Introduction - Name Properties and Concepts - Name String Concepts

Individual NameBank records represent recorded name strings. We refer to these instances as string concepts because they have a conceptual definition that is distinct from a normalized string index. For example, there may be cases where identical strings are indexed twice (e.g., the canonical form of homonyms). We also use this term because different individuals interpret the word "name" in biology in different ways. NameBank catalogs scientific names with and without author information as they appear in recorded form. These strings are then organized into groups based on lexical and nomenclatural criteria.

Examples:

Scientific Names

Homonyms

Operational taxonomic units

NameBank indexes quasi-scientific names as Operational Taxonomic Units (OTU). These strings often contain alpha-numeric characters that fall outside typical regulatory code conventions.

Vernacular Names