Unicode alias names and abbreviations


In Unicode, characters can have a unique name. A character can also have one or more alias names. An alias name can be an abbreviation, a C0 or C1 control name, a correction, an alternate name or a figment. An alias too is unique over all names and aliases, and therefore identifying.

Background

The formal, primary Unicode name is unique over all names, only uses certain characters & format, and is guaranteed never to change. The formal name consists of characters A-Z, 0-9, " ", and "-".
Next to this name, a character can have one or more formal alias names. Such an alias name also follows the rules of a name: characters used and not used. Alias names are also unique in the full name set. Alias names are formally described in the Unicode Standard.
In this sense, an abbreviation is also considered a name.
The Unicode standard also uses "alias names" that are not formal, and are not listed in the normative NameAliases.txt file. These names may not be unique and may use incorrect characters in their name.

Reason to add an alias

There are five possible reasons to assign an alias name to a code point.
A character can have multiple aliases: for example has control alias and abbreviation alias.
;1. Abbreviation
;2. Control
;3. Correction
;4. Alternate
;5. Figment

Formal aliases