A name (etymology: from OE nama; akin to OHG namo, Latin nomen, nominis, and Greek ?????, ultimately from PIE: *nomn- ) is a label for a human or animal, thing, place, product (as in a brand name) and even an idea or concept, normally used to distinguish one from another. Names can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. A personal name identifies a specific unique and identifiable individual person. The name of a specific entity is sometimes called a proper name (although that term has a philosophical meaning also) and is a proper noun. Other nouns are sometimes, more loosely, called names; an older term for them, now obsolete, is "general name". The use of personal names is not unique to humans. Dolphins also use symbolic names, as has been shown by recent research. Individual d