nomin

Two of the world's great languages started from the same ancient word for "name." The Proto-Indo-European root *h₃nómn̥ ("name") split into Latin nōmen / nōminis and Greek ónoma. They look different on the surface, but they are siblings — and English borrowed from both, which is why one idea ("name") reaches you through two spellings: nomin-/nomen- and -onym-.

The Latin branch is about putting a name on someone or something. To nominate is literally to "name" a person for a post; the one named is a nominee; the act is a nomination. Something nominal exists in name only — a nominal fee is a fee that's barely worth naming. Denomination carries the idea of naming a category: a named religious group, or the named value stamped on money (a $20 bill's denomination). And there are two famous twists. Ignominy is in- (not) + nōmen (name) = "no name" — and to be stripped of your good name is exactly what disgrace feels like. Renown went through French re-nomer ("to name again and again"): the person everyone keeps naming is the famous, renowned one.

The Greek branch, written -onym, is the workhorse of vocabulary about words and naming. Anonymous is an- (without) + onyma = "without a name." A synonym is a "same-name" word (syn- together/same); an antonym an "opposite-name" (anti-); a pseudonym a "false name" (pseudo-); an acronym a name built from the first letters (acro- tip/top). The state of namelessness is anonymity.

There's even an English-native cousin. Our everyday word name descends straight from the Germanic side of that same PIE *h₃nómn̥, so name, nickname, surname and rename are genuine relatives of the Latin nōmen — they just arrived through Old English instead of Latin.

One false friend to ignore: phenomenon looks like it ends in "-menon = name," but it doesn't. It comes from Greek phainein ("to show, appear"); the resemblance to nōmen is pure coincidence.