| proper name |
| Definition -
A name that is used to designate a particular individual entity. As opposed to a common name, which is a name given to a class of objects.
Notes: 1. They are usually capitalized (Bob Jones), but not always (e.e.cummings). 2. The study of proper names is called onomastics. |
|
Example - David Jones, Mercury, Vancouver, Detroit Red Wings, and the ODLT. |
|
Oxford English Dictionary - The term's first citation is from c1290: "Heo was icleoped in propre name ‘Þe Maudeleyne’." (S. Eng. Leg. I. 462/18) |
|
Quotation - "A proper name [is] a word that answers the purpose of showing what thing it is that we are talking about, but not of telling anything about it". (Source: John Stuart Mill from A System of Logic (1. ii. 5.), ) |
