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Name vs Designation vs Denomination vs Appellation vs Title vs Style

Namedesignationdenominationappellationtitlestyle mean the word or combination of words by which something is called and by means of which it can be distinguished or identified.

Name is so general that it can be used of any such word or combination whether it distinguishes a person or an object, an individual or a class, a particular or a universal, a thing having distinct existence in fact or a thing having distinct existence only in thought.

Sometimes name is thought of as something apart from the real character of the thing to which it is attached.

More often, however, the term connotes identification of the word with the thing or, especially, the person it names, so that what affects one affects the other.

This common feeling of a mutual and almost inevitable relation between the name and the thing named is what distinguishes name from designation, denomination, appellation, all of which are thought of as given and therefore as having an artificial association with the thing and a utilitarian purpose such as description or identification.

designation is a name given primarily for the sake of distinguishing one thing, whether an individual or a class, from other things of the same general description.

Denomination (see also RELIGION ) is the name given especially to a class, to a category, or to a closely knit group (as of persons); the idea of a class name is so deeply rooted in the word that in extended use it often means the kind or group distinguished by a particular name.

Appellation is the name by which a thing or person is known or called; the term implies actual use and differs from designation and denomination in precluding the idea, but not necessarily the fact, of self-choice.

title is either a distinctive name given to a work (as a book, a picture, a play, or a musical composition) or an honorary appellation coming to a person by virtue of his rank, office, dignity, or descent or given to him as a mark of respect.

When used without reference to a particular work of art or person title is sometimes preferred to denomination because it connotes distinction and dignity.

When used abstractly in preference to name or designation it often connotes the lack of an essential relation between the name and the thing it names.

Style is used to emphasize the exact form of a name and is applicable chiefly to such legal and formal titles as the legal name of a firm or corporation or the complete, formal designation of a royal or other exalted personage as used in documents or in ceremonial address.