Synonyms of naming

naming 1 of 2

noun

as in designation

Related Words

• designation
• nomination
• assignment
• option
• decision
• appointment
• selecting
• picking
• choosing
• election
• selection
• choice

naming

2 of 2

verb

present participle of name

1

as in calling

to give a name to

decided to name her new puppy "Bubbles"

Synonyms & Similar Words

• calling
• labeling
• nominating
• dubbing
• designating
• terming
• nicknaming
• titling
• entitling
• styling
• denominating
• specifying
• baptizing
• christening
• renaming
• cleping
• branding
• tagging
• denoting
• stigmatizing
• misnaming
• relabeling
• rechristening
• miscalling
• mistitling
• code-naming
• surnaming

2

as in specifying

to make reference to or speak about briefly but specifically

I don't want to name anyone in particular, but someone in this room fiddled with my car's radio

Synonyms & Similar Words

• specifying
• mentioning
• citing
• noticing
• noting
• quoting
• indicating
• introducing
• suggesting
• explaining
• referring (to)
• touching (on or upon)
• announcing
• pronouncing
• implying
• dropping
• designating
• inferring
• clarifying
• publishing
• adverting (to)
• intending
• instancing
• signaling
• signifying
• declaring
• alluding (to)
• pointing (out)
• intimating
• publicizing
• proclaiming
• hinting (at)
• interpolating
• advertising
• broadcasting
• infiltrating
• denominating
• sounding
• interposing
• bringing up
• elucidating
• interjecting
• insinuating
• broaching
• spelling out
• clearing (up)
• explicating
• worming

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• ignoring
• forgetting
• disregarding
• neglecting
• overlooking
• passing over
• slighting
• overpassing

3

as in nominating

to pick (someone) by one's authority for a specific position or duty

was named the provost of the university

Synonyms & Similar Words

• nominating
• appointing
• assigning
• designating
• constituting
• commissioning
• attaching
• placing
• detailing
• inducting
• authorizing
• choosing
• delegating
• creating
• electing
• selecting
• installing
• instituting
• inaugurating
• ordaining
• consecrating
• crowning
• making
• anointing
• instating
• drafting
• deputizing
• investing
• enthroning
• deputing
• voting (in)
• throning
• handpicking
• destining
• singling (out)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• dismissing
• firing
• expelling
• discharging
• removing
• displacing
• overthrowing
• ejecting
• deposing
• dethroning
• evicting
• ousting
• unseating
• throwing out
• unmaking
• blackballing
• uncrowning

4

as in selecting

to decide to accept (someone or something) from a group of possibilities

you don't like my offer? Just name your price

Synonyms & Similar Words

• selecting
• choosing
• picking
• taking
• electing
• designating
• preferring
• tagging
• culling
• nominating
• handpicking
• opting (for)
• singling (out)
• adopting
• cherry-picking
• appointing
• marking
• accepting
• tapping
• embracing
• setting
• preselecting
• fixing
• tabbing
• espousing
• settling (on or upon)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• rejecting
• refusing
• declining
• turning down
• repudiating
• disapproving
• discarding
• throwing away
• spurning
• throwing out
• negativing
• jettisoning

5

as in setting

to decide upon (the time or date for an event) usually from a position of authority

you name the date and I'll make sure I'm there

Synonyms & Similar Words

• setting
• choosing
• picking
• selecting
• designating
• appointing
• specifying
• announcing
• establishing
• arranging
• adopting
• assigning
• fixing
• determining
• preferring
• coordinating
• declaring
• publishing
• settling
• advertising
• pinning (down)
• orchestrating
• opting (for)
• singling (out)

6

as in choosing

to come to a judgment about after discussion or consideration

they finally named a date for the wedding

Synonyms & Similar Words

• choosing
• figuring
• deciding
• opting
• resolving
• finding
• determining
• settling (on or upon)
• selecting
• concluding
• picking
• ruling
• decreeing
• electing
• culling
• preferring
• adjudicating
• adjudging
• contemplating
• debating
• pondering
• deliberating
• ruling (on)
• judging
• handpicking
• weighing
• considering
• studying
• thinking (about or over)
• arbitrating
• singling (out)
• meditating
• questioning
• refereeing
• ruminating
• cogitating
• entertaining
• umpiring
• mulling (over)
• chewing over

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• refusing
• rejecting
• declining
• turning down
• delaying
• abstaining
• halting
• stalling
• hesitating
• temporizing
• wavering
• vacillating
• waffling
• shilly-shallying

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of naming

Noun

In April, The Athletic revealed that KNOX Hydration had taken up a three-year naming-rights deal to become the first-ever sponsor of Newcastle’s Darsley Park training ground. — Chris Waugh, New York Times, 21 Aug. 2026

Talent fees on season tickets, league-level deals with the likes of PayPal, naming rights revenue not just for a stadium but for the playing field within the stadium. — ABC News, 20 Aug. 2026

Similar naming disputes also happened in the 2011 Venice Film Festival and the 2010 Tokyo International Film Festival. — Vivienne Chow, ARTnews.com, 20 Aug. 2026

But the team would retain sole management of the stadium, including the ability to advertise and sell the naming rights of the stadium. — Dylan Lysen, Kansas City Star, 18 Aug. 2026

The announcement of the senior appointments, purportedly made by Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Monday, followed the naming of a new national security chief, Mohsen Rezaie, a day earlier. — Tim Lister, CNN Money, 11 Aug. 2026

Agents established naming conventions, left work assignments and encoded scripts that another agent could retrieve. — Ron Schmelzer, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026

Order is restored to the kingdom through what is known as the Rumpelstiltskin effect, a term used by psychologists to describe the naming of something in order to create an illusion of understanding it. — Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2026

SoFi has a sports sponsorship portfolio that includes the NFL’s richest naming-rights deal, the NBA, golf and a number of prominent athletes. — Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico.com, 30 July 2026

Verb

That means naming pregnant women explicitly in heatwave guidance, revisiting the heat thresholds that trigger official alerts, and assessing whether maternity units themselves can cope as temperatures rise. — Catarina Rolfsdotter-Jansson, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2026

Most years, Freeman is eager to get into what the Irish did well, picking out a few standout performances and naming a winner between the offense and defense. — Pete Sampson, New York Times, 22 Aug. 2026

Now, Sheinbaum finds her government accused of creating its own blacklists — this time naming journalists, media outlets and others at odds with her administration. — Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2026

Las Vegas Raiders coach Klint Kubiak is either playing some sort of mind game or he sincerely is torn about naming a starting quarterback to open the regular season. — Armando Salguero Outkick, FOXNews.com, 21 Aug. 2026

Bertino-Tarrant praised the county’s public safety departments, specifically naming sheriff Deputy Steve Potete, who was named by the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists as Deputy of the Year for making 122 drunken driving arrests last year. — Michelle Mullins, Chicago Tribune, 20 Aug. 2026

According to The Lycra Company’s 2025 consumer study conducted by VML, sweat is a significant concern for end consumers, with respondents across all demographics naming it their number-one pain point. — Fairchild Studio, Footwear News, 20 Aug. 2026

Parents are naming guardians for their children in case they are detained or deported, while others have stopped working, shopping or even leaving home, relying instead on neighbors and churches. — Maria Santana, CNN Money, 15 Aug. 2026

His next of kin have been notified and are being supported by officers, police told NBC News, without naming Arday. — Marlene Lenthang, NBC news, 14 Aug. 2026