Questions tagged [names]
Topics related to given names, surnames, and linguistic aspects of naming in English.
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Proper sorting of groups that begin with a person's name
If I were sorting, for example, audio recordings based upon the performer, then "Vince Guaraldi" and "Bob Seger" would be sorted as "Guaraldi, Vince" and "Seger, Bob&...
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Classical verbiage for "Middle Name"? "Given" -> "First", "Surname" -> "Last/Family"
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Mattias
John-Mark
Fischer
Given Name aka. First Name
?? aka. Middle Name
Surname aka. Family / Last Name
This is what I understand to be the concept of 'Given Name'. But if I'm correct, then ...
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Does English prefer abbreviated names more than other IE languages?
Background
I have a name that English L1 speakers find hard to pronounce.* One of the first questions I get whenever introducing myself to one, is ‘Can I call you […]?’ After years in the university ...
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How can I best indicate in an obituary that a middle name was the preferred name?
I have seen several suggestions on ways to indicate a person's middle name was preferred over their first name:
Firstname "Middlename" Surname
Firstname Middlename "Middlename" ...
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Why is Reuben spelled with an "eu"?
Reuben is most commonly spelled as such in English and in English only. The digraph "eu" as far as I know never represents /uː/ in English nor in any other language, and surely not in any ...
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What is the origin and meaning of the female given name "Zorado"?
As far as I can tell this name crops up mid 1800s, and (informal analysis) looks like it peaks circa 1890-1915. In the present day I'd say it is extremely rare, but I can find living Zorado women and ...
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Pronunciation of "Ine", as the name of the Saxon king in modern English
Ine, also rendered Ini or Ina, (Latin: Inus; c. AD 670 – after 726) was King of Wessex from 689 to 726 (Wikipedia). This is a name still used today, apparently, but I do not find it in the Longman ...
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Comma placement for speaker's name in publication
I'm editing a flyer someone else wrote and I have the following sentence:
Our storytelling series launches with featured speaker, Aloysius Firefly, professor of arts.
I think ought to be "... ...
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How to write the possessive of a proper noun that ends in a plural noun?
Say we have a hotel named the Springfield Arms. The name itself is singular, since it refers to an individual hotel, but it ends with the pluralized noun “Arms”.
What is the correct way to write the ...
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Do native English speakers tend to take the second part of a compound first name for a middle name?
My first name is "Jean-Baptiste". "Baptiste" is not a second or middle name, however I noticed that it's not unusual for native English speakers to address me just as "Jean&...
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Name from history meaning charismatic?
Much like McGyver meaning "resourceful," Einstein meaning "intelligent," Savant meaning "gifted..." I remember hearing and using a name to refer to someone as a ...
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Origin of prefix "Mc" McDonalds or Monty Python?
The "Mc" prefix in the USA is used in, for "McMansion" to mean, I think, characterless and identical (as in McDonald's restaurants which I think were the first really big chain ...
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Why did some stigmatized theophoric names survive in English?
The synopsis is: we have the long-standing popularity of the name "Isabelle" and context that much of the English speaking world has been influenced by Christianity for centuries. It appears ...
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What is the proper handling of Mach number?
My question mainly concerns named numbers like Mach, Reynolds, Weber, etc.
Considering the eponymous noun is 'Mach number', is the following grammatically correct?
His plane reached Mach 2.
...
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Adjective for the name 'Grothendieck'
Grothendieck was a major mathematician in the 20th century.
I would like to know how one can use his name to talk about the content of a study.
For example in French we would say
Hi all,
Études ...
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Pronunciation of Emma and Emma's
According to Wiktionary, Emma is pronounced as /ˈɛmə/ but I tend to hear it sounding more like /ˈɛmɑː/. However, when it comes to pronouncing Emma's, I hear it like /ˈɛməz/ and I hear a clear schwa ...
FinAnalyst
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Handling alternate spellings of a personal name [closed]
Dealing with a text that mentions several times the architectural historian Siegfried Giedion. A number of Giedion's books feature his first name as "Sigfried" and others as "Siegfried.&...
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Why is there an apostrophe in the name Ilya M. Sobol'? [closed]
Is this specific to the Lithuanian language? How come I've never seen an apostrophe at the end of a name like this (other than possessives)?
See Ilya M. Sobol' on Wikipedia.
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Is there a term for last name comma first name?
I'm designing a table in which names are stored. How to best call the columns that store full names in different order? The term "Full Name" seems ambiguous to me.
First Name
Last Name
...
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What do you call a person who is used by a manager/boss in order to keep their employment?
A person on probation was told to lie by his manager. If they did not comply with the mangers demands, they would have failed their probation, thus, would be unable to remain employed.
Are there any ...
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How does one pronounce Pompey?
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, a general during the last years of the Republic:
Some folks are under the impression that the standard English version of his name, Pompey, is pronounced "POM-pee," ...
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“Jane and Lucas’ Wedding or Lucas’s” Where should the apostrophe go? [duplicate]
If you have a name ending in S letter, where should the apostrophe go?
Jane and Lucas’ wedding or
Jane and Lucas’s wedding?
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Is it polite to refer to someone by the surname in an article?
While I see it a lot in articles in the modern time, I remember being taught at school that it is more polite and formal to refer to someone by title and surname in an article, not surname alone. Is ...
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Pluralizing a first name
In a social media post, a movie streaming site referred to multiple actresses with the same first name of “Jennifer” without repeating the name each time. Instead, they pluralized Jennifer and the ...
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What is the term or word used to describe a name such as 'N.S Ennis' where the initials 'N.S' sound the same as the surname 'Ennis'?
My name, 'N.S Ennis', was called out in a waiting room some years ago and I was told there was an actual term for this occurrence where the initials 'NS' sound the same as the surname 'Ennis'. I am ...
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What is the difference between old english words 'ric' and 'wald'
Ric and Wald are both name elements that are quite common in Old English names — for example, Eadric and Eadwald — and both seem to mean ruler or power or authority or might.
Are there however more ...
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Is Evelyn pronounced variously based on gender?
When I first read Evelyn Waugh's books decades ago, I assumed the author was female. I subsequently found out Evelyn can also be a man's name in England. But today I found out that Evelyn Waugh's ...
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Origin of the surname "Hooker"?
Wiktionary claims that the surname Hooker is occupational:
an occupation for a maker of hooks
This seems unlikely to me for several reasons. Were it true, one would expect there to be a ...
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Why are some Russian names Anglicised but not others?
For example, we speak of "Peter" the Great, "Nicholas" II, and "Joseph" Stalin, but no one ever spoke of "George" Gagarin, "Theodore" Dostoevsky, or &...
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The name of the end part of a film that contains contacts information [closed]
What is usually called the part of a film that comes at the end which contains contacts information ?
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Citizenship name order
If I'm a dual citizenship holder, which one comes first? Is there an ordering to it?
For example, if I receive a Canadian citizenship and I hold an Italian citizenship, am I Italian-Canadian or ...
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How to properly and equally introduce two people?
In the movie The Big Short, there is a scene where two people. Bruce Miller and Mark Baum are doing a "debate" of sorts. The host introduces them as
... give a generous welcome to mr. Bruce ...
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Word to group some interrelated computer programs [closed]
I am looking for a word to group some interrelated computer programs, to name my github repository
The group includes (or github repo) these programs:
dwm — a window manager for unix like operating ...
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Is it proper to write a full first name followed by an initial of the last name? [closed]
For example, if my name was John Smith, can I write it as “John S.”?
Also, if I want to start with the initial of the last name, how would I write it? Is it “S. John”?
I’m asking because I’m having my ...
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2-letter abbreviation for the name Montgomery
Background:
I'm implementing elliptic curve cryptography in a hobbyist project of mine. And two kinds of the curves I'm about implement are Edwards curve and Montgomery curve (this and this).
For the ...
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How should I spell Zelensky?
Recently, Volodymyr Zelensky (for this question, I will use the shorter version of his name), the president of Ukraine, has been in the news frequently due to the war in his country.
However, news ...
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Author - Title vs Title - Author when referring to a work [closed]
Is there a convention on whether to place the title of a work or the author of a work first when referring to the work? I'm thinking mostly for titling notes/files on the work, or for categorizing ...
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2 Letter Initials and nobiliary particles — how to form? [duplicate]
Given names with nobiliary particles or other particles in a last name like
Bobby von Ahnen
Bobby d'Estaing
Bobby de Zichy
Bobby del Alcázar
Bobby Le Pen
How would you make a two letter set of ...
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What is the equivalent of a demonym, but for organizations?
For example, the demonym of 'Mexico' is 'Mexican'.
What do you call the equivalent for people who are part of an organization? And do any rules apply in the formation of the name?
E.g.
Reddit -> ...
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When do companies named "(The) X Company" take the definite article?
I work for a company called "x company" where x is a noun that represents our key product- something like book, computer or hamburger.
I've been advised to refer to it as the "x company&...
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What is the etymology of the name of the River Cherwell in England? [closed]
The River Cherwell is the second largest tributary of the Thames after the River Kennet. What is the etymology of its name?
I could not find any etymology after checking several websites.
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Current Usage of Fanny
We are thinking about giving our daughter the name Fanny.
We are Germans, based in Germany but we're really curious about the current usage of this word in Great Britain.
We are familiar with the ...
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What does "Stan" in "PHPStan" refer to/mean?
I found this the other day and have started using it: https://phpstan.org/ It's nice. But it really annoys me that nowhere does it explain/mention what "Stan" refers to.
It's not the name ...
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What do you call the enclosed outdoor area inside an apt?
It's an outside area about 1.5m square that can be entered from inside the apartment through a window-like entetance. It's filled with garbage from apartments in the higher floors.
I want to say ...
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Correct transliteration of foreign Names with umlauts and other diacritics [duplicate]
I would like to know how names from other languages with umlauts and other diacritics are correctly written in English through transliteration and not translated.
The last name Bühler is often written ...
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Where do you put a prefix and suffix when listing last names first? [duplicate]
I'm listing names last name first, but it is important to have all name parts included. Let's say I had a Dr. Leonard B. McCoy Jr.. Should I list him as McCoy, Dr. Leonard B. Jr.? I read another ...
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Why using -son instead of -daughter? [closed]
I am learning English and my teacher taught me a lesson where there was a person named Bill Robertson and his sister's name was Dyna Robertson. So why was her name Dyna Robertson when she is a ...
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What is this naming convention called? [duplicate]
Many historical figures (of antiquity) have names of the form "X the Y". Some real, historical examples are:
Wayland the Smith
William the Conquerer
Attila the Hun
This concept has also ...
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How common are hypocorisms ending with "s" in female names? (Babs, Bess, Becks...)
My question can be split in two parts:
Is this a pattern, how common is it, and how natural does it sound?
Is it more specific to feminine names?
Here are examples:
Barbara - Babs [1]
Elizabeth - ...
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For places like "St Louis", "Mt Pleasant", and "Ft Myers", what type of words are "St", "Mt", and "Ft"? [closed]
I've noticed, while working on code to handle addresses, that many parts of street names have common abbreviations, such as "St" for "Saint", "Mt" for "Mount" ...
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