different between signify vs name

English

Etymology

From Old French signifier, from Latin significare.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s??n?fa?/
• Hyphenation: sig?ni?fy

Verb

signify (third-person singular simple present signifies, present participle signifying, simple past and past participle signified)

1. To create a sign out of something.
2. To give (something) a meaning or an importance. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
3. To show one’s intentions with a sign etc.; to indicate, announce.
   • c. 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act I, Scene 4,^[1]

     I’ll to the king; and signify to him

     That thus I have resign’d my charge to you.

   • 1611, King James version of the Bible, Acts 25.27,^[2]

     For it seemeth to me unreasonable to send a prisoner, and not withal to signify the crimes laid against him.

   • 1729, Jonathan Swift and Thomas Sheridan, The Intelligencer, no. 19, “The Hardships of the Irish being deprived of their Silver, and decoyed into America,” pp. 207-208,^[3]

     In my humble Opinion, it would be no unseasonable Condescension, if the Government would Graciously please to signify to the pour loyal Protestant Subjects of Ireland, either that this miserable Want of Silver, is not possible to be remedy’d in any Degree […] or else, that it doth not stand with the good Pleasure of England, to suffer any Silver at all among us.

   • 1887, Thomas Hardy, The Woodlanders, Chapter 41,^[4]

     Tapping at the window, he signified that she should open the casement, and when she had done this he handed in the key to her.

   • 1952, Neville Shute, The Far Country, London: Heinemann, Chapter Two,^[5]

     “Do you want to write a cheque, Granny?” The old eyes signified assent.

4. To mean; to betoken.
   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act V, Scene 5,^[6]

     Life’s […] a tale

     Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

     Signifying nothing.

   • 1841, Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge, Chapter 7,^[7]

     Mrs Varden was a lady of what is commonly called an uncertain temper—a phrase which being interpreted signifies a temper tolerably certain to make everybody more or less uncomfortable.

   • 1961, Walker Percy, The Moviegoer, New York: Avon, 1980, Chapter Four, p. 143,^[8]

     Leaning over, she gives Uncle Oscar a furious affectionate pat which signifies that he is a good fellow and we all love him. It also signifies that he can shut up.

   • 1984, Julian Barnes, Flaubert’s Parrot, New York: Vintage, 1990, Chapter 11,

     There are three messages which can be sent by means of the convolvulus. A white one signifies Why are you fleeing me? A pink one signifies I shall bind myself to you. A blue one signifies I shall wait for better days.

5. To make a difference; to matter (in negative or interrogative expressions).
   • 1699, uncredited translator, The Characters, or, The Manners of the Age by Jean de La Bruyère, London: John Bullord, “Of the Heart,” p. 84,^[9]

     To be but in the company of those we love, satisfies us: it does not signify whether we speak to ’em or not, whether we think on them or on indifferent things. To be near ’em is all.

   • 1722, Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders, London: W. Chetwood & T. Edling, pp. 339-340,^[10]

     Well says I, and are you thus easy? ay, says she, I can’t help myself, what signifyes being sad? If I am hang’d there’s an End of me, says she, and away she turns Dancing, and Sings as she goes […]

   • 1793, John Aikin, Evenings at Home, London: J. Johnson, Volume 3, Thirteenth Evening, p. 67,^[11]

     I told her it was not I that broke her window, but it did not signify; so she dragged me to the light, lugging and scratching me all the while, and then said she would inform against me […]

   • 1817, Walter Scott, Rob Roy, Volume I, Chapter 9,^[12]

     Well, it does not signify complaining, but there are three things for which I am much to be pitied, if any one thought it worth while to waste any compassion upon me.

   • 1865, Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 12,^[13]

     Alice looked at the jury-box, and saw that, in her haste, she had put the Lizard in head downwards […] She soon got it out again, and put it right; ‘not that it signifies much,’ she said to herself; ‘I should think it would be quite as much use in the trial one way up as the other.’

   • 1938, Graham Greene, Brighton Rock, London: Heinemann, 1962, Part One, Chapter 3, p. 37,^[14]

     “He was Charles. You can read it there. Charles Hale.”

     “That don’t signify,” Ida said. “A man always has a different name for strangers. […] ”

Synonyms

• mean
• betoken

Derived terms

Translations

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English name, nome, from Old English nama, noma, from Proto-West Germanic *nam?, from Proto-Germanic *namô, from Proto-Indo-European *h?nómn?. Cognates include Saterland Frisian Noome, West Frisian namme, Dutch naam, German Name, Danish navn, Swedish namn, Latin n?men (Spanish nombre). Possible cognates outside of Indo-European include Finnish nimi.

Pronunciation

• enPR: n?m, IPA^(key): /ne?m/
• Rhymes: -e?m

Noun

name (plural names)

1. Any nounal word or phrase which indicates a particular person, place, class, or thing.

   Synonyms: proper name; see also Thesaurus:name

   • Whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

   • 1904, L. Frank Baum, The Marvelous Land of Oz:

     So good a man as this must surely have a name.

2. Reputation.
   • 1952, Old Testament, Revised Standard Version, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 2 Samuel 8:13:

     And David won a name for himself.[1]

3. An abusive or insulting epithet.

4. A person (or legal person).

   • They list with women each degenerate name.

   • p. 2002, second edition of, 2002, Graham Richards, Putting Psychology in its Place, ?ISBN, page 287 [2]

     Later British psychologists interested in this topic include such major names as Cyril Burt, William McDougall, […] .

   • 2008 edition of, 1998, S. B. Budhiraja and M. B. Athreya, Cases in Strategic Management, ?ISBN page 79 [3]:

     Would it be able to fight the competition from ITC Agro Tech and Liptons who were ready and able to commit large resources? With such big names as competitors, would this business be viable for Marico?

   • 2009 third edition of, 1998, Martin Mowforth and Ian Munt, Tourism and Sustainability, ?ISBN, page 29 [4]:

     International non-governmental organisations (INGOs), including such household names as Amnesty International, Greenpeace and […] .

5. Those of a certain name; a race; a family.
6. (computing) A unique identifier, generally a string of characters.
7. (Britain, finance) An investor in Lloyds of London bearing unlimited liability.
8. Authority.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

• anonymous
• cognomen
• namely
• nom de guerre
• nom de plume
• nominal
• pseudonym

Descendants

• ? Sranan Tongo: nen
• ? Japanese: ???

Translations

References

• name on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

From Middle English namen, from Old English namian (“to name, mention”) and ?enamian (“to name, call, appoint”), from Proto-West Germanic *nam?n (“to name”). Compare also Old English nemnan, nemnian (“to name, give a name to a person or thing”).

Verb

name (third-person singular simple present names, present participle naming, simple past and past participle named)

1. (ditransitive) To give a name to.

2. (transitive) To mention, specify.

3. (transitive) To identify as relevant or important

4. (transitive) To publicly implicate.

5. (transitive) To designate for a role.

6. (transitive, Westminster system politics) To initiate a process to temporarily remove a member of parliament who is breaking the rules of conduct.

Synonyms

• (give a name to): bename, designate, dub; see also Thesaurus:denominate

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• christen
• epithet
• moniker
• sobriquet

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Spanish ñame, substituting n for the unfamiliar Spanish letter ñ. Doublet of yam.

Noun

name (plural names)

1. Any of several types of true yam (Dioscorea) used in Caribbean Spanish cooking.

Synonyms

• cush-cush

Translations

Anagrams

• -mane, -nema, Amen, Eman, Enma, MEAN, MENA, Mena, NEMA, NMEA, amen, mane, mean, mnae, neam

Afrikaans

Noun

name

1. plural of naam

Central Malay

Etymology

Borrowed from Sanskrit ????? (n?man). Cognate with English name.

Noun

name

1. name

References

• "Besemah" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271-283.

Cimbrian

Noun

name ?

1. (Tredici Comuni) name

References

• “name” in Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

name

1. (archaic) singular past subjunctive of nemen

Noun

name

1. (archaic) Dative singular form of naam

Anagrams

• amen, mane

Eastern Arrernte

Noun

name

1. grass

References

• 2007. The UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Department of Linguistics.

Japanese

Romanization

name

1. R?maji transcription of ??

Lithuanian

Noun

name m

1. locative singular of namas
2. vocative singular of namas

Middle Dutch

Etymology 1

From Old Dutch namo, from Proto-Germanic *namô.

Noun

n?me m or f

1. name
2. fame, reputation

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms

• n?men

Descendants

• Dutch: naam
• Limburgish: naam, naom

Etymology 2

From Old Dutch *n?ma, from Proto-Germanic *n?m?.

Noun

nâme f

1. taking
2. receiving

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Related terms

• n?men

Descendants

• Dutch: name (mostly in compounds)

Further reading

• “name”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929) , “name (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, ?ISBN, page I
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929) , “name (II)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, ?ISBN, page II

Middle English

Alternative forms

• nome

Etymology

From Old English nama, from Proto-West Germanic *nam?, from Proto-Germanic *namô, from Proto-Indo-European *h?nómn?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?na?m(?)/

Noun

name (plural names or namen)

1. name

Related terms

• surname

Descendants

• English: name
• Scots: name, naim, nem, nome
• Yola: naame

References

• “n?me, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Northern Kurdish

Etymology

Borrowed from Persian ????? (nâme).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n???m?/

Noun

name f

1. letter (a document)

Pali

Alternative forms

Verb

name

1. singular optative active of namati (“to bend”)

Volapük

Noun

name

1. dative singular of nam

Zazaki

Etymology

Compare Middle Persian ????????????? (n?m /n?m/).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n??me/

Noun

name (nam) ?

1. name
2. reputation