Nameeither

Nameeither is a neologism used in linguistics and computer science to describe a naming construction in which two alternative names may refer to the same referent. The term blends "name" and "either" to signal that a single entity can be identified by one of two labels, depending on context. It is not a standard term in any single field, but appears in scholarly discussions of aliasing, coreference, and data labeling as a convenient shorthand.

Definition and scope: In linguistics, a nameeither construction occurs when two names are interchangeable for a referent within a discourse, without altering referential intent. In programming and data modeling, a nameeither value may be represented as a union type or an alias that stores either of two strings representing the same real-world entity.

Origin and usage: The term arose in the 2020s in informal discussions among researchers exploring aliasing and named entity labeling. It remains a descriptive heuristic rather than a formal category, and different authors may apply it with slightly varied meanings.

Examples: A person listed as "Samuel Johnson" or "Sam Johnson" in a dataset can be treated as a nameeither for the same individual. In natural language processing, references like "the author" or "the writer" may function as nameeither tokens for one person when coreference is analyzed.

Relation to related concepts: Nameeither intersects with aliasing, nickname, and coreference, but it emphasizes equivalence between two labels rather than creating a new identity. In programming, it resembles a union type or a discriminated union for naming identifiers. See also aliasing, coreference, union type, disambiguation.