Given name

A given name (also known as a personal name, first name, forename, or Christian name) is a part of a person's full nomenclature. It identifies a specific person, and differentiates that person from other members of a group, such as a family or clan, with whom that person shares a common surname. The term given name refers to the fact that the name is bestowed upon, or given to a child, usually by its parents, at or near the time of birth. This contrasts with a surname (also known as a family name, last name, or gentile name), which is normally inherited, and shared with other members of the child's immediate family.

Given names are often used in a familiar and friendly manner in informal situations. In more formal situations the surname is more commonly used, unless it is necessary to distinguish between people with the same surname. The idioms "on a first-name basis" and "being on first-name terms" allude to the familiarity of addressing another by a given name.

Relationship to other names

.name

The domain name "name" is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is intended for use by individuals for representation of their personal name, nicknames, screen names, pseudonyms, or other types of identification labels.

The top-level domain was founded by Hakon Haugnes and Geir Rasmussen and initially delegated to Global Name Registry in 2001, and become fully operational in January 2002. Verisign was the outsourced operator for .name since the .name launch in 2002 and acquired Global Name Registry in 2008.

On the .name TLD, domains may be registered on the second level (john.name) and the third level (john.doe.name). It is also possible to register an e-mail address of the form john@doe.name. Such an e-mail address may have to be a forwarding account and require another e-mail address as the recipient address, or may be treated as a conventional email address (such as john@doe.com), depending on the registrar.

When a domain is registered on the third level (john.doe.name), the second level (doe.name in this case) is shared, and may not be registered by any individual. Other second level domains like johndoe.name remain unaffected.

Name

A name is a term used for identification. Names can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. A personal name identifies, not necessarily uniquely, a specific individual human. The name of a specific entity is sometimes called a proper name (although that term has a philosophical meaning also) and is, when consisting of only one word, a proper noun. Other nouns are sometimes called "common names" or (obsolete) "general names". A name can be given to a person, place, or thing; for example, parents can give their child a name or scientist can give an element a name.

Caution must be exercised when translating, for there are ways that one language may prefer one type of name over another. A feudal naming habit is used sometimes in other languages: the French sometimes refer to Aristotle as "le Stagirite" from one spelling of his place of birth, and English speakers often refer to Shakespeare as "The Bard", recognizing him as a paragon writer of the language. Also, claims to preference or authority can be refuted: the British did not refer to Louis-Napoleon as Napoleon III during his rule.

Identifier

An identifier is a name that identifies (that is, labels the identity of) either a unique object or a unique class of objects, where the "object" or class may be an idea, physical [countable] object (or class thereof), or physical [noncountable] substance (or class thereof). The abbreviation ID often refers to identity, identification (the process of identifying), or an identifier (that is, an instance of identification). An identifier may be a word, number, letter, symbol, or any combination of those.

The words, numbers, letters, or symbols may follow an encoding system (wherein letters, digits, words, or symbols stand for (represent) ideas or longer names) or they may simply be arbitrary. When an identifier follows an encoding system, it is often referred to as a code or ID code. Identifiers that do not follow any encoding scheme are often said to be arbitrary IDs; they are arbitrarily assigned and have no greater meaning. (Sometimes identifiers are called "codes" even when they are actually arbitrary, whether because the speaker believes that they have deeper meaning or simply because he is speaking casually and imprecisely.)

Declán of Ardmore

Declán of Ardmore (Irish: Declán mac Eircc, Latin: Declanus, died 5th century), also called Déclán or Declan, was an early Irish saint of the Déisi Muman, who was remembered for having converted the Déisi in the late 5th century and for having founded the monastery of Ardmore (Ard Mór) in what is now Co. Waterford. The principal source for his life and cult is a Latin Life of the 12th century. Like Ailbe of Emly, Ciarán of Saigir and Abbán of Moyarney, Declán is presented as a Munster saint who preceded Saint Patrick in bringing Christianity to Ireland. He was regarded as a patron saint of the Déisi of East Munster.

Sources

The main source for Declán's life and cult is a Latin Life or vita, which however, survives only in a redaction of the late 12th century. It is witnessed by two manuscript texts which Charles Plummer has shown to derive from the same original: (1) Dublin, TCD, MS E.3.11 (dubbed T by Plummer), f. 66b-71d; and (2) a somewhat more damaged version in Dublin, Primate Marsh's Library, MS V.3.4 (Plummer's M), f. 101 ff. These two manuscripts are also collectively known as the Dublin Collection (or the Codex Kilkenniensis, though the name is also used to refer to the Primate Marsh's Library manuscript only). In its received form, the Life leans heavily on the Life of St Ailbe of Emly in the Codex Salmanticensis, but earlier materials may have been incorporated. The introductory chapters draw on early Irish sagas, notably the origin legend of Déisi related in the Expulsion of the Déisi and the story of Lugaid Riab nDerg in Aided Meidbe and Medb's Three Husbands. Declán is emphatically designated as a bishop of the Déisi, which appears to echo the monastery's political ambitions in the 12th century, when the Irish Church was reformed into a diocesan system following the Synod of Rathbreasail and Synod of Kells. Ardmore aspired to the status of episcopal see in the new diocese, but the privilege went instead to Lismore, founded by St Mochuda.

Declan (disambiguation)

Declan (fl. 5th century) was the Irish religious leader Declán of Ardmore.

Declan may also refer to: