Ancient Greek personal names

The study of ancient Greek personal names is a branch of onomastics, the study of names,^[1] and more specifically of anthroponomastics, the study of names of persons. There are hundreds of thousands and even millions of individuals whose Greek name are on record; they are thus an important resource for any general study of naming, as well as for the study of ancient Greece itself. The names are found in literary texts, on coins and stamped amphora handles, on potsherds used in ostracisms, and, much more abundantly, in inscriptions and (in Egypt) on papyri. This article will concentrate on Greek naming from the 8th century BC, when the evidence begins, to the end of the 6th century AD.^[2]