Identifying a person's name vs. a dictionary word

Question

Is there some way to recognize that a word is likely to be/is not likely to be a person\'s name?

So if I see the word \"understanding\" I would get a probability of 0.01

Answer 1

Based on just the word (or series of words that does not form a sentence), I'd say no, or at least not one that would be able to provide any more information than a "known words dictionary" lookup.

Different locales would have different probabilities as well, and it's very much the position of the word in a sentence and the other words that signal whether it's a name or some other noun/verb.

For example, "Word" might be a:

1. noun - "The word on the page is blurry"
2. verb - "I word my sentences carefully"
3. adjective - "I like word games"
4. proper name - "My friend Word is nice to me"

It all depends on context and position in a sentence - and the rules for this change from language to language. Also, new names get invented regularly - next year's most popular baby name may "Galapagos" instead of "Liam".