Onomastics (or onomatology in older texts) is the study of
proper names, including their
etymology
Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...
, history, and use.
An ''alethonym'' ('true name') or an ''orthonym'' ('real name') is the proper name of the object in question, the object of onomastic study. Scholars studying onomastics are called ''onomasticians''.
Onomastics has applications in
data mining, with applications such as
named-entity recognition, or recognition of the origin of names. It is a popular approach in historical research, where it can be used to identify
ethnic minorities within populations and for the purpose of
prosopography
Prosopography is an investigation of the common characteristics of a group of people, whose individual biographies may be largely untraceable. Research subjects are analysed by means of a collective study of their lives, in multiple career-line a ...
.
Etymology
''Onomastics'' originates from the
Greek (), itself derived from ().
Branches
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Toponymy
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' ( proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for a proper na ...
(or more precisely toponomastics), one of the principal branches of onomastics, is the study of place names.
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Anthroponymy is the study of personal names.
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Literary onomastics is the branch that researches the names in works of literature and other fiction.
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Socio-onomastics or re-onomastics is the study of names within a society or culture.
See also
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Ancient Greek personal names
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Extinction of surnames
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Hydronym
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Mononymous persons
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Naming convention
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-onym, listing the technical kinds of names
Organizations
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American Name Society
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English Place-Name Society
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Guild of One-Name Studies
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International Council of Onomastic Sciences
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Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland
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United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names
References
External links
Lexicon of Greek Personal Names a major research project of the British Academy, Oxford, containing over 35,000 published Greek names
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Folklore
Lexicography