Eponym

An eponym is a person or thing after which someone or something is named. For example, John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, is the eponym of the sandwich. Adjectives derived from the word eponym include eponymous and eponymic.

Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovations, biological nomenclature, astronomical objects, works of art and media, and tribal names. Various orthographic conventions are used for eponyms.

Usage of the word

The term eponym functions in multiple related ways, all based on an explicit relationship between named people, places or things. Eponym refers to a person, a place or a thing after which someone or something is named; or that someone or something. Such things share an eponymous relationship. In this way, Elizabeth I of England is the eponym of the Elizabethan era, but the Elizabethan era can also be referred to as the eponym of Elizabeth I of England. Eponyms may be named for things or places, for example Downing Street in London is named for Sir George Downing, who had the houses built there as an investment: However, Downing never lived in his eponymous street. Adjectives and verbs may be eponyms, for example bowdlerize.

Adjectives derived from the word eponym include eponymous and eponymic. When Henry Ford is referred to as "the eponymous founder of the Ford Motor Company", his surname "Ford" and the name of the motor company have an eponymous relationship. The word "eponym" can also refer to the title character of a fictional work (such as Rocky Balboa of the Rocky film series), as well as to self-titled works named after their creators (such as the album The Doors by the band the Doors).

Walt Disney created the eponymous Walt Disney Company, with his name similarly extended to theme parks such as Walt Disney World. Medical eponymous terms are often called medical eponyms, regardless of that usage being deprecated by those speakers who wish to reserve the term eponym to the person.

History

Periods have often been named after a ruler or other influential figure:

One of the first recorded cases of eponymy occurred in the second millennium BC, when the Assyrians named each year after a high official (limmu).
In ancient Greece, the eponymous archon was the highest magistrate in classical Athens. Eponymous archons served a term of one year which took the name of that particular archon (e.g., 594 BC was named after Solon). Later historians provided yet another case of eponymy by referring to the period of fifth-century Athens as The Age of Pericles after its most influential statesman Pericles.
In Ptolemaic Egypt, the head priest of the Cult of Alexander and the Ptolemies was the eponymous priest after whom years were named.
The Hebrew Bible explains the origins of peoples through individuals who bear their name. Jacob is renamed "Israel" (Gen 35:9) and his sons (or grandsons) name the original 12 tribes of Israel, while Edomites (Gen. 25:30), Moabites and Ammonites (Gen. 19:30-38), Canaanites (Gen. 9:20-27) and other tribes (the Kenites named after Cain^{[citation needed]} (Cain's life is detailed in Gen. 4:1-16)) are said to be named after other primal ancestors bearing their name. In most cases, the experiences and behavior of the ancestor is meant to indicate the characteristics of the people who take their name.
In ancient Rome, one of the two formal ways of indicating a year was to cite the two annual consuls who served in that year. For example, the year we know as 59 BC would have been described as "the consulship of Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus and Gaius Julius Caesar" (although that specific year was known jocularly as "the consulship of Julius and Caesar" because of the insignificance of Caesar's counterpart). Under the empire, the consuls would change as often as every two months, but only the two consuls at the beginning of the year would lend their names to that year.
During the Christian era, itself eponymous, many royal households used eponymous dating by regnal years. The Roman Catholic Church, however, eventually used the Anno Domini dating scheme - based on the birth of Christ - on both the general public and royalty. The regnal year standard is still used with respect to statutes and law reports published in some parts of the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries (England abandoned this practice in 1963).
Government administrations may become referred to eponymously, such as Kennedy's Camelot and the Nixon Era.
British monarchs have become eponymous throughout the English-speaking world for time periods, fashions, etc. Elizabethan, Georgian, Victorian, and Edwardian are examples of these.

Trends

Political trends or movements are often named after a government leader. Examples include Jacksonian democracy, Stalinism, Maoism, Obamacare, and Thatcherism.

Other eponyms

In intellectual property law, an eponym can be a generic trademark or brand name, a form of metonymy, such as aspirin, heroin and thermos in the United States.
In geography, places can have an eponymous name through a relationship to an important figure. Peloponnesus, for instance, was said to derive its name from the Greek hero Pelops. In historical times, new towns have often been named (and older communities renamed) after their founders, discoverers, or notable individuals. Examples include Vancouver, British Columbia, named after explorer George Vancouver; and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, originally called Isbister's Settlement but renamed after Queen Victoria's husband and consort in 1866.
In science and technology:
- Discoveries and innovations are often named after the discoverer or a figure influential in their advance. Examples are the Avogadro constant, the Diesel engine, meitnerium, Alzheimer's disease, and the Apgar score. For a different view of the process see Stigler's law of eponymy.
- In biological nomenclature, organisms often receive scientific names that honor a person. Examples are the plant Linnaea (after Carl Linnaeus), the baobab Adansonia (after Michel Adanson), and the moth Caligula (after the Roman emperor Caligula). Common names can also be named after a person. Later, people may decide that they do not wish to memorialize a particular person, resulting in efforts to change a long-standing name. As debating each individual name is time-consuming, the American Ornithological Society announced in 2024 that they would establish new common names for all birds in North America that had previously been named after a person, without regard to whether modern culture would judge the person well or poorly.
- Relatedly, biomedical terminology uses many eponymous terms, and many also have noneponymous synonyms.
- Many astronomical objects are named after their discoverer or another person.
In art:
- Plays, books, and other forms of entertainment may have eponymous names, such as the ancient Greek epic The Odyssey, derived from its principal character, Odysseus, and the novel Robinson Crusoe.
- The term is also used in the music industry, usually with regard to record titles, where it is prevalent and leads to confusion. For example, Bad Company's first album was entitled Bad Company and contained a popular song named "Bad Company". Parodying this, the band R.E.M. titled a 1988 compilation album Eponymous. One especially convoluted case of eponyms is the 1969 song "Black Sabbath", named after the 1963 movie Black Sabbath; the band that wrote the song changed their name to Black Sabbath and released it on the album Black Sabbath.
In tribal antiquity, both in ancient Greece and independently among the Hebrews, tribes often took the name of a legendary leader (as Achaeus for Achaeans, or Dorus for Dorians). The eponym gave apparent meaning to the mysterious names of tribes, and sometimes, as in the Sons of Noah, provided a primitive attempt at ethnology as well, in the genealogical relationships of eponymous originators.

Orthographic conventions

Capitalized versus lowercase

Because proper nouns are capitalized in English, the usual default for eponyms is to capitalize the eponymous part of a term. When used as proper adjectives they are normally capitalized, for example Victorian, Shakespearean, and Kafkaesque.
However, some eponymous words (adjectives, noun adjuncts, and nouns as substantives) are nowadays entered in many dictionaries as lowercase when they have evolved a common status, no longer deriving their meaning from the proper-noun origin. For example, Herculean when referring to Hercules himself, but often herculean when referring to the figurative, generalized extension sense; and quixotic, diesel [=diesel engine], and diesel [=diesel fuel] (lowercase-only in various dictionaries). For any given term, one dictionary may enter only lowercase or only cap, whereas other dictionaries may recognize the capitalized version as a variant, either equally common as, or less common than, the first-listed styling (marked with labels such as "or", "also", "often", or "sometimes"). The Chicago Manual of Style, in its section "Words derived from proper names", gives some examples of both lowercase and capitalized stylings, including a few terms styled both ways, and says, "Authors and editors must decide for themselves, but whatever choice is made should be followed consistently throughout a work."
When the eponym is used together with a noun, the common-noun part is not capitalized (unless it is part of a title or it is the first word in a sentence). For example, in Parkinson disease (named after James Parkinson), Parkinson is capitalized, but disease is not. In addition, the adjectival form, where one exists, is usually lowercased for medical terms (thus parkinsonian although Parkinson disease), and gram-negative, gram-positive although Gram stain. Uppercase Gram-positive or Gram-negative however are also commonly used in scientific journal articles and publications. In other fields, the eponym derivative is commonly capitalized, for example, Newtonian in physics, and Platonic in philosophy (however, use lowercase platonic when describing love). The capitalization is retained after a prefix and hyphen, e.g. non-Newtonian.

For examples, see the comparison table below.

Genitive versus attributive

English can use either genitive case or attributive position to indicate the adjectival nature of the eponymous part of the term. (In other words, that part may be either possessive or non-possessive.) Thus Parkinson's disease and Parkinson disease are both acceptable. Medical dictionaries have been shifting toward nonpossessive styling in recent decades. Thus Parkinson disease is more likely to be used in the latest medical literature (especially in postprints) than Parkinson's disease.

National varieties of English

American and British English spelling differences may apply to eponyms. For example, British style would typically be caesarean section, which is also found in American medical publications, but cæsarean section (with a ligature) is sometimes seen in (mostly older) British writing, and cesarean is preferred by American dictionaries and some American medical works.

Comparison table of eponym orthographic styling

Prevalent dictionary styling today	Stylings that defy prevalent dictionary styling	Comments
abelian	*Abelian
Addison disease	Addison Disease addison disease
Allemann syndrome	Allemann Syndrome allemann syndrome
cesarean [only] cesarean also cesarian [but no cap variant] cesarean, "often capitalized" or caesarean also cesarian or caesarian		More information on this word's orthographic variants is at Wiktionary: caesarean section.
darwinian [only] darwinism [only] Darwinian [only] Darwinism [only] Darwinist [only]
diesel (n/adj/vi) [no cap variant] and also diesel-electric diesel engine dieseling dieselize, dieselization	Diesel engine Dieseling *Dieselize, Dieselization
draconian draconian often Draconian
eustachian [only] eustachian often Eustachian eustachian tube [only] eustachian tube often Eustachian tube eustachian tube or Eustachian tube	*Eustachian Tube
fallopian [only] fallopian often Fallopian fallopian tube [only] fallopian tube often Fallopian tube fallopian tube also Fallopian tube	*Fallopian Tube
Marxism [only] Marxist [only]	marxism marxist
mendelian [only] or Mendelian [only] mendelian inheritance [only] or Mendelian inheritance [only] but Mendel's laws	*Mendelian Inheritance
Newtonian [only]	*newtonian
parkinsonism [only] parkinsonian [only] parkinsonian tremor Parkinson disease [only] Parkinson's disease [only]	Parkinsonism Parkinsonian Parkinsonian tremor Parkinsonian Tremor Parkinson Disease Parkinson's Disease
quixotic [only]	*Quixotic
Roman numerals roman numerals		AMA Manual of Style lowercases the terms roman numerals and arabic numerals. MWCD enters the numeral sense under the headword Roman but with the note "not cap" on the numeral sense.

References

↑ "Orion Spacecraft - Nasa Orion Spacecraft". aerospaceguide.net. 15 July 2016. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
↑ "eponym". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. OCLC 1032680871.
↑ (ancient Greek ἐπώνυμος (a.) given as a name, (b.) giving one's name to a thing or person, ἐπί upon + ὄνομα, Aeolic ὄνυμα name)
↑ "eponym, n. : Oxford English Dictionary". OED Online. 2019-10-26. Archived from the original on 2019-10-26. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
↑ Jones, Christopher (1985). No. 10 Downing Street: The Story of a House. The Leisure Circle. ISBN 978-0-563-20441-1.
↑ "eponym". Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com LLC. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
↑ "eponym". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 21 April 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
↑ "eponymous". Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com LLC. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
↑ "eponymous". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 21 May 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
↑ Bayer Co. v. United Drug Co., 272 F. 505 (S.D.N.Y. 1921) Archived 2011-09-08 at the Wayback Machine, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, accessed March 25th, 2011
↑ Harper, Douglas. "heroin". Online Etymology Dictionary.
↑ King-Seeley Thermos Co. v. Aladdin Indus., Inc., 321 F.2d 577 (2d Cir. 1963); see also this PDF Archived 2006-02-09 at the Wayback Machine
↑ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2014). The Eponym Dictionary of Birds. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1472905741.
↑ Hämäläinen, Matti (2015). "Catalogue of individuals commemorated in the scientific names of extant dragonflies, including lists of all available eponymous species-group and genus-group names" (PDF). International Dragonfly Fund (IDF) - Report. 80: 1–168. ISSN 1435-3393. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 July 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
↑ "Birders argue over plan to change dozens of bird names".
↑ Lauer, Tod. "Astronomical Eponyms". National Optical Astronomy Observatory. Archived from the original on 2021-08-22. Retrieved 2021-08-22.
1 2 3 Waddingham, Anne (28 August 2014). New Hart's Rules: The Oxford Style Guide. OUP Oxford. p. 105. ISBN 978-0199570027.
↑ Marthus-Adden Zimboiant (2013-08-05). No Grammar Tears 1. AuthorHouse. pp. 256–257. ISBN 9781491800751.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Merriam-Webster (1993), Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (10th ed.), Springfield, Massachusetts, US: Merriam-Webster, ISBN 978-0-87779-707-4
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Houghton Mifflin (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed.), Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 978-0-395-82517-4
↑ University of Chicago (1993). The Chicago Manual of Style (14th ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. § 7.49, pp. 253–254. ISBN 0-226-10389-7.
↑ Villemaire, Lorraine; Oberg, Doreen (29 December 2005). Grammar and Writing Skills for the Health Professional (2nd Revised ed.). Delmar Cengage Learning. p. 167. ISBN 978-1401873745.
↑ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Emerging Infectious Diseases Style Guide. Preferred Usage Archived 2014-06-13 at the Wayback Machine
↑ Lisa Brown; Julie M. Wolf; Rafael Prados-Rosales; Arturo Casadevall (2015). "Through the wall: extracellular vesicles in Gram-positive bacteria, mycobacteria and fungi". Nature Reviews Microbiology. 13 (10): 620–630. doi:10.1038/nrmicro3480. PMC 4860279. PMID 26324094.
↑ Kristen L. Mueller (12 June 2015). "Detecting Gram-negative bacteria". Science. 348 (6240): 1218. doi:10.1126/science.348.6240.1218-o.
↑ "Gram-positive". Dictionary.com. Archived from the original on 2016-10-20. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
↑ "Newtonian". Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 2016-10-23. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
↑ "New·ton". The American Heritage Dictionary. Archived from the original on 2016-10-22. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
↑ Iverson, Cheryl, ed. (2007), AMA Manual of Style (10 ed.), Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-517633-9, chapter 16: Eponyms.
↑ Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) uses "cesarean section" Archived 2021-03-13 at the Wayback Machine, while the also US-published Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary uses "caesarean" Archived 2020-07-29 at the Wayback Machine. The online versions of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary Archived 2020-07-27 at the Wayback Machine and American Heritage Dictionary Archived 2020-07-29 at the Wayback Machine list "cesarean" first and other spellings as "variants", an etymologically anhistorical position.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Elsevier (2007), Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary (31st ed.), Philadelphia: Elsevier, ISBN 978-1-4160-2364-7
↑ Merriam-Webster (2003), Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed.), Springfield, Massachusetts, US: Merriam-Webster, ISBN 978-0-87779-809-5

External links

Definitions of -nym words, at Fun-with-Words.com
WhoNamedIt.com, a database of medical eponyms
Eponyms explored, BBC ideas, 2019

[1] "Orion Spacecraft - Nasa Orion Spacecraft". aerospaceguide.net. 15 July 2016. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2013.

[2] "eponym". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. OCLC 1032680871.

[3] (ancient Greek ἐπώνυμος (a.) given as a name, (b.) giving one's name to a thing or person, ἐπί upon + ὄνομα, Aeolic ὄνυμα name)

[OED-4] "eponym, n. : Oxford English Dictionary". OED Online. 2019-10-26. Archived from the original on 2019-10-26. Retrieved 2019-10-27.

[Jones-5] Jones, Christopher (1985). No. 10 Downing Street: The Story of a House. The Leisure Circle. ISBN 978-0-563-20441-1.

[dictionary_com_eponym-6] "eponym". Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com LLC. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2014.

[m-w_eponym-7] "eponym". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 21 April 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2014.

[dictionary_com_eponymous-8] "eponymous". Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com LLC. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2014.

[m-w_eponymous-9] "eponymous". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 21 May 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2014.

[bayer-10] Bayer Co. v. United Drug Co., 272 F. 505 (S.D.N.Y. 1921) Archived 2011-09-08 at the Wayback Machine, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, accessed March 25th, 2011

[etymon-11] Harper, Douglas. "heroin". Online Etymology Dictionary.

[fed-12] King-Seeley Thermos Co. v. Aladdin Indus., Inc., 321 F.2d 577 (2d Cir. 1963); see also this PDF Archived 2006-02-09 at the Wayback Machine

[beo-13] Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2014). The Eponym Dictionary of Birds. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1472905741.

[IDF2015-14] Hämäläinen, Matti (2015). "Catalogue of individuals commemorated in the scientific names of extant dragonflies, including lists of all available eponymous species-group and genus-group names" (PDF). International Dragonfly Fund (IDF) - Report. 80: 1–168. ISSN 1435-3393. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 July 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2020.

[15] "Birders argue over plan to change dozens of bird names".

[16] Lauer, Tod. "Astronomical Eponyms". National Optical Astronomy Observatory. Archived from the original on 2021-08-22. Retrieved 2021-08-22.

[oxford-17] 1 2 3 Waddingham, Anne (28 August 2014). New Hart's Rules: The Oxford Style Guide. OUP Oxford. p. 105. ISBN 978-0199570027.

[18] Marthus-Adden Zimboiant (2013-08-05). No Grammar Tears 1. AuthorHouse. pp. 256–257. ISBN 9781491800751.

[M-W_C_10-19] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Merriam-Webster (1993), Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (10th ed.), Springfield, Massachusetts, US: Merriam-Webster, ISBN 978-0-87779-707-4

[AHD4-20] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Houghton Mifflin (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed.), Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 978-0-395-82517-4

[CMOS_14e_pp253-254-21] University of Chicago (1993). The Chicago Manual of Style (14th ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. § 7.49, pp. 253–254. ISBN 0-226-10389-7.

[22] Villemaire, Lorraine; Oberg, Doreen (29 December 2005). Grammar and Writing Skills for the Health Professional (2nd Revised ed.). Delmar Cengage Learning. p. 167. ISBN 978-1401873745.

[23] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Emerging Infectious Diseases Style Guide. Preferred Usage Archived 2014-06-13 at the Wayback Machine

[24] Lisa Brown; Julie M. Wolf; Rafael Prados-Rosales; Arturo Casadevall (2015). "Through the wall: extracellular vesicles in Gram-positive bacteria, mycobacteria and fungi". Nature Reviews Microbiology. 13 (10): 620–630. doi:10.1038/nrmicro3480. PMC 4860279. PMID 26324094.

[25] Kristen L. Mueller (12 June 2015). "Detecting Gram-negative bacteria". Science. 348 (6240): 1218. doi:10.1126/science.348.6240.1218-o.

[26] "Gram-positive". Dictionary.com. Archived from the original on 2016-10-20. Retrieved 2016-10-22.

[27] "Newtonian". Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 2016-10-23. Retrieved 2016-10-22.

[28] "New·ton". The American Heritage Dictionary. Archived from the original on 2016-10-22. Retrieved 2016-10-22.

[AMAMOS2007ch16-29] Iverson, Cheryl, ed. (2007), AMA Manual of Style (10 ed.), Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-517633-9, chapter 16: Eponyms.

[30] Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) uses "cesarean section" Archived 2021-03-13 at the Wayback Machine, while the also US-published Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary uses "caesarean" Archived 2020-07-29 at the Wayback Machine. The online versions of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary Archived 2020-07-27 at the Wayback Machine and American Heritage Dictionary Archived 2020-07-29 at the Wayback Machine list "cesarean" first and other spellings as "variants", an etymologically anhistorical position.

[Dorlands31-31] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Elsevier (2007), Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary (31st ed.), Philadelphia: Elsevier, ISBN 978-1-4160-2364-7

[M-W_C_11-32] Merriam-Webster (2003), Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed.), Springfield, Massachusetts, US: Merriam-Webster, ISBN 978-0-87779-809-5

Authority control databases
International	GND
National	United States Czech Republic Israel
Other	Yale LUX