名

It is a compound ideogram formed from:

夕 (저녁 석) – meaning evening, and

口 (입 구) – meaning mouth.

In oracle bone inscriptions (甲骨文 jiǎgǔwén), the position of 夕 shifted between the left and right of 口 until, by the bronze script (金文 jinwen) stage, the final placement was standardized.

The prevailing interpretation is:

“In the evening, when it was too dark to recognize one another by sight, people would call each other’s names to identify who they were.”

From this concept, 名 came to mean “to call someone by name” and eventually simply “name.”

It is also used as a counter for people (e.g. “3명” in Korean, meaning “three people”).

Thus, 名 not only expresses the idea of a name or identity, but also carries the function of counting individuals in some contexts.