What's in a Name?
In Kurdish, your Nav is your identity. In French, it's your Nom. In English, it's your Name. In Hindi, it's your Naam. In Icelandic, it's your Nafn. In Welsh, it's your Enw.
All these words come from the same ancient root. They haven't changed in 5,000 years.
The Global Connection
| Language | Word | Region | Culture |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kurdish | Nav | Middle East | Mountain shepherds |
| English | Name | Northern Europe | Germanic tribes |
| German | Name | Central Europe | Germanic people |
| French | Nom | Western Europe | Romance people |
| Spanish | Nombre | Southern Europe | Iberian peninsula |
| Italian | Nome | Southern Europe | Mediterranean |
| Russian | Imya (Имя) | Eastern Europe | Slavic people |
| Hindi | Naam (नाम) | South Asia | Indian subcontinent |
| Sanskrit | Nāma (नाम) | South Asia (ancient) | Ancient Vedic |
Why Names Matter
A name is the most personal thing you have. It's given at birth, it stays with you your whole life, it's how people know who you are. Across all cultures, the name is sacred.
That's why the word for "name" is one of the oldest and most stable words in any language. It's so fundamental to human identity that it was locked into our ancestor languages thousands of years ago.
And yet, from the mountains of Kurdistan to the valleys of France, from the forests of Germany to the plains of India, we use nearly identical words.
The Ancient Root
The Proto-Indo-European root is h₃nom-, meaning "name" or "to assign a name to."
This simple root has traveled 5,000 years and crossed thousands of miles. It's been pronounced differently, it's been written in different scripts, it's been shaped by different cultures.
But it's still recognizable. Still meaningful. Still connecting us all.
Your name is your identity. And across the entire Indo-European world—from India to Ireland—we use the same ancient word to describe it. Names connect us across continents and centuries. They are the eternal proof of our shared heritage.