Why is the prefrontal cortex called such?

Question

Pre means before. Frontal means front.

What does cortex means? Brain?

Is it the front most part of the brain? Is it located at the most frontal part of the brain and that's why it's called prefrontal cortex?

Is morality processed at ventro medial pre frontal cortex or at anterior singular cortex?

My background: I am a programmer. I just want to understand humans brain the way a programmer understand computer. It seems that we don't have CPU. We have huge analog based memory. And we got registers instead of tons of abstract variables. Understanding why certain part of the brain is named under certain things will help me a lot in remembering where exactly that thing is and why. It's something very useful in my ways of learning math and programming.

Basically there are 2 theories.

1. Prefrontal cortex is named as such because it's before (or in front of) prefrontal lobe.
2. It's because it's behind prefrontal bone (the way other brain lobes are named)

Some people told me to just look that up on wikipedia. If you can show me something in wikipedia explaining the exact answer I am looking for I will be very happy.

Answer 1

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is a part of the frontal lobe (Fig. 1).

Lobe means

[A part] demarcated from the rest of the organ by a fissure (crack), sulcus (groove), connective tissue or simply by its shape. For example, there are the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes of the brain.

Cortex means

The outer or superficial part of an organ or bodily structure (such as the kidney, adrenal gland, or cerebellum or a bone); especially: cerebral cortex

The frontal lobe is called as such, because... it's in the front of the brain.

The prefrontal cortex is called that way because it forms the frontmost part of the frontal cortex. Prefrontal means

anterior to or involving the anterior part of a frontal structure

Anterior meaning

situated before or toward the front

Indeed Siddiqui et al (2008) mention:

The anterior part of the frontal lobe referred in the literature as ‘pre’-frontal lobe has been simultaneously referred to as ‘frontal granular cortex’ and ‘frontal association cortex.’ The anterior most portion of the frontal lobe is occupied by the PFC...

<sub>Reference
- Siddiqui et al., Indian J Psychiatry (2008); 50(3): 202–8</sub>

^{Fig. 1. The frontal lobe includes the prefrontal cortex (PFC). source: Socratic}

Answer 2

I think the term pre-frontal does not mean anatomically in the front of the frontal lobe of the brain. This is regarded to the history of discovered area , that the choice of the term was based on the prefrontal bone present in most amphibians and reptiles.you can find this in etymology part ▶️enter link description here