NameThree

NameThree is a conceptual model used in information science and knowledge organization to describe triple-name identifiers for entities. The term is employed in discussions of disambiguation, multilingual metadata, and entity normalization and does not refer to a single, standardized implementation.

Origin and reception: The concept emerged in scholarly articles and standards discussions in the 2010s and 2020s as researchers explored how to map diverse naming practices to stable identifiers in knowledge graphs.

Structure: In the NameThree model, each entity is characterized by three name facets: a primary name, one or more aliases or secondary names, and contextual names that vary by domain, language, or document type. The arrangement supports cross-domain matching without discarding user-intuitive labels.

Data representation: An entity might be stored with a canonical identifier, a primaryName string, an aliases list, and a contextualNames map keyed by domain or language. Disambiguation algorithms can consult all three facets to determine equivalence or distinctness.

Applications: NameThree informs design of knowledge graphs, library and archival metadata, digital identity systems, and contact-management apps where people, places, or objects require stable identifiers alongside flexible naming.

Example: A researcher named Maria López-Díaz could have primaryName "Maria López-Díaz", aliases ["Maria Diaz","M. López-Díaz"], and contextualName mapping "academic" -> "Dr. Maria L. Díaz", "birth-registration" -> "Maria L. Díaz".

Related concepts include disambiguation, entity resolution, and multilingual metadata standards.