In cataloging, the predominant name refers to the name of the primary author or creator of a resource, which is typically used as the main entry in the bibliographic record. This name is used as the primary way to identify and locate the resource in a catalog or database. The predominant name is usually the name that appears first on the title page of a book, or at the beginning of an article or other publication, and is the name that is used to alphabetize the resource within a catalog or bibliography.
The choice of predominant name is based on the cataloging rules and conventions, and it can be the personal name of the author, corporate name or the main heading of a name if the resource is written by multiple authors. These rules also take into account the name’s form and the resources format, in order to make sure that the primary name for any resource is chosen in a consistent and standardized way.