onomastics

Onomastics

From the Greek onomastikós; related to names and naming

That branch of linguistics that deals with the study of names, their meaning and their origins, which can be divided into the following subdisciplines;

toponymy - the study of place names which is closely related to geography, history and similar disciplines.
anthroponymy - the study of personal names which is related to genealogy, sociology, and anthropology.
characternymy or literary onomastics - the study of the use of names in literature, in particular of the names of characters in fiction

Also sometimes known asn onomasiology, onomastics is studied because names, (and indeed the processes by which names are decided upon), since they specifically relate to a given culture and period in time, tend to provide an accurate reflection of the pre-occupations of that same culture and period, and can therefore provide a means of determining and analysing the culture from which they arose.

The worst name ever	nomenclature	Nine Billion Names of God	logology
Balinese child-naming conventions	onanism	Prosopography	Living alone, one is apt to prefer a view of water
The Saint John Naming Problem	Great American Scream Machine	Fake flavor naming convention	Florence of Worcester
The Philadelphia Story	Russian patronymics	telephone book	The Story of the Young King of the Black Isles
Using your real name on the internet	Your True Jedi Name	Collective Soul	What's in a name?
Dissociative identity disorder	Here lies one whose name was writ in water	given name	The Neverending Story

Names index our

individual