Nimikkeen

Nimike is a Finnish noun meaning designation, name, label, or title of something. It is used to refer to the official or conventional name by which an object, role, work, or item is identified. The word can describe a person’s job title, the name of a product, the title of a work, or a label attached to an item in catalogs and databases.

Etymologically, nimike derives from nimi, meaning name, with the productive suffix -ke-, which forms abstract or collective nouns. The term is common across formal and technical contexts, but it remains a general-purpose word that does not itself specify a particular domain. In everyday language, nimike can denote a person’s official designation (for example, toimin-nimike refers to one’s job title) as well as the label used for a printed work, a painting, a device, or a catalog entry.

In practice, nimike appears in several domains. In libraries and archives, it is used to denote the title field of a bibliographic description. In administration and human resources, it refers to job titles or official designations. In information technology and data management, nimike can mean the label or caption assigned to an object, file, or interface element. Across these uses, nimikkeen (genitive form) indicates possession or association with the designation in question, as in “nimikkeen muutos” (change of the designation).

Forms include nimike (singular), nimikkeet (plural), nimikkeen (genitive), and nimikettä (partitive). The term is neutral and versatile, suitable for describing how things are named or labeled in Finnish.

See also: nimi, nimikekäsite, toimen nimike.