Abstract: The subject of this study is the precedent names in Umberto Eco's novel "The Name of the Rose". The author relies on the theoretical provisions developed in relation to the precedent names of E. A. Nakhimova. With the help of computational methods of analysis and subsequent manual verification of the results, a list of all precedent names present in the novel was obtained. The names invented by Eco itself were also analyzed, precedent components were found in them, which were also analyzed. As a result, a list of 544 names was obtained, which the author classified into several groups. Next, the functions were defined in which the existing precedent names are used. The scientific novelty of this study is due to two factors. On the one hand, the author contributes to the development of the concept of "precedent name", which entered science quite recently (in the 2000s). On the other hand, the novelty is determined by the very material on which the research is carried out, since the texts of Umberto Eco until today are more often the subject of literary research, while their linguistic aspects remain out of the field of view of specialists. The author discovers the predominance of pragmatic and modeling functions of precedent names in the text of the novel. There are also examples of the use of case names in the human function and the evaluation function. At the same time, due to the theoretical provisions of postmodernism, in accordance with which the novel was developed, it can be said that the password function is concomitant with everything else. In addition, we can say that the massive use of precedent names in the text of the novel is used as a technique. Although science has not yet developed a single term for this technique, following the Danish researcher Jon Kyust, the author suggests using the term "neimdropping" for this.