name

thumb|Names of the 2002 Bali bombings victims in [[Indonesia]] A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. A name can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A personal name identifies, not necessarily uniquely, a specific individual human. The name of a specific entity is sometimes called a proper name (although that term has a philosophical meaning as well) and is, when consisting of only one word, a proper noun. Other nouns are sometimes called "common names" or (obsolete) "general names". A name can be given to a person, place, or thing; for example, parents can give their child a name or a scientist can give an element a name.

== Etymology == The word name comes from Old English nama; cognate with Old High German (OHG) namo, Sanskrit (nāman), Latin nomen, Greek (onoma), and Persian (nâm), from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) *h₁nómn̥. Outside Indo-European, it can be connected to Proto-Uralic *nime.