Top 100 Name Quotes That Highlight The Power Of Names

Moumita Dutta
Dec 12, 2023 By Moumita Dutta
Originally Published on Mar 29, 2021
Edited by Luca Demetriou
Turned wooden cubes and changed words 'bad name' to 'good name'.
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Age: 0-99
Read time: 12.4 Min

A simple term used for identifications and classifications of objects, persons, and places is called a name.

A personal name is an identifying word associated with a particular individual by which they are addressed. It is a tradition for people to have a personal name, a family name or a surname.

A name can hold great value and meaning to a person and even carry their legacy long after their lifetime. All over the world, people of different cultures and traditions follow different conventions when naming their children.

Commonly, many countries follow the patronym practice where a component of a personal name is based on the given name of one's father.

Find some great name quotes, last name quotes, words have power quote, names quotes, and much more right here! And for more related content, take a look at mirror quotes and key quotes.

Best Name Quotes

Here are quotations on names from authors and philosophers that teach you the meaning of the importance of names! Nobody other than an author can tell you the importance of names in such a vivid explanation!

1. "If names are not correct, language will not be in accordance with the truth of things."

— Confucius.

2. "How vain, without the merit, is the name."

— Homer.

3. "Action without a name, a who attached to it, is meaningless."

— Hanna Arendt.

4. "A name pronounced is the recognition of the individual to whom it belongs. He who can pronounce my name aright, he can call me, and is entitled to my love and service."

— Henry David Thoreau.

5. "The glory of my name increases my shame. Less known by mortals, I could better escape their eyes."

— Jean Racine.

6. "Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names."

— John F. Kennedy.

7. "History is not another name for the past, as many people imply. It is the name for stories about the past."

— A. J. P. Taylor.

8. "They say we die twice - once when the last breath leaves our body and once when the last person we know says our name."

— Al Pacino.

9. "O peace! how many wars were waged in thy name."

— Alexander Pope.

10. "We write our names in the sand: and then the waves roll in and wash them away."

— Neil Gaiman.

11. "Leadership is not a popularity contest; it's about leaving your ego at the door. The name of the game is to lead without a title."

— Robin Sharma.

12. "Some men do as much begrudge others a good name, as they want one themselves: and perhaps that is the reason of it."

— William Penn.

13. "When you love someone, you say their name different. Like it's safe inside your mouth."

— Jodi Picoult.

14. "I've named everything that I've ever owned. Real or inanimate, I have to give it a first and last name. Everything in my apartment comes alive at night."

— Amy Sedaris.

15. "Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?"

— Terry Pratchett.

16. "Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones."

— Shannon L. Alder.

17. "Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are."

— Augustine Of Hippo.

Beautiful Quotes About Names

These name quotes and sayings are sweet to the core with their description of names! Find your perfect name quote right here!

18. "Proper names are poetry in the raw. Like all poetry they are untranslatable."

— W.H. Auden.

19. "Names are the sweetest and most important sound in any language."

— Dale Carnegie.

20. "I remember so well the day that you came into my life. You asked for my name, you had the most beautiful smile."

— Gary Valenciano, 'How Did You Know'.

21. "There is a splendor in my name hidden and glorious, as the sun of midnight is ever the son."

— Aleister Crowley.

22. "I have no name: I am but two days old. What shall I call thee? I happy am, joy is my name. Sweet joy befall thee!"

— William Blake.

23. "Good name in man and woman is the immediate jewel of their souls."

— William Shakespeare, 'Othello'.

24. "His name tasted of fire and wings, of curling smoke, of subtlety and strength and the rasping whisper of scales."

— Naomi Novik.

25. "The blackest ink of fate are sure my lot, And when fate writ my name it made a blot."

— Henry Fielding.

26. "There is nothing sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling your name."

— Kate DiCamillo, ‘The Tale Of Despereaux’.

27. "Then love knew it was called love.

And when I lifted my eyes to your name,

suddenly your heart showed me my way."

— Pablo Neruda.

28. "All my life, my heart has sought a thing I cannot name.

Remembered line from a long- forgotten poem."

— Hunter S. Thompson.

Quotes About The Power Of A Name

These good name quotes and sayings will teach you how much strength a name holds when the context is fitting!

29. "Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself."

— J.K. Rowling.

30. "A name represents identity, a deep feeling, and holds tremendous significance to its owner."

— Rachel Ingber.

31. "A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone."

— Henry A. Kissinger.

32. "O villain, thou hast stol'n both mine office and my name! The one ne'er got me credit, the other mickle blame."

— William Shakespeare, 'The Comedy Of Errors'.

33. "My name is more important than myself."

— Pierre Cardin.

34. "There is a devil, and he knows my name."

— Daniel Johnston.

35. "I liked my name pronounced by your lips in a grateful, happy accent."

— Charlotte Brontë.

36. "Sticks and stones can break your bones, but names can kill you."

Philip Zimbardo.

37. "It's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you."

— Harper Lee.

38. "Your name is the most important thing you own. Don't ever do anything to disgrace or cheapen it."

— Ben Hogan.

39. "Children and savages use only nouns or names of things, which they convert into verbs, and apply to analogous mental acts."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson.

40. "If you are willing to work, you can write your name anywhere you choose."

— Gene Stratton-Porter.

41. "Names have power."

— Rick Riordan.

Inspiring Quotes On Names

Inspiring names quotes and sayings that will motivate you to the core!

42. "Experience is merely the name men gave to their mistakes."

— Oscar Wilde, 'The Picture Of Dorian Gray'.

43. "It is true that those we meet can change us, sometimes so profoundly that we are not the same afterwards, even unto our names."

— Yann Martel.

44. "Names, once they are in common use, quickly become mere sounds, their etymology being buried, like so many of the earth's marvels, beneath the dust of habit."

— Salman Rushdie.

45. "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

— William Shakespeare.

46. "The name of a man is a numbing blow from which he never recovers."

— Marshall McLuhan.

47. "A good name is rather to be chosen than riches."

King Solomon.

48. "To name oneself is the first act of both the poet and the revolutionary."

— Erica Jong.

49. "I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something."

— Richard P. Feynman.

50. "However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are."

— Henry David Thoreau.

Quotes About Names And Identity

Great quotations on identity and best names quotes help you out when you're feeling down and need some thoughts clearing!

51. "A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep."

— Salman Rushdie.

52. "Our names are labels, plainly printed on the bottled essence of our past behavior."

— Logan Pearsall Smith.

53. "Names are an important key to what a society values."

— David S. Slawson.

54. "The point of writing my name to you is that I see who you are, you see who I am... and that's what it's about."

— Nana Visitor.

55. "I loved her. I loved her with a something so fierce I couldn't even name it."

— Abbi Glines.

56. "Distinguish between power and control, delegate, be decisive - and always remember people's first names."

— Sir Alex Ferguson.

57. "I do not like the man who squanders life for fame; give me the man who living makes a name."

— Emily Dickinson.

58. "It is a sad truth, but we have lost the faculty of giving lovely names to things."

— Oscar Wilde.

59. "He that filches from me my good name robs me of that which enriches him and makes me poor indeed."

— William Shakespeare, 'Othello'.

60. "Names are not important. It's what lies inside of you that matters."

— Sarah J. Maas.

61. "Inside us there is something that has no name, that something is what we are."

— José Saramago.

62. "Perhaps I write for no one. Perhaps for the same person children are writing for when they scrawl their names in the snow."

— Margaret Atwood.

Nickname Quotes

Her are the best quotes about nicknames and the wholesomeness they bring along with them!

63. "Pen names are masks that allow us to unmask ourselves."

— Terri Guillemets.

64. "You have but to know an object by its proper name for it to lose its dangerous magic."

— Elias Canetti.

65. "Of all eloquence, a nickname is the most concise; of all arguments the most unanswerable."

— William Hazlitt.

66. "Nicknames stick to people, and the most ridiculous are the most adhesive."

— Thomas C. Haliburton.

67. "I love nicknames. It makes me feel loved. It makes me feel less alone in this world."

— Ellen Page.

68. "Titles are but nicknames, and every nickname is a title."

— Thomas Paine.

Famous Quotes About Identity

Quotes from some great personalities that are famous enough for you to have heard them before!

69. "My name, I have spent my whole life trying to make that name mean something. And now it's gone."

— Joe Paterno.

70. "I don't want to lose my name because that's how I know myself. There is a legacy here."

— Moon Zappa.

71. "I want to reach the point where people hear my name and immediately think of real country music."

— George Strait.

72. "I am the one whose love overcomes you, already with you when you think to call my name."

— Jane Kenyon.

73. "You have but to know an object by its proper name for it to lose its dangerous magic."

— Elias Canetti.

74. "Experience is the name men give to their follies or their sorrows."

— Alfred de Musset.

75. "Someday the world is going to know who I am-just be hearing my first name."

— Arnold Schwarzenegger.

My Name Quotes

Here are some great name quotes from your favorite authors right here!

76. "I'm not my name. My name is something I wear, like a shirt. It gets worn. I outgrow it, I change it."

— Jerry Spinelli.

77. "My name will live forever, but I should not care about this at all, because I am not my name and my name is not me."

— Mehmet Murat Ildan.

78. "I am not wrong: Wrong is not my name."

— June Jordan.

79. "My name may have buoyancy enough to float upon the sea of time."

— Richard Watson Gilder.

80. "Remember my name and you add to my feeling of importance."

— Dale Carnegie.

81. "My name has opened doors and slammed doors shut."

— Max Irons.

82. "Leave out my name from the gift if it be a burden, but keep my song."

— Rabindranath Tagore.

83. "I don't care what they call me as long as they mention my name."

— George M Cohan.

84. "I was not only hunting for my liberty, but also hunting for my name."

— William Wells Brown.

85. "I've always been proud that my name stands for peace."

— Paloma Picasso.

Funny Name Quotes

A person writing the name on a paper with a pen.

Funny 'taking names' quotes and 'name-calling' quotes that will get a chuckle or two out of you!

86. "I have known a German Prince with more titles than subjects, and a Spanish nobleman with more names than shirts."

— Oliver Goldsmith.

87. "I am a quick study - I can memorize a script in an hour - but I can't remember a name three seconds. I've even forgotten my wife's name on occasion."

— Don Adams.

88. "If I put my name on something, I'm going to be involved. I'm not just going to put my name on it and not pay attention."

— Derek Jeter.

89. "If I were a bottle of wine, my name would be Thom Cork."

— Thom Yorke.

90. "In school, nobody could pronounce my name. They just called me Rocky."

— Raquel Welch.

91. "He said my name the way diabetics talked about hot fudge sundaes."

— MaryJanice Davidson.

92. "If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank."

— Woody Allen.

93. "I'm a control freak. If you're going to slap my name on something, I would like to control it."

— Anthony Bourdain.

94. "Big flashy things have my name written all over them. Well...not yet, give me time and a crayon."

— Matt Smith.

95. "I get up every morning and read the obituary column. If my name's not there, I eat breakfast."

— George Burns.

96. "I don't mind if my skull ends up on a shelf as long as it's got my name on it."

— Debbie Harry.

97. "If I could pronounce the name 'James' in any different or more elaborate way I should be in favor of doing it."

— Henry James.

98. "I have fallen in love with American names, the sharp, gaunt names that never get fat."

— Stephen Vincent Benet.

99. "If Jesus came back and saw what was being done in his name, he'd never stop throwing up."

— Woody Allen.

100. "If you can't answer a man's arguments, all is not lost; you can still call him vile names."

— Elbert Hubbard.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for name quotes, then why not take a look at boat quotes, or landscape quotes.

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Written by Moumita Dutta

Bachelor of Arts specializing in Journalism and Mass Communication, Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Management

Moumita Dutta picture

Moumita DuttaBachelor of Arts specializing in Journalism and Mass Communication, Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Management

A content writer and editor with a passion for sports, Moumita has honed her skills in producing compelling match reports and stories about sporting heroes. She holds a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management, Calcutta University, alongside a postgraduate diploma in Sports Management.

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