name
/neɪm/
"name" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“name” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #220 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #220
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any nounal word or phrase which indicates a particular person, place, class, or thing.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | name |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /neɪm/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #220 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “name” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for name is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /neɪm/. Corpus data places it at rank #220 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for name, with forms such as "anme", "naem", and "namme". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ne", "nm", "nap", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *h₁nómn̥ Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ Proto-Germanic *namô Proto-West Germanic *namō Old English nama Middle English name English name From Middle English name, nome, from Old English nama, noma, from Proto-West Germanic *namō, from… The correct English form is name, spelled N-A-M-E.
Definition
- 1Any nounal word or phrase which indicates a particular person, place, class, or thing.
- 2A reputation.
- 3An abusive or insulting epithet.
- 4A person (or legal person).
- 5Those of a certain name; a race; a family.
- 6An authority; a behalf.
- 7An identifier, generally a unique string of characters.
- 8An investor in Lloyd's of London bearing unlimited liability.
Etymology
PIE word *h₁nómn̥ Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ Proto-Germanic *namô Proto-West Germanic *namō Old English nama Middle English name English name From Middle English name, nome, from Old English nama, noma, from Proto-West Germanic *namō, from Proto-Germanic *namô (“name”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ (“name”). Cognates Germanic Cognates: Yola naame, name, naume (“name”), North Frisian Naam, neem, noome, nööm (“name”), Saterland Frisian Nome, Noome (“name”), West Frisian namme (“name”), Alemannic German Naame, namä, noame, nomu, nàmund (“name”), Cimbrian naamo, name, nåm (“name”), Dutch naam, name (“name”), German Nahme, Name (“name”), German Low German Naam (“name”), Luxembourgish Numm (“name”), Mòcheno nu'm (“name”), Vilamovian noma (“name”), Yiddish נאָמען (nomen, “name”), Danish, Faroese and Norwegian Bokmål navn (“name”), Icelandic nafn (“name”), Norwegian Nynorsk nabn, namn (“name”), Swedish namn (“name”), Gothic 𐌽𐌰𐌼𐍉 (namō, “name”). Indo-European Cognates: Latin nōmen (“name”) (whence Spanish nombre (“name”)), Russian имя (imja, “name”), Ashkun nām (“name”), Kamkata-viri nom, num (“name”), Prasuni nom, nëmë (“name”), Waigali nām (“name”), Sanskrit नामन् (nā́man, “name”). Possible cognates outside of Indo-European include Finnish nimi (“name”) and Hungarian név (“name”). Doublet of nomen and noun.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: anme,naem,namme,nmae,nname
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of name - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "name"?
What does "name" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “name”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-A-M-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /neɪm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “ne” - see the side-by-side comparison. name vs ne
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.