Eponym

"Eponymous" redirects here. For the R.E.M. album, see Eponymous (album).

An eponym is the name of a person, whether real or fictitious, who 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.

Look up eponym in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Political eponyms of time periods

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, 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.

• Well into the Christian era, many royal households used eponymous dating by regnal years. The Roman Catholic Church, however, eventually imposed 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 the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries: a statute signed into law between February 6, 1994, and February 5, 1995, would be dated 43 Elizabeth II, for instance.

• Government administrations or political trends often become eponymous with a government leader. Examples include the Nixon Era, Trudeaumania, Jeffersonian economics, Thatcherism, Kennedy's 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.

Other eponyms

• 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.

• Places and towns can also be given an eponymous name through a relationship (real or imagined) to an important figure. Peloponnesus, for instance, was said to derive its name from the Greek god Pelops. In historical times, new towns have often been named (and older communities renamed) after their founders, discoverers, or after notable individuals. Examples include Quezon City, the former capital city of the Philippines, named after the city's founder, Manuel L. Quezon; Vancouver, British Columbia, named after the 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 are often named after the (supposed) discoverer, or to honor some other influential workers. Examples are Avogadro's number, the Diesel engine, meitnerium, Alzheimer's disease, 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, Harry Potter, Grey's Anatomy and Dawson's Creek , 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 III) 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)"

Lists of eponyms

By person's name

• List of eponyms

By 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

See also

• Etymology
• Lists of etymologies
• Antonomasia
• Genericized trademark
• List of literary works with eponymous heroes / heroines
• False etymology (fake eponyms)
• Metonym
• Proprietary eponym
• List of archetypal names
• List of eponymous diseases
• List of eponymous medical signs
• Eponymous hairstyles

External links

• A site dedicated to Medical Eponyms

Categories

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