C#: Anonymous types and property names

Question

Is there any difference at all between this:

dataContext.People.Select(ø => new
{
     Name = ø.Name,
});

and this:

dataContext.People.Select(ø => new
{
     ø.Name,
});

?

Answer 1

They are identical; if no name is specified (and the right-hand-side is a simple member-access) then the name of the existing member is assumed. The name is only necessary to:

• change the name to something else (for example Name = grp.Key)
• to give a name to a non-member-access expression (for example Count = grp.Count())

Answer 2

No. The second simply derives the name of the property for you, the actual code generated is the same.

Answer 3

No, the compiler will name the property of the anonymous type the same as the right hand side of the assignment.