Interesting about half of the answers give a general term for any table that implements a many-to-many relationship, and the other half of the answers suggest a name for this specific table.
I called these tables intersections tables generally.
In terms of naming conventions, most people give a name that is an amalgam of the two tables in the many-to-many relationship. So in this case, "ColorShape
" or "ShapeColor
." But I find this looks artificial and awkward.
Joe Celko recommends in his book "SQL Programming Style" to name these tables in some natural language manner. For instance, if a Shape is colored by a Color, then name the table ColoredBy
. Then you could have a diagram that more or less reads naturally like this:
Shape <-- ColoredBy --> Color
Conversely, you could say a Color colors a Shape:
Color <-- Colors --> Shape
But this looks like the middle table is the same thing as Color
with a plural naming convention. Too confusing.
Probably most clear to use the ColoredBy
naming convention. Interesting that using the passive voice makes the naming convention more clear.