Questions tagged [names]
This tag is for questions related to given names, surnames, and linguistic aspects of naming in English.
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When do I use "of" before the name of a place?
When do I use 'of' before a name of a town, commune, river etc. ?
I'm lookin for American English if that makes a difference.
I don't find the rule and I am unsure about the following cases:
The ...
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2
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How should the name "Kimia" be spelled? [closed]
My name is Kimia, but I have no idea which of the following spellings is right; Kimia or Kimya. I gotta say the last syllable of my name is pronounced like Mia. Would you tell me which one is correct?
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Using article "the" before specific software package names
We have developed some software packages: "pythonmaths package", "pythonsets package" etc. We are writing an article about these developed packages. Here are our queries.
The ...
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0
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2
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How to pronounce 'Dana' in English
I'd like to use 'Dana' for a girl's name and know how Americans pronounce 'Dana'.
Do Americans pronounce 'Dana' as 'Dayna' or as 'Dahna'?
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2
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Why do English people call baked potatoes 'jacket potatoes'? [closed]
Why do English people call baked potatoes 'jacket potatoes'? Is it because they do not peel the potato before cooking it and use 'jacket' to refer to the peel?
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50
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5
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Why is "Dick" a nickname for "Richard"?
It makes no sense to me. Dick sounds absolutely nothing like Richard. Other English nicknames confuse me as well. Bob for Robert, Bill for William, Jim for James, though they are still a bit closer to ...
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1
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42
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Looking for names for some Classes
I am writing some program for publishing and I would like to ask you for a help.
I have two classes and I would like to give them preferably single word names:
One is for Publication / Magazine (name ...
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0
answers
21
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Does this structure has a name: be+stative verbs + to be?
"is" standard phrases:
is known to be..
is deemed to be...
is believed to be...
is considered to be...
Questions: are these phrase have some common name? What difference between is known ...
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1
answer
50
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I am playing a “the Lord of the Rings” game
Which of these sentences is correct?
I am playing a “the Lord of the Rings” game.
VS
I am playing a “Lord of the Rings” game.
And which of these is correct?
I want to watch some “the Lord of the ...
- 1,184
0
votes
2
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127
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Why is Everest Mount wrong?
Can I say "Everest mount", instead of "Mount Everest"?
I want to know the rule of such combinations.
Or why do we say "Eiffel Tower", not the other way around?
Thanks for ...
1
vote
1
answer
68
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Quotation marks around people names after “He is called” or "His name is"
His name is Narayana.
He is called Madhava.
He is called Ajit because no one can defeat him.
It seems that in such cases we're talking about words as words, and some kind of use/mention
distinction ...
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1
answer
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Is Ed pronounced differently from Edd?
Are the nicknames Ed and Edd pronounced differently? I'm curious about this because of the cartoon Ed, Edd n Eddy.
user152235
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1
answer
110
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structure and meaning of name "eskimo grease monkey thomas (pieface) kalmaku"?
In comics Green Lantern there is friend of Hal Jordan. I'm not sure that I understand his name correct:
eskimo - his nationality
grease monkey - nikname?
thomas - first name
pieface - what is that ...
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1
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49
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are Martha Sarah and Marther Sarer the same names in "The Distracted Preacher" by Thomas Hardy?
In beginning of The Distracted Preacher a maid is introduced in Newberry estate. It seems that both names refer to the same person and different spelling deals with different pronunciation. Quote:
A ...
2
votes
1
answer
59
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How to write names of different things specified by their kinds?
I'm interested in the particular case of writing the name of thing connected with the kind of thing. For example, I would write the "Enter" button, the "Hello World" script, etc.
...
nemo
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1
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40
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Should I use one or two commas in this sentence?
can you please advise whether there are two commas: "videos, led by our Head Coach, Henry" OR only before the name? Can you please explain why?
Full-sentence:
In the upcoming weeks, we are ...
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1
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Why don't we use an article before "Olivia" in "Olivia is an English teacher"?
Olivia is an English teacher. She is not working at present.
Why aren't we writing like this?
The Olivia is an English Teacher
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0
answers
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Genitive plural opinions! Which is correct: Tomorrow the sister of a university friend of Clare and John is getting married. Or of Clare's and John's? [duplicate]
Native speaker here confused about genitive case.
Genitive plural opinions! Which is correct:
Tomorrow the sister of a university friend of Clare and John is getting married
Tomorrow the sister of a ...
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1
vote
2
answers
119
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Inquiry about first, middle and last names
I have a question regarding my name and how to write it in the United States application forms since I'm planning to undergo some exams there.
I'm an Arabic National
My first name is Omar
My father ...
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2
votes
1
answer
143
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Is the possessive of a name that ends in 's' pronounced differently if it refers to a group of people (like a band) instead of a single person? [duplicate]
How do you think names that have the plural "s" should be pronounced when they get the apostrophe? I researched this on the web and I couldn't find any very reliable results. For example, ...
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1
answer
383
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Is the word in this sentence, Russian, capitalized or lowercase? [closed]
I want to write:
In Russian/russian, this is a common technique....
Which letter I should use?
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0
votes
1
answer
63
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Word order in product name
I am confused about word order when using the name of the product and its colour. For example: the product’s name is “Barrel Bag”. It comes in black colour. So what is correct here:
Buy our Black ...
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3
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1
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Are all city names ending in CESTER pronounced as STER?
I have heard all the names of English city names ending in CESTER pronounced as STER but I wonder if it is a "rule" and I should pronounce all of them as STER? Gloucester, Leicester, and ...
user127660
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1
answer
425
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What should I address while there are two women teachers?
I have to write a note to my course teachers and both of them are women. So, how should I address them? Dear Ma'ams or Dear Madames or anything else?
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3
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How do you refer to people in a statement?
When reading articles like magazines and newspapers, we see a lot of people's names there, but how people are referred to varies. The following are some of the most common ones.
First name alone
...
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votes
1
answer
301
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What do you call a name that reflects the person's characteristics?
How to translate the Russian phrase 'говорящая фамилия'? It's literally translated as "speaking surname" and refers to last names that reflect the person's quality. For example, if a short ...
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3
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350
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How to express "Anonymous" when functioning as a proper noun?
Quite a few Chinese novels and movies don't name the main character (or one of the main characters) as Mike or Alice or any name alike. Instead, he/she is called "无名氏".
In general, 无名氏= ...
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195
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Why is it 'Alexei' but 'Sergey'?
Why is it 'Alexei' but 'Sergey' (at least, according to Wikipedia)? Shouldn't there be uniform rules on how to transliterate Russian names? How do I render the endings '-ей'?
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meaning: Mr. Just About
Does "Mr. Just About" make sense as a nickname for someone who does not care about precision?
I'd appreciate your help.
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Idioms meaning "everybody"
I need help finding an idiom that means "everybody" in this context:
Three names in English make an expression that literally means “everyone,” usually in a negative sense. For example, Jane shouted ...
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1
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Does referring to a third person by their first name require you to be on a first name basis with that person?
Suppose you are talking to your friend about a third person called Mrs. Firstname Lastname. Suppose you are not on a first name basis with this third person; that is, if you spoke to this third person ...
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1
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What to call different education levels?
I've been always confused about the names of different education levels and how to use them, and which one is formal and which is not.
Can someone explain if it is master's or master? should I say M....
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Why is the same person called differently by different people?
When I watch the classic American TV series Breaking Bad, I found that a guy called Jesse sometimes call his teacher 'Mr White', sometimes his wife called his husband 'Walt', but I find that his full ...
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Which phonetic alphabet represents the this sound?
Which phonetic alphabets represents the sound of 'u' in words like 'truck'? My real name includes written 'sam' but it is read as 'sum'. So I want to know what could I write between s _ m to make it ...
user111950
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1
answer
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How to pronounce a name you see for the first time?
Could you please tell me how to pronounce a name (interpreted from other languages) for the first time you see it? In English I find it difficult to do so because of the flexible pronunciation of ...
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4
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Should I apologize for addressing a female with Ms + her first name?
I'm not a native English speaker so I wasn't exactly aware of the Mr/Ms + last name rule. I addressed the HR Director of a potential employer with Ms + her first name. My native friend then told me ...
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1
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What does "O's" mean in bar's (pub's, restaurant's) name?
could you please help me to understand the meaning of "O's" in such names as "Nancy O's restaurant", "George O's bar"... etc. Is there some special meaning, is it translatable? Thank you a lot!
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1
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Definite article (the) in front of personal name
I know that "the" should not be used with people's names.
But what about when refering to mutiple people with the same name in one place? Like "the Thomas" for example ? I've heard this phrase in ...
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how to change spelling to make a silent e sound
My name is June and I am Basque (North of Spain). My name is pronounced almost like in English except for that the final e is not silent.
How do a write my name phonetics to show people how to ...
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9
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Why do Russian names transliterated into English have unpronounceable 'k's before 'h's (e.g. 'Mikhail' instead of just 'Mihail')?
Why can't it be just 'Mihail'? I guess the 'k' is inserted to ensure correct pronunciation, but I don't see how 'Mikhail' and 'Mihail' are pronounced differently.
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Is Bob gender neutral?
Recently a question on Stack Overflow meta was edited by a moderator to remove the name Nancy with a gender neutral name Bob. His exact words were(emphasis mine)
Jon suggested Bob would work too. I ...
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The definite article with names
Let's suppose there is a cinema house called 'Dream'.
How to refer to it?
In cinema 'Dream'
In the cinema 'Dream'
In 'Dream' cinema
Or
In band 'Abba'
In the band 'Abba'
In 'Abba' band
In the '...
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5
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Chinese names in English
In Chinese, the family name comes before the given name.
By English convention, it's the other way around.
In English text, however, I often see Chinese names with the family name before the given ...
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vote
1
answer
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CamelCase names
Some people have mixed upper and lower case letters (informally, CamelCase) in their names. This can appear in their first name (e.g. LeBron James), last name (e.g. Tracy McGrady), or both (e.g. DeMar ...
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the Chester Beckers in The Great Gatsby
In The Great Gatsby, I read the following line:
From East Egg, then, came the Chester Beckers and the Leeches, and a man named Bunsen, whom I knew at Yale, and Doctor Webster Civet, who was drowned ...
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1
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Is it OK to refer to the name of an applicant in a recommendation letter by his/her family name alone?
I am writing a recommendation letter to support an employee's application for graduate schools in Canada.
For example, if his name is Kai Kang,where Kai is the given name and Kang is the family name....
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2
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Can I use a person's name instead of the pronoun "you"?
When talking to someone, can I use their name in place of "you"? Is this only used when talking a certain way (e.g. to children)? Or is this not done in English at all?
Example:
Ann is talking ...
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There was a farmer had a dog, but which one was named Bingo?
There was a farmer had a dog,
and Bingo was his name-o.
From these words alone (so, without appealing to different versions, translations, likelihoods of names, etc.), is there some way to decide ...
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2
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185
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How can I introduce (or name) a person who was my colleague?
How can I introduce (or name) a person who was my colleague, but he has changed jobs?
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answer
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What is called an organization where people are looking for a job for a while?
I am writing a CV in English and I have come to work experience.
I do not know if there is a name in English for this organization or something like that, but in my language a literal translation ...
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