Method for providing a name service within an industrial automation system, in which - communication devices of the industrial automation system in each case check by means of a name service component (130, 130') whether a device name with a topological and/or hierarchical name component which completely designates a spatial or hierarchical arrangement of the respective communication device is allocated to the respective communication device, - the communication devices in each case, in the case of a positive result of the check, treat their associated device name as complete device name, - the communication devices in each case, in the case of a negative result of the check, independently generate their complete device name from topological and/or hierarchical name components distributed by means of messages with router advertisements and a name component unambiguous within their respective subnetwork, - communication devices which have in each case a router function and are integrated in an automation device in each case, in the case of a negative result of the check, receive the router advertisements with name information from higher-level subnetworks, supplement these by a topological and/or hierarchical name component which is allocated to their respective spatial or hierarchical arrangement, and distribute supplemented name information within their respective lower-level subnetwork by means of router advertisements, - the communication devices in each case request by means of a name service client for dynamic DNS a storage of their communication network address and their associated complete device name in a name service server and/or in each case distribute by means of a name service component for multicast DNS information about their communication network address and their associated complete device name within their respective subnetwork in accordance with the Multicast DNS Protocol. - communication devices of the industrial automation system in each case check by means of a name service component (130, 130') whether a device name with a topological and/or hierarchical name component which completely designates a spatial or hierarchical arrangement of the respective communication device is allocated to the respective communication device, - the communication devices in each case, in the case of a positive result of the check, treat their associated device name as complete device name, - the communication devices in each case, in the case of a negative result of the check, independently generate their complete device name from topological and/or hierarchical name components distributed by means of messages with router advertisements and a name component unambiguous within their respective subnetwork, - communication devices which have in each case a router function and are integrated in an automation device in each case, in the case of a negative result of the check, receive the router advertisements with name information from higher-level subnetworks, supplement these by a topological and/or hierarchical name component which is allocated to their respective spatial or hierarchical arrangement, and distribute supplemented name information within their respective lower-level subnetwork by means of router advertisements, - the communication devices in each case request by means of a name service client for dynamic DNS a storage of their communication network address and their associated complete device name in a name service server and/or in each case distribute by means of a name service component for multicast DNS information about their communication network address and their associated complete device name within their respective subnetwork in accordance with the Multicast DNS Protocol.