strictly speaking, the Nix language does not have variables because what we call "variables" in the mathematical sense are names assigned to values that do not change, but can rather have different possible but fixed values depending on context.
this change is mainly to make use of words consistent with the Nix language tutorial in order to avoid any ambiguity and confusion for beginners, who may wonder why one article says "there are no variables" and the other one liberally uses the term regardless. always using "name" makes unmistakably clear that it's a variable in the mathematical sense.