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
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:
Many children in Kenya traditionally inherit their father's first name as their surname, but there are an increasing number of people who are taking their mother's instead.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Where there were once hecklers and whistles, there is rowdy chanting of his first name.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
If his first name inevitably evokes Arthurian legend, Fery’s march through the draw gave Britain reason to believe again.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
Mario, who asked to be identified by only his first name because of his pending immigration case, is among seven workers who U.S.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2026
She’s waiting for me to answer, and meanwhile I’m fixated on the way she pronounced his first name.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
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
He was also part of the thinking to famously drop the donuts from Dunkin' to move "to a first-name basis with America", given it was also one of country's the biggest coffee sellers.
From BBC ● Nov. 23, 2024
As Cressy drove up the street, Daryl Gross stopped to talk with her neighbor whom she didn’t quite know on a first-name basis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2024
“They’re on a first-name basis and know their pets and family members. It’s easier to advise on complex conditions and provide the care they need versus a transactional experience.”
From Seattle Times ● May 31, 2024
He and Traynor were now on a first-name basis.
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
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
The most vigorous action so far has been the application by the first-named for an injunction against the New York Sugar Exchange.
From Time Magazine Archive
The first-named is the most reliable and useful of the three.
From Tragedy by Thorndike, Ashley H.
Too quick first-naming is like stepping into that critical distance within which an animal will attack a trespasser.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
"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
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
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.
