Etymology

name

N1A1M3E1

Today it means: Any nounal word or phrase which indicates a particular person, place, class, or thing. Full definition →

Middle English name ← Old English nama ← Proto-West Germanic *namō
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

name · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*h₁nómn̥“name”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*namô“name”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*namō
  4. Old English · inherited fromnama
  5. Middle English · inherited fromname
  6. English todayname

PIE word *h₁nómn̥ Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ Proto-Germanic *namô Proto-West Germanic *namō Old English nama Middle English name English name From Middle English name, nome, from Old English nama, noma, from Proto-West Germanic *namō, from Proto-Germanic *namô (“name”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ (“name”). Cognates Germanic Cognates: Yola naame, name, naume (“name”), North Frisian Naam, neem, noome, nööm (“name”), Saterland Frisian Nome, Noome (“name”), West Frisian namme (“name”), Alemannic German Naame, namä, noame, nomu, nàmund (“name”), Cimbrian naamo, name, nåm (“name”), Dutch naam, name (“name”), German Nahme, Name (“name”), German Low German Naam (“name”), Luxembourgish Numm (“name”), Mòcheno nu'm (“name”), Vilamovian noma (“name”), Yiddish נאָמען (nomen, “name”), Danish, Faroese and Norwegian Bokmål navn (“name”), Icelandic nafn (“name”), Norwegian Nynorsk nabn, namn (“name”), Swedish namn (“name”), Gothic 𐌽𐌰𐌼𐍉 (namō, “name”). Indo-European Cognates: Latin nōmen (“name”) (whence Spanish nombre (“name”)), Russian имя (imja, “name”), Ashkun nām (“name”), Kamkata-viri nom, num (“name”), Prasuni nom, nëmë (“name”), Waigali nām (“name”), Sanskrit नामन् (nā́man, “name”). Possible cognates outside of Indo-European include Finnish nimi (“name”) and Hungarian név (“name”). Doublet of nomen, noun, and -onym. False cognate of Japanese 名前 (namae).

name · verb2

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*namōn“to name”
  2. Old English · inherited fromnamian“to name, mention”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromnamen
  4. English todayname

From Middle English namen, from Old English namian (“to name, mention”) and ġenamian (“to name, call, appoint”), from Proto-West Germanic *namōn (“to name”). Cognate with West Frisian neame (“to name; to mention”). Compare also Old English nemnan, nemnian (“to name, give a name to a person or thing”).

name · noun3

  1. Spanish · borrowed fromñame
  2. English todayname

Borrowed from Spanish ñame, substituting n for the unfamiliar Spanish letter ñ. Doublet of yam.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*h₁nómn̥ all →

misnomerignominiousignominiouslyonomastics

Spanishñame all →

yam

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.