A name is a word or 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 a specific unique and identifiable individual person, and may or may not include a middle name. The name of a specific entity is sometimes called a proper name and is a proper noun. Other nouns are sometimes, more loosely, called names; an older term for them, now obsolete, is "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.