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Our software uses the term "head data" for which I think should be called "header data".

If I look up the German translation "Kopfdaten" on Leo, I only get "header data", not "head data".

For "head data" on Oxford learners, I get no exact match, but neither for "header data".

Linguee translates "Kopfdaten" to "header data", but also links to DeepL, which offers the alternative "head data".

The Oxford learners dictionary associates "header" with "footer"

a line or block of text that appears at the top of every page in a book or document

, which IMHO is exactly what the software does.

But definition 9 of "head" in Oxford learners

[singular] head of something the top or highest part of something

does not sound totally wrong either.

Is "head data" a true synonym for "header data" or just a bad word-by-word translation of the German term "Kopfdaten"? Regarding usability and frequency of use, which one should the software use?

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    Neither string, in my opinion, is likely to be familiar to the average educated Anglophone. I'd stick with the one that seems more common, but be ready to come across the variant (if such it is). Might be better asked on a computing site.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Jun 23 at 9:19
  • I agree it's better to ask on a computing site "what is this data called? is it called header data or head data?" There are a lot of questions asked here where people say "I know what the proper name for this is, but is it ok if I use another name anyway?" and it's always difficult to answer such questions. People would probably be able to work out "head data" from context, although if you sell hats or brain imaging, it might be confusing.
    – Stuart F
    Jun 23 at 10:18
  • What is "Kopfdaten"? Is it the data returned by a HEAD request? The code between <head> tags? Or is it something that's actually shown on the page at the top, like a banner?
    – Laurel ♦
    Jun 23 at 11:33
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    I’m voting to close this question because the question is specific to computing. It would be better on e.g. superuser.com
    – Greybeard
    Jun 23 at 12:07
  • metadata maybe?
    – Esther
    Jun 23 at 14:22

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