Lutz D. Schmadel Dictionary of Minor Planet Names

Annotation

to the Third Edition People love to name things. Parents name their children. Children name their pets. Why? Otherwise rational human beings put an inordinate effort into this naming activity. Some names are selected to remind the namer of some other person, place or event. In other instances, the choice of a name means something that "sounds good" , or is easily spelled. "What's the baby's name?" is much more likely to be asked than some question'about its state of health, its weight or the color of its eyes. People are often named according to religious tradition, exemplified in the custom, in some countries, of speaking of a "christian" name. In other countries, it is a "given" name, often the name of some favored relative, particularly a father, as in the system of patronymics. In some parts of the world ci, name may be more practical, making it dear that this person is "number one son", for example. But in such a case, why not simply give numbers to the children in order of their birth? One might presume that other animals number their children: take one away, and the mother will realize that the count is wrong, possibly even to the point of knowing precisely which infant has been removed. The most basic part of speech is a "noun", a word that itself means "name", particularly in its dominant use as the subject, i.e., in the "nominative case".