counter for people (honorific)
Honorific counter for people, used especially for customers, guests, or reservations. Common in service contexts.
Ten people attended the meeting.
How many people in your party (reservation)?
We have three guests visiting today.
Refers to a person's given name, as opposed to surname. Often used in forms or when asking for one's name.
Please write your name and address.
His name is Taro.
Prefix used in compounds to mean 'famous' or 'great', as in 名探偵 (great detective). Not freely productive.
See also: 名探偵
He is known as a great detective.
This shop is popular for its famous ramen.
Suffix attached to nouns to mean 'name of ...', as in 学校名 (school name) or コード名 (code name).
Please tell me the code name of this file.
Please fill in the school name.
noun (grammar)
Abbreviation of 名詞 (noun), used in dictionary contexts or linguistic discussions. Not used in everyday speech.
See also: 名詞
In dictionaries, '名' is used as an abbreviation for noun.
He left without giving his name.
Will this be for four guests?
名前 is the common everyday word for a person's name, while 名 is more formal and often appears in set phrases or compounds.
姓 refers to a person's surname/family name, whereas 名 refers to their given (first) name.
人 is the plain, everyday counter for people, while 名 is its honorific counter used for customers, guests, or reservations.
命 (めい, as in 命令) means order or command and is unrelated in meaning to 名, though the two share the same reading めい.
銘 means an inscription or brand mark (as in 銘柄), a different word from 名 despite the identical reading めい.
From Middle Chinese 名 (mjieng). The kanji 名 has been used in Japanese for 'name' and related concepts since early borrowing.