An oeconym, also econym,[1] or oikonym (from Greek: οἶκος, oîkos, 'house, dwelling' and ὄνυμα, ónuma, 'name') is a specific type of toponym that designates a proper name of a house or any other residential building, and in the broader sense, the term also refers to the proper name of any inhabited settlement, like village, town or city.
[7][6] Sometimes the term ecodomonym (from Ancient Greek: δόμος, domos) is used to refer specifically to a building as an inhabited place.
[14] Explicit reference is made to oeconyms (and their lack of correspondence with residents' names) in Njáls saga, a 13th-century Icelandic work describing events between 960 and 1020.
[16] Since 1953, oeconyms have been enshrined in law, and Icelandic farms are required to have registered names approved by a special committee.
It has been suggested that this was because of cultural differences, whereby American farms were perceived as income sources rather than traditional family seats.
A well-known Slovene example is the writer Lovro Kuhar, better known by the pen name Prežihov Voranc (literally, 'Voranc from the Prežih farm').