onomastics
UK /ˌɒ.nəʊˈmæs.tɪks/ · US /ˌɑː.noʊˈmæs.tɪks/ noun
- noun The branch of lexicology devoted to the study of names and naming, especially the origins of names.
Synonyms
Etymology
First attested in 1936, from the adjective onomastic (“of or belonging to naming”) (1716) with a suffix -s, from French onomastique, from Ancient Greek ὀνομαστικός (onomastikós), from ὀνομαστός (onomastós, “named”), form of ὀνομάζω (onomázō, “I name”), from ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ (“name”) (whence English name).
Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “onomastics”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details