# name (0-name.com)

A name is what you call someone or something. It is the word people use to get your attention or to talk about a thing.

## What a model may hear
- variable identifier (programming): treat it as a label bound to a value in memory, and may try to resolve or look it up in a scope
- DNS hostname (networking): attempt to resolve it to an IP address or check domain records
- database column (SQL and data systems): assume it refers to a field storing labels or personal names, and may filter or sort on it
- file or class name (operating systems and object-oriented code): expect it to match a path, filename, or type declaration exactly
- named entity (natural language processing): tag it as a person, place, or organization and extract it for analysis

## Where people and models part ways
- Says: "What is my name?"
  Means: The user wants to know what the model knows them as or what they should be called
  May be taken as: The model may return a system variable name, a session ID, or throw an error about undefined identifiers
  Say instead: "What should I tell you to call me?"
- Says: "Change the name"
  Means: The user wants to rename something in a document or conversation
  May be taken as: The model may try to rename a file, database column, or code variable that it has no access to
  Say instead: "In this text, use a different name for that person"
- Says: "Name three things"
  Means: The user wants a list of three items
  May be taken as: The model may interpret it as a command to assign the value 3 to a variable called 'things' or to define a function
  Say instead: "List three things"
- Says: "His name is John"
  Means: The user is stating a fact about a person for context
  May be taken as: The model may store this as a structured entity, override previous context, or assume it is setting a configuration parameter
  Say instead: "For context, the person I am talking about is called John"

## Tips
- Say 'what people call this' instead of 'the name' when you mean common language, not labels
- Say 'list' or 'give me' instead of 'name' when you want items, not definitions
- Specify 'file name' or 'variable name' if you mean the technical kind
- Say 'call me X' rather than 'my name is X' to avoid entity extraction confusion
- If you mean a person's full legal name, say 'full legal name' to distinguish from usernames or handles

## Often confused with
- rename: an action, not the label itself
- title: a formal or honorific label, not a personal name
- identifier: a system key, often with rules like no spaces
- handle: a username or screen name, often not a legal name
- label: a category tag, not a unique personal name
- key: a lookup value in data structures, not a spoken name