Onomastics

In linguistics, onomastics is the study of proper names, especially the names of people (anthroponyms) and places (toponyms). A person who studies the origins, distributions, and variations of proper names is an onomastician.

Onomastics is “both an old and a young discipline,” says Carole Hough. “Since Ancient Greece, names have been regarded as central to the study of language, throwing light on how humans communicate with each other and organize their world… The investigation of name origins, on the other hand, is more recent, not developing until the twentieth century in some areas, and still being today at a formative stage in others” [ThoughtCo].

The science that studies names in all their aspects is called onomastics (or onomatology — an obsolete word). The subject of this science is broad because almost everything can have a name and because the study of names theoretically encompasses all languages, all geographical and cultural regions, and all historical epochs [Britannica Online Dictionary].

Sources:

Onomastics. Britannica Online Dictionary. Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/science/onomastics

Onomastics Explained. ThoughtCo. Retrieved from: https://www.thoughtco.com/onomastics-names-term-1691450

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