Nameplate

A nameplate identifies and displays a person or product's name. Name plates are usually shaped as rectangles but are also seen in other shapes, sometimes taking on the shape of someone’s name. The primary use of name plates is for informative (as in an office environment, where name plates are mounted on doors or walls in order to identify employees) and commercial purposes (as in a retail environment, where name plates are mounted on products to identify the brand). Whereas name tags tend to be worn on uniforms or clothing, name plates tend to be mounted onto an object (e.g. cars, amplification devices) or physical space (e.g. doors, walls, or desktops). Nameplates are also distinct from name plaques. Plaques are items of larger dimensions that are designed to communicate more information than a name and title.

Office nameplates

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.