first name
noun
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first name
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first-name
first-nameadjectiveof or relating to one's first, or given, name; familiar; intimate.
first name
1 Americannoun
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first names
plural
first-name
2
American
[furst-neym, furst-neym]
/ ˈfɜrstˌneɪm, ˈfɜrstˈneɪm /
adjective
verb (used with object)
first-named,
first-naming
first name
British
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of first name1
Middle English word dating back to 1200–50
Origin of first-name2
First recorded in 1300–50
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"Nothing has changed in Italy over the 45 years I've been on this planet and nothing will," said Maurizio, a sandal-wearing IT worker who preferred to give only his first name.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
For 19-year-old Li from Shanghai, who didn't give her first name, these are places where she "can see so many possibilities, and where existing ideas can be challenged".
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
He got his first name from the woman who delivered him as a baby while his mother was in labor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Girls and women who have their mother's names do not face the same censure - and often when they marry may opt to take their husband's first name as their surname.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
You share a first name with a former US president.
From "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli
The credibility of these lawyers earns their appeals special attention from the court, and the justices know many of them on a first-name basis.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
He says he made several visits to A&E during attacks, to the point he was known on a first-name basis.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
Before that day, Kani had never made the acquaintance of a white person on a first-name basis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2026
He was quickly on a first-name basis with Paul Rudolph, the intimidating head of the school, and the influential art historian Vincent Scully.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025
“Wait. Wait. I’m sorry. I’m still stuck on the part about David getting snuck in by a guard. An Exclusion Guard. One that you’re on first-name basis with.”
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
Jefferson is the first-named of the 12 authors on the paper, but it appears from the text that he had relatively little to do with it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2023
So commanding in character and performance was Marshall that even the supremely self-confident Franklin Roosevelt deferred to him, never first-named him.
From Time Magazine Archive
Thorez chummily first-named the ambassador: "We are all friends, aren't we, Alex, and brothers?"
From Time Magazine Archive
Blessed with an adhesive memory for names and faces, he firstnamed countless delegates at Brotherhood conventions over the years, and in 1953 he first-named his way into the presidency of the Brotherhood.
From Time Magazine Archive
The first-named villages own all the land, and the others are mere agricultural tenants, removable at will.
From The Fijians A Study of the Decay of Custom by Basil Thomson
Watch John Connally attempting to prove what an amiable fellow he is by jovially first-naming Mike Wallace all through the 60 Minutes program in which Wallace skillfully cuts him up.
From Time Magazine Archive
The public saw him as a reserved, almost gentle man who quietly repelled intimacy; even first-naming Franklin Roosevelt invariably called him "General."
From Time Magazine Archive
"I don't see how you do it," he said one day when two old friends were first-naming each other.
From Time Magazine Archive
Too quick first-naming is like stepping into that critical distance within which an animal will attack a trespasser.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
