The term nāma ordinarily means “name,” but in the context of “name-and-form” it refers more specifically to everything that makes up sentience, i.e., the mind and mental factors. In that context, the term is sometimes etymologized from the root nam in the sense of “bending,” either toward an object (perceiving an object), or toward a new birth.

Literally “name,” this refers to the four mental skandhas, by contrast to rūpa.