A naming convention is a
convention
Convention may refer to:
* Convention (norm), a custom or tradition, a standard of presentation or conduct
** Treaty, an agreement in international law
* Convention (meeting), meeting of a (usually large) group of individuals and/or companies in a ...
(generally agreed scheme) for naming things. Conventions differ in their intents, which may include to:
* Allow useful information to be deduced from the names based on regularities. For instance, in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...
, streets are consecutively numbered; with east–west streets called "Streets" and north–south streets called "Avenues".
* Show relationships, and in most personal naming conventions
* Ensure that each name is unique for same scope
Use cases
Well-chosen naming conventions aid the casual user in navigating and searching larger structures. Several areas where naming conventions are commonly used include:
* In
astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...
,
planetary nomenclature
* In
classics,
Roman naming conventions
* In
computer programming
Computer programming is the process of performing a particular computation (or more generally, accomplishing a specific computing result), usually by designing and building an executable computer program. Programming involves tasks such as anal ...
,
identifier naming conventions
* In
computer networking
A computer network is a set of computers sharing resources located on or provided by network nodes. The computers use common communication protocols over digital interconnections to communicate with each other. These interconnections ar ...
,
naming scheme
In computing, naming schemes are often used for objects connected into computer networks.
Naming schemes in computing
Server naming is a common tradition. It makes it more convenient to refer to a machine by name than by its IP address.
The C ...
* In humans,
naming offspring
* In industry,
product naming conventions
* In the sciences,
systematic names for a variety of things
Examples
Examples of naming conventions may include:
* Children's names may be alphabetical by birth order. In some Asian cultures, siblings commonly share a
middle name. In many cultures the son is usually named after the father or grandfather. In other cultures, the name may include the place of residence.
Roman naming convention denotes social rank.
* Developers of database schemas, program-name terminology and ontologies may apply a common set of labeling conventions for naming representational entities in their representational artefacts, i.e. conventions outlined or endorsed by terminology-regulatory bodies or by policy providers such as ISO or the
OBO Foundry.
* The names of universities can commemorate founders, patrons or relevant monarchs: note for example
Lomonosov Moscow State University,
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: link=no, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of ...
,
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Z ...
, or
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consiste ...
. A Latinate version confers extra class – note ''Alma Mater Rudolphina'' for the
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich h ...
or ''Universitas Complutensis'' for the
Complutense University of Madrid
The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university lo ...
.
* Large corporate, university, or government campuses may name rooms within their buildings to help orient tenants and visitors.
* Products.
Automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded ...
s typically have a binomial name, a "make" (manufacturer) and a "model", in addition to a model year. Computers, and computer programs, often have increasing numbers in their names to signify the successive generations.
* School courses: an abbreviation for the subject area and then a number ordered by increasing level of difficulty.
* Shipping lines often use a distinct naming convention to make their ships more recognisable and their names easier to remember.
* Virtually all organizations that assign names or numbers follow some convention in generating these identifiers (e.g.
phone numbers,
bank accounts, government IDs,
credit cards, etc.).
References
{{reflist
External links
American Name SocietyPromote
onomastics
Onomastics (or, in older texts, onomatology) is the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. An '' orthonym'' is the proper name of the object in question, the object of onomastic study.
Onomastics can be helpful in data mining, ...
, the study of names and naming practices, both in the United States and abroad.
Namingschemes.comA wiki dedicated to the education and sharing of naming schemes.
The application of unified labeling or naming conventions in terminology and
ontology engineering
In computer science, information science and systems engineering, ontology engineering is a field which studies the methods and methodologies for building ontologies, which encompasses a representation, formal naming and definition of the categ ...
will help to harmonize the appearance and increase the robustness of symbolic representational units such as ontologic class and relation names within the orthogonal set of OBO Foundry ontologies. A full free access paper with the naming conventions is accessible online under http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2105/10/125