Eponym
An
eponym is the name of a person, whether real or fictitious, which has (or is thought to have) given rise to the name of a particular place, tribe, discovery or other item. An
eponymous person is the person referred to by the eponym. In contemporary English, the term
eponymous is often used to mean self-titled. The word
eponym is often used for the thing titled.
In different cultures, time periods have often been named after the person who ruled during that period.
* One of the first cases of eponymity 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
Athens.
Archons of Athens served a term of one year which took the name of that particular archon (e.g.,
594 BC was called after
Solon).
* In
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, when
Julius Caesar was in office with an entirely insignificant political colleague, the joke was "the consulship of Julius AND Caesar", as opposed to the more accurate formulation: "the consulship of
Bibulus and Caesar". Under the empire, there would be a series of consuls in a year (sometimes the Emperor would be one). Only the two consuls at the beginning of the year would lend their names to that year.
* Well into the Christian era, dating eponymously by reign-years (the first, 2nd etc year of a named monarch) was not uncommon in various
chanceries, especially at the court of a prince aspiring pivotal importance to his entire state's society, and was copied by minor dignitaries, even prelates. But the church, carefully presenting God as the supreme monarch above all mortal rulers (at times with some success in positioning its
ecclesiastic head, the pope, as his
viceregent on earth - sovereigns as John Lackland of England recognized him as their suzerain, the Holy Roman Emperor's refusal to do so being the ideological stake of the medieval so-called Investiture conflict), would succeed in imposing first on the public, and ultimately on all royal scripts, the 'neutral' dating AD.
*Presidential administrations often become eponymous for a time period or trend, e.g.,
The Nixon Era,
Jeffersonian Expansionism,
A Kennedy Camelot, or simply
the days of the Clinton administration.
*British monarchs have become eponymous, throughout the English speaking world, for time periods, fashions, etc.
Elizabethan,
Edwardian,
Georgian, and (most famous of all)
Victorian, are examples of these.
* Both in ancient Greece and independently among the Hebrews, a legendary leader of a tribe gave his name to it (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 too, in the genealogical relationships of eponymous originators.
* Places and towns can also be given an etymological meaning through an important figure:
Peloponnesus was said to derive its name from
Pelops. In historical times, new towns have often been named and renamed for historical figures.
* In science and technology, discoveries are often named after the (supposed) discoverer, or to honor some other influential workers. Examples are
Avogadro's number, the
Diesel engine, and
Parkinson's disease. For a discussion of the process see
Stigler's law of eponymy* In (modern) art
** Some
books,
films, and
TV shows have an eponymous principal character(s):
Robinson Crusoe and
Daria, for example.
**The term is also applied to
music, usually with regard to record titles. For example,
Blur's
1997 album was also titled
Blur. Many other artists and bands have also served as eponyms of albums or singles, usually as their debut or second release. (Blur is an oddity in that their album
Blur was their 5th release.) Some bands, such as
Boston, the
Tindersticks,
Led Zeppelin,
Duran Duran, and
Weezer, have released more than one and are thus referred to in other ways, including number (
Led Zeppelin IV) and album art (
The Blue Album).
Peter Gabriel's first four long-play releases were all such (though the fourth was given a title for its US release). Another more common term is the
self-titled album. The band
R.E.M. titled their 1988 compilation CD
Eponymous as a joke.
***Self-titled albums are often indicated with the abbreviation "s/t," e.g., "
They Might Be Giants (s/t)"
By
person's name*
List of eponymsBy
category*
Adages*
Adjectives*
Asteroids*
Astronomical objects*
Cartoon characters*
Chemical elements*
Companies*
Diseases*
Foods*
Human anatomical parts*
Ideologies*
Inventions*
Mathematical theorems*
Medical terms*
Musical terms*
Observations*
Places and political entities*
Prizes, awards and medals*
Scientific constants*
Scientific laws*
Scientific phenomena*
Scientific units*
Sports terms*
Etymology*
Lists of etymologies*
Antonomasia*
Genericized trademark*
List of literary works with eponymous heroines*
False etymology (fake eponyms)
*
Metonym*
Proprietary eponym*
List of eponymous diseases*
Eponymous hairstyles*
A site dedicated to Medical Eponyms
