1.Sometimes, but I believe those are called "Systems".
2.Yes, to name a few, the French defense, the Sicilian defense, the King's Indian Defense.
3.No. Some openings are meant to be offensive, some defensive, and some are just plain useless(1.f3).
4. As a beginner- None. You should focus on tactics and Endgames, and save Openings for later. Just learn basic opening principles, develop toward the center, don;t move too many pawns, etc.
Wanting to get better at chess, I read something about chess openings. A common theme is that one way to improve is play one opening for about a year. Typically, I just play an e4 opening and move on to some safe moves and hope that my opponent makes a mistake. I actually don't know much about openings in the first place. So that being said, here are a few questions...
1. Are chess opening moves scripted....meaning, I move my pieces into the opening regardless (more or less) of what my opponent moves?
2. (this may be a dumb one...) Are there openings for black? Are these called defenses?
3. Do all openings do the same thing (protect the king and advance the pieces)?
4. Which ones should I concentrate on (being a beginner)?