1. That is the girl called Lisa. =That is the girl named Lisa. ANSWER: "That's the girl CALLED Lisa" is fine. (Although "That's Lisa" is probably better). "That's the girl NAMED Lisa" sounds odd and very formal. 2. The father called (named ) the baby John. ANSWER: 'called' is informal; 'named' is formal. 3. Alaska was named (called) by the Russians. Can we use "called by"? ANSWER: No, you can't say 'called by'. You have to have the name following called. (He was CALLED JOHN by his parents, but Jack by his friends.) To name something is to give it a name. To call something a name isn't always the same thing (see the example above, and also the following example): They CALLED the boss 'Grumpyboots' behind his back. (It wasn't what he was NAMED by his parents). So, sometimes they are synonymous (or at least similar), but sometimes they're not.

For an example - my dad's name is "Christopher." That is what his parents named him when he was born. However, his older brother was less than a year older than my father. He couldn't say "Christopher." He also couldn't say "baby" correctly. So my uncle *called* him "Bobby." The rest of the family thought that was adorable and so they started calling him "Bobby," too. (Not just that uncle, but my grandparents, their sisters and brothers, the cousins, the neighbors, and even my dad's younger sisters and brothers) So he is named "Christopher" He is called "Bobby" His father named him "Christopher." His father called him "Bobby." Make sense?