What’s in a name? That which we call a rose,
By any other name would smell as sweet.
– Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II

The purpose of language is communication. In order to communicate on the most basic level, people need to share referents – people, places, things, and concepts – as well as ways to identify them and refer to them. The way we use language to do this is by assigning names. The word nomenclature is used to describe a set of names used in this way; the word comes from the Latin roots nomen (“name,” from the earlier Greek word onoma) and calare (“to call”). For many people, the first step in learning a new language is memorizing long lists of names for things, and associating the names in the new language with the names in the person’s native language.

In the beginning, perhaps people only need a few hundred words to get by. Even today, if you’re traveling in a foreign country and you don’t speak the language, if you’ve memorized a set of essential words like bread and telephone and lavatory you can usually manage to communicate, especially with the addition of some creative gestures and sign language. However, while you might be able to find the nearest train station this way, you probably won’t be able to ask about the origins of the name of the train station, or why it was built in that particular style, or what role it played in the emergence of that city as the capital of the country. The specialized vocabularies of politics, architecture, and history aren’t immediately necessary for the casual traveler and would require much more study.

It’s not enough that there are names for things; in order for communication to happen, people need to understand and agree on what names refer to which things. A good example of this is in the occasional difference between British English and American English. For example, a woman in London might put on a jumper when it gets chilly, but a girl in Seattle will reach for a sweater – and if you ask that Seattleite for a fish slice she’ll head for Pike Place Market and its piles of salmon, not to her kitchen for a spatula. The way things are named can be very important in certain fields. There are specific rules on the way to name new things in biology, chemistry, and astrophysics, and even groups such as the American Name Society, which is devoted to onomastics (the study of names and naming practices).

Think about names today, and the way you use language to refer to what you find in the world around you.