name
A word by which a person or thing is known.
Etymology
From Old English nama, from Proto-Germanic *namō, from PIE *h₃nómn̥ "name, personal designation." This word is remarkably stable across Indo-European and even shows similarities with some non-IE language families. It gives us "noun" (via Latin nōmen), "nominal," "nominate," "anonymous," "synonym," and "onomatopoeia."
The Journey: *h₃nómn̥ → name
*h₃nómn̥
*namō
nama
name
name
Cognates Across Languages
These words in other languages descend from the same PIE root *h₃nómn̥. They are not borrowings but independent inheritances from a common ancestor.
| Language | Word |
|---|---|
| Greek | ónoma |
| Latin | nōmen |
| Hittite | lāman |
| Armenian | anun |
| Sanskrit | nā́man |
| Old Irish | ainm |
| Lithuanian | vardas (replaced) |
| Old Church Slavonic | imę |
Did You Know?
A noun is literally a name — from Latin nōmen, from PIE *h₃nómn̥. And "anonymous" means "nameless" (Greek a- "without" + ónoma "name"). Even "onomatopoeia" contains this root: "name-making" — words that create their own names from sounds.
This word descends from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₃nómn̥. See the full root page for descendant trees, sound law references, and scholarly discussion.