Error.prototype.name

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

The name data property of Error.prototype is shared by all Error instances. It represents the name for the type of error. For Error.prototype.name, the initial value is "Error". Subclasses like TypeError and SyntaxError provide their own name properties.

Value

A string. For Error.prototype.name, the initial value is "Error".

Property attributes of Error.prototype.name
Writableyes
Enumerableno
Configurableyes

Description

By default, Error instances are given the name "Error". The name property, in addition to the message property, is used by the Error.prototype.toString() method to create a string representation of the error.

Examples

Throwing a custom error

js
const e = new Error("Malformed input"); // e.name is 'Error'

e.name = "ParseError";
throw e;
// e.toString() would return 'ParseError: Malformed input'

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript® 2025 Language Specification
# sec-error.prototype.name

Browser compatibility

Report problems with this compatibility data on GitHub
desktopmobileserver
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
Deno
Node.js
name

Legend

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Full support
Full support

See also