'filename' originates from Modern English, specifically the compound 'file' + 'name', where 'file' referred to 'a collection of documents or records' and 'name' meant 'a word or set of words by which something is known'.

'file' developed from Middle English 'file' (meaning 'a line or row') ultimately from Latin 'filum' meaning 'thread'; 'name' comes from Old English 'nama' (from Proto-Germanic *namô). The compound 'filename' arose in computing in the mid-20th century to denote the name given to a computer file.

Initially, the elements referred to physical files and a person's or object's name; over time, 'filename' came to mean specifically the label identifying a digital/computer file.