From Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1600: What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet Meaning: what matters is what something is, not what it is called

it meant to say that the names of things do not matter, only what things are. cowboy...

Norman and roi g are correct. Something's nature is more important than its name. To rewrite the quote simply, we could say: Is there anything important in a name? The thing we call a "rose" would smell just as sweet if we called it something else.