These words mean to entitle a person or thing for purposes of identification or designation to a particular function, office or honour. Name , the most general word, is to fix the thought or idea of someone or something in word form so that the person or thing may be afterwards specifically known or recalled to mind.

• The province was named Normandy; They named their child Janet.

Name means also to mention or refer to by name in speech or writing.

• The teacher asked her pupils which one of them could name the kings of England in five minutes.

Name means to identify or accuse by name or by naming .

• Can you name that flower?; He was named as a suspect in this morning’s paper.

Name finally means to select or nominate for or to appoint to some particular purpose or position.

• December 18 has been named the date for the annual office picnic; My father was recently named president of his club.

Call means to name : to call the baby Michael. It can mean to address or speak of by a specific name .

• Don’t be formal, call me Joe.

Call is also used when a descriptive word is mentioned to characterize someone.

• Don’t you call me a liar; William I of England was called the Conqueror.

Designate is to name by some distinctive word, symbol, expression, etc.: The points of interest on the map are designated by letters of the alphabet. Designate , like name , means to select or appoint, as by authority, for some specific purpose, duty, etc.

• Four officers were designated to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross; The president of the club designated those members he wanted to serve on committees for the charity ball.

The comparable sense of name differs only slightly in that it is used more often than designate when emphasis is placed on announcement rather than selection.

Christen is the most specialized of the words in this group since it refers to the formal Christian rite of baptism. In its original meaning, christen was synonymous with baptize, but it has come more and more to suggest the naming of a person at baptism rather than the entire ceremony: The infant was christened Diane. By extension, christen is used when inanimate objects are named , particularly in ceremonies analogous to baptism: to christen a ship.

Dub is the most informal word in the group even though it refers in its original meaning to the very formal act of conferring knighthood by tapping on the shoulder with a sword. Today dub means to give dignity or character to someone by means of some title or descriptive expression, or simply to nickname.

• He was dubbed "Father of the year"; It is unfair to dub someone a coward merely because he refuses to fight; My friend Charles was dubbed "Shorty" when he was a child and he has never outgrown the nickname.