from the first letters of a series of words. | PET: Post-Embryo Transfer |
|
Agamemnonym
|
Names with three parts that are the same forwards and backwards.
|
Agamemnon.
|
| Alliterative Name |
Two names starting with the same letter or same sounding letter. |
Lex
Luthor
|
| Anagram |
Different words using exactly the same letters. |
Sabrina &
Bansari.
|
| Anonymous | Name withheld; sometimes used by authors. | The Federalist Papers |
| Astronym | Name of a star. | Minchir (Sigma Hydrae) meaning "snake's nose" which is a star in the constellation Hydra |
| Birth Name | A person's name at birth. In some Asian cultures, this may also be refered to as a "milk name" or "little name" which is changed to the child's permanent name roughly a month after birth when the infant is registered. | Little gem. |
| Charactonym | Name indicative of a person's personality or character. Although common in modern literature, a similar naming concept has been used by Native American Indians and as nicknames between friends. | One example is a character in Romeo and Juliet named Mercutio derived from the adjective "Mercurial" meaning "erratic". |
| Cognomen | The third and usually last name of a citizen of ancient Rome, or a nickname acquired through usage over a period of time. | Caesar in Gaius Julius Caesar. |
| Cryptonym | A word or name that is secretly used to refer to a particular person, place, activity, or thing; a code word or name. | TRIGON was the code name for Aleksandr Ogorodnik, a member of the Soviet Union's Ministry of Foreign Affairs whom the CIA developed as a spy. |
| Demonym | Refers to inhabitants of a place. | Irish for people from Ireland. |
| Eponym | Someone who gives their name to something like an object or discovery. | Achilles tendon named after a Greek hero thought to be invincible until struck near his heel by an arrow. |
| Ethnonym | Name given to an ethnic group. | Bushmen refers to some primitive ethnic groups of Southern Africa. |
| Etymology | The study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time. | |
| Family Name | Hereditary surname of a family often reflective of an ancestor's occupation. | Smith. Carter. |
| Genealogy | Record of a person's descent from a progenitor; lineage; ancestry. | Often a family tree traced via the male surname. |
|
Heterogram
|
Word in which no letter occurs more than once. |
Daniel |
| Homograph | Words with the same written form but have different meanings (and possibly different pronunciations) which can be very true with names formed from Chinese characters. | Bass might be a type of fish or someone with a low, deep voice. Notice, these have different pronunciations. |
| Homophone | Words that can be spelled differently but sound the same and have different meanings. | Cee like the letter "C", ci Spanish for yes, sea, and see. |
| Homonym | Words that sound the same and are even spelled the same but have different meanings. | "Fluke" can mean a fish, end of an anchor, fins on a whale's tail, or a stroke of luck. |
|
Hydronym
|
Name given to a body of water. |
Douglas meaning "from the dark river". |
| Logology | The scientific study of words. | |
| Maiden Name | A woman's birth surname prior to adopting her husband's surname upon marriage. | Victoria Beckham (née Adams), who took the name of her husband David Beckham. |
|
Memnonym
|
Names with two parts that are the same forwards and backwards.
|
Memnon,
Momoko.
|
|
Miami Sequence
|
Where the left-hand side of the name is the same as the right-hand side of the name and each side is separated by a random character.
|
Bimbi,
Thoth.
|
| Name Sake | A person named after someone else usually within the same family. | Fathers sharing the same first name with their first son. |
| Nick Name | Often a shortened form of your given name, indicating closeness, affection, or humorous attention to a personal characteristic. | Steve instead of Stephen. "Bones" for your skinny friend, or better yet for your chubby friend. |
| Occupational Name | Surname originally derived from a person's occupation. | Abbott meaning priest. |
| Odonym | Name of a street or road. | Main Street. Park Avenue. |
| Onomastics | The study of proper names and their origin, history, and use. | |
|
Palindrome
|
Names spelled the same forwards and backwards.
|
Bob,
Eve,
Otto.
|
|
Patronym
|
Surname derived from the father's given name. | Wilson (son of William) |
| Pen Name | Pseudonyms used by authors to conceal their identity usually to protect them from retribution about their writings. Also known as nom de plume, or literary double. | Brian O'Nolan used the pen name Flann O'Brien. |
| Pet Name | Nickname used to express affection for a person. | Shortie. |
| Pseudonym | Fictitious name often used to hide an individual's real identity. | King George VI of the United Kingdom (born Albert Frederick Arthur George); Famed con man Jefferson R. Smith, who was known as Soapy Smith. |
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Tautonym
|
Repetition of a word or part of a word often used in Taxonomy when generic and specific names are the same. Linguistically, it is refered to as reduplication.
|
Naja naja (an Indian Cobra); Bye-bye, Dada,
Isis.
|
