Onomastics
Onomastics is the study of proper names, including their etymology, history, and use.
An alethonym or an orthonym 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.
Etymology
Onomastics originates from the Greek onomastikós, itself derived from ónoma.Branches
- Toponymy, one of the principal branches of onomastics, is the study of place names.
- Anthroponymy is the study of personal names.
- Literary onomastics is the branch that researches the names in works of literature and other fiction.
- Socio-onomastics or re-onomastics is the study of names within a society or culture.
Organizations
- American Name Society
- English [Place-Name Society]
- Guild of One-Name Studies
- International [Council of Onomastic Sciences]
- Society for Name [Studies in Britain and Ireland]
- United [Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names]