The story
Coined by William Shakespeare in 1597 in "Romeo and Juliet," act 2, scene 2: : What's in a name? That which we call a rose, : By any other name would smell as sweet.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
what's in a name
Today it means: Used to argue that something's name is arbitrary and does not give any information as to its qualities; the names of things do not affect what they really are. Full definition →