give name to

Verb

give name to (third-person singular simple present gives name to, present participle giving name to, simple past gave name to, past participle given name to)

1. (transitive) To express (something) in words; to identify by name.
   • […] who may proceed against such Malignants where the Laws are wholy silent, and neither have given name to their fault, nor prescribed any punishment?1644, John Barwick, Certain Disquisitions and Considerations, Oxford, page 27
   • The skirt of your [men’s] fashionable coats forms as large a circumference as our [women’s] petticoats; as these are set out with whalebone, so are those with wire, to increase and sustain the bunch of fold that hangs down on each side; and the hat, I perceive is decreased in just proportion to the...1711, letter signed ‘T.’ in Joseph Addison and Richard Steele (eds.), The Spectator, No. 145, 16 August, 1711, in The Works of Joseph Addison, New York: Harper, 1850, Volume 1, p. 218
2. (transitive) To lend one's or its name to (something); to be the source of the name of (something).
   • The ensign of the Duke [of York] was a white rose, that of Henry a red. This gave name to the two houses, whose contentions were now about to drench the kingdom with slaughter.1764, Oliver Goldsmith, An History of England, London: J. Newbery, Volume 1, Letter 23, p. 174
   • the author must now offer some notices of the individual who gives name to these volumes1817, Walter Scott, Rob Roy, London: Ward, Lock, Introduction, p. xii
3. (obsolete, transitive) To give a name to (a person or animal).
   • And Adam gaue name to the woman, which was made of his ribbe (while he was a sleepe) and called her EVA, as he gaue name to al other creatures.1568, The Bishops’ Bible, London, Table setting out the genealogy of Adam

   Synonyms:

   name