Identifier

An identifier is a name that identifies (that is, labels the identity of) either a unique object or a unique class of objects, where the "object" or class may be an idea, physical object (or class thereof), or physical substance (or class thereof). The abbreviation ID often refers to identity, identification (the process of identifying), or an identifier (that is, an instance of identification). An identifier may be a word, number, letter, symbol, or any combination of those.

The words, numbers, letters, or symbols may follow an encoding system (wherein letters, digits, words, or symbols stand for (represent) ideas or longer names) or they may simply be arbitrary. When an identifier follows an encoding system, it is often referred to as a code or ID code. Identifiers that do not follow any encoding scheme are often said to be arbitrary IDs; they are arbitrarily assigned and have no greater meaning. (Sometimes identifiers are called "codes" even when they are actually arbitrary, whether because the speaker believes that they have deeper meaning or simply because he is speaking casually and imprecisely.)

ID codes inherently carry metadata along with them. (For example, when you know that the food package in front of you has the identifier "2011-09-25T15:42Z-MFR5-P02-243-45", you not only have that data, you also have the metadata that tells you that it was packaged on September 25, 2011, at 3:42pm UTC, manufactured by Licensed Vendor Number 5, at the Peoria, IL, USA plant, in Building 2, and was the 243rd package off the line in that shift, and was inspected by Inspector Number 45.) Arbitrary identifiers carry no metadata. (For example, if your food package just says 100054678214, its ID may not tell you anything except identity—no date, manufacturer name, production sequence rank, or inspector number.)

A unique identifier (UID) is an identifier that refers to only one instance—only one particular object in the universe. A part number is an identifier, but it is not a unique identifier—for that, a serial number is needed, to identify each instance of the part design. Thus the identifier "Model T" identifies the class (model) of automobiles that Ford's Model T comprises; whereas the unique identifier "Model T Serial Number 159,862" identifies one specific member of that class—that is, one particular Model T car, owned by one specific person.

The concepts of name and identifier are denotatively equal, and the terms are thus denotatively synonymous; but they are not always connotatively synonymous, because code names and ID numbers are often connotatively distinguished from names in the sense of traditional natural language naming. For example, both "Jane Smith" and "Employee Number 8547" are identifiers for the same specific human being; but normal English-language connotation may consider "Jane Smith" a "name" and not an "identifier", whereas it considers "Employee Number 8547" an "identifier" but not a "name". This is an emic distinction rather than an etic one.