Is name a reserved word in MySQL?

Question

Can I name a column name in my mysql tables?

Answer 1

Just a word of caution here. As field name name is fine.

However in stored procedures name as variable does something else.

Consider the following procedure. When I called this procedure it always would alter the first record in my config database. Once I renamed the variable named name to something else, things worked fine.

PROCEDURE `updateConfig`(IN name VARCHAR(255), IN val VARCHAR(255))
BEGIN
UPDATE LOW_PRIORITY `config`
  SET `value`=val
  WHERE `name` = name
  LIMIT 1;
END

Answer 2

Regardless of whether or not you can, you might want to consider why you want to do it in the first place. Name of what? What kind of name? After a few years, if you look at the database schema, will you still remember these details?

I suggest it would be in your best interest to treat the column name the same as you would treat any variable names, and give it a descriptive name. Years down the road, you (or anyone who maintains your code) will be thanking you.

Answer 3

CREATE TABLE mytest (name INT);

SELECT  *
FROM    mytest;

name
--------

In dubious cases you may enclose names into grave accents:

CREATE TABLE `CREATE TABLE` (name INT);

SELECT  *
FROM    `CREATE TABLE`;

name
--------

Answer 4

You should be fine calling a column 'name'. Check out http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/reserved-words.html for more details on how to deal with reserved words.

Wrapping column names in the (`) character ensures that even reserved words won't be misinterpreted.

Answer 5

Why not just try it?

mysql> select name from name;
+------+
| name |
+------+
|    1 |
+------+

Also you can quote any names with ``.

mysql> select `from` from `from`;
+------+
| from |
+------+
|    1 |
+------+

Answer 6

Yes even though if its a person name I would recommend FirstName or FullName to be the column name to be more specific MYSQL Reserved Words