Is it a verb or not?

First, I just wanted to say that I liked it that you put your punctuation outside of the quotations ("named"? and not "named?"). That's one rule I never really understood or agreed with. The punctuation has nothing to do with what is inside of the quotations!

That being said, I'm not an expert, but I would have to say that in that context, "named" is a verb. Just like naming a baby would be a verb.

That's just my two cents.

Pam Lee said:

In the sentence below, what part of speech is the word “named”?
The knight named Lancelot rode his mighty steed into battle.

In this sentence “named Lancelot” is a participle phrase modifying “knight” and is acting as an adjective. The verb in this sentence is “rode.”

I'll add weight to my argument by stating that “name” is a transitive verb and thereby requires a direct object unless stated in the passive voice.

By this logic, calling “named” a verb would change the meaning of the sentence, implying that the knight gave someone else the name Lancelot.

So to make “named” a verb and retain the original meaning, the sentence would have to be in the passive voice and read:

“The knight was named Lancelot and rode his mighty steed into battle.”

Good Question!!! Made the rusty gears in my brain creak 😀

Seems to me both answers are arguably right.   "Named" is a participle, and a participle is an adjective form of a verb.

All languages do this sort of thing:

We have gerunds, which are verbs turned into nouns.   (Most languages use the infinitive for this purpose, but in English we have gerunds.)   For example, "Swimming is a lot of fun."

We add "-ly" to adjectives to make them adverbs:   "The discussion went swimmingly."

We turn nouns into adjectives:   "He was perfectly swinish about it."

Participles are just verbs turned into adjectives.   "Anyone riding with me will have to be ready to leave by 10:00."   "This book is written in Italian."   "We're watching TV."   (You may toss out this example, if you prefer, by arguing that "are watching" is a verb in the continuous time; personally I maintain that both views are correct.)   "The knight named Lancelot rode his mighty steed into battle."

So lindzlou is correct that "named" came from a verb, and Joie de Vivienne is right saying that in its present form it's an adjective.   I lean more toward the latter, but in judging answers it's usually important to understand what the respondent meant.