Onomastics

Onomastics (or onomatology in older texts) is the study of proper names, including their etymology, history, and use.

An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alexander the Great, Suleiman the Magnificent, Richard the Lionheart, and Ladislaus the Short, or allusive, as in Edward the Confessor, William the Conqueror, Æthelred the Unready, Mehmed the Conqueror, and Bloody Mary.

Anthroponymy (also anthroponymics or anthroponomastics, from Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος anthrōpos, 'human', and ὄνομα onoma, 'name') is the study of anthroponyms, the proper names of human beings, both individual and collective. Anthroponymy is a branch of onomastics.

linguistic terms

Acrophony (; + 'sound') is the naming of letters of an alphabetic writing system so that a letter's name begins with the letter itself. For example, Greek letter names are acrophonic: the names of the letters α, β, γ, δ, are spelled with the respective letters: (), (), (), ().

name embedding the name of a god

proper name of a locality

sign used to identify a person

A theonym (from Greek (), 'god', attached to (), ) is a proper name of a deity.

Choronym (from 'region' or 'country' and 'name') is a linguistic term that designates a proper name of an individual region or a country. The study of regional and country names is known as choronymy, or choronymics. Since choronyms are a subclass of toponyms, choronymic studies represent a distinctive subfield of toponymic studies and belong to the wider field of onomastic studies.

Linguonym (from / language, and / name), also known as glossonym (from / language) or glottonym (from Attic Greek: γλῶττα / language), is a linguistic term that designates a proper name of an individual language, or a language family. The study of language names is known as linguonymy (glossonymy, glottonymy) or linguonymics (glossonymics, glottonymics).

Teknonymy (from 'child' and 'name') is the practice of referring to parents by the names of their children. This practice can be found in many different cultures around the world. The term was coined by anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor in an 1889 paper. Such names are called teknonyms, teknonymics, or paedonymics.

person or group, by association with some perceived quality of an animal