An aptronym, aptonym, or euonym is a

personal name A personal name, full name or prosoponym (from Ancient Greek ''prósōpon'' – person, and ''onoma'' –name) is the set of names by which an individual person or animal is known. When taken together as a word-group, they all relate to that on ...

aptly or peculiarly suited to its owner (e.g. their occupation). Gene Weingarten of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' coined the word inaptonym as an antonym for "aptonym". The word "euonym" ( eu- + -onym), dated to late 1800, is defined as "a name well suited to the person, place, or thing named". The Romans believed that a person's destiny was revealed in their name and used the saying "nomen omen".

History

The ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

'' says that the term was allegedly invented by a columnist Franklin P. Adams, who coined the word "aptronym" as an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into the phrase "nag a ram"; which ...

of ''

patronym A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic. Patronymics are used, ...

'', to emphasize "apt". The ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

'' reported that the word appeared in a Funk & Wagnall’s dictionary in 1921, defined as "a surname indicative of an occupation: as, Glass, the glazier".Aptronym: Usage and Examples

Merriam-Webster Merriam-Webster, Incorporated is an list of companies of the United States by state, American company that publishes reference work, reference books and is mostly known for Webster's Dictionary, its dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary pub ...

Psychologist Carl Jung wrote in his 1960 book '' Synchronicity'' that there was a "sometimes quite grotesque coincidence between a man's name and his peculiarities". In the 1966 book ''What's in a Name?'', Paul Dickson, among other peculiar types of surnames, has a section on aptronyms which includes a list of aptronyms selected from his large collection. The latter originated from the one received from professor Lewis P. Lipsitt of

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

and further expanded with the help of Dickson's friends, mostly from newspapers and phone books. Some newspaper columnists collect aptronyms as well.

Notable examples

* Jules Angst, Swiss professor of

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...

, who has published works about

anxiety Anxiety is an emotion characterised by an unpleasant state of inner wikt:turmoil, turmoil and includes feelings of dread over Anticipation, anticipated events. Anxiety is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response ...

( angst) * Michael Ball, English footballer * Layne Beachley, Australian former world champion surfer *

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (; born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born Canadian Americans, Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He als ...

, developer of the

telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

* Bert "Tito" Beveridge, founder of beverage company Tito's Vodka * Ian Bishop,

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

bishop * Doctor Willard Bliss, physician who treated President James A. Garfield (his given name was "Doctor") * Sara Blizzard,

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...

and television weather presenter for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt (; born 21 August 1986) is a Jamaican retired sprinter who is widely regarded as the greatest sprinter of all time. He is an eight-time Olympic gold medalist and the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, ...

, Jamaican sprinter * Doug Bowser, president of Nintendo of America ( Bowser is a character from a flagship Nintendo franchise, '' Super Mario'') * Russell Brain, 1st Baron Brain, neurologist * Rosalind Brewer, executive at

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

and former director at Molson Coors Brewing Company * Rosalind Canter, British Olympic equestrienne (woman who rides horses professionally), winner of the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games * Christopher Coke and his father Lester Coke, Jamaican drug lords and

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

traffickers * Thomas Crapper, British sanitary engineer often erroneously referred to as the inventor of the flush toilet * Ed Currie, a world-record holding

chili pepper Chili peppers, also spelled chile or chilli ( ), are varieties of fruit#Berries, berry-fruit plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for their pungency. They are used as a spice to ...

breeder * Mark De Man, Belgian football defender ( marking an opposing player) * David Dollar, American economist * Carla Dove, American ornithologist who specializes in bird strikes * Josh Earnest, the third press secretary for the Obama administration * Rich Fairbank, American billionaire and CEO of the Capital One bank, which holds the Fairbanking Mark for offering fair banking products * Cecil Fielder and Prince Fielder, father-and-son baseball players ( fielder) * Jeff Float, American swimmer * Bob Flowerdew, British gardener and TV/radio presenter * Amy Freeze, American meteorologist * William Headline, former Washington bureau chief for CNN * Stephen Gore, founder of body broker company Biological Resource Centre described by the Washington Post as a "Human Chop Shop". * Thomas Hogg, 17th-century New Englander accused of fathering deformed piglets by having sex with a sow. * Sunny Hostin, American television host * John Hunter, Scottish hunter and writer * Selwyn Image, English artist and designer * Fielder Jones, baseball center fielder * Igor Judge, English judge and Lord Chief Justice * John Laws, English judge and Lord Justice of Appeal * Jonatan Leandoer, Swedish rapper (known professionaly as ''Yung Lean'') and former drug addict who frequently consumed the opioid-based drink Lean * Michael Lord, British member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. * Richard and Mildred Loving, plaintiffs in '' Loving v. Virginia'', which legalized interracial marriage throughout the United States * George McGovern, American

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

in the

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

* Chris Moneymaker, American poker player and 2003 World Series of Poker champion * David W. Music, American composer of church music * Eugenius Outerbridge, inaugural chairman of the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, (PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ) is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate c ...

; namesake of the Outerbridge Crossing, the outermost bridge between New York and

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

* Gabe Pressman, American journalist * Francine Prose, American novelist * Rich Ricci, American-British banker. * Corona Rintawan, Indonesian physician who led Muhammadiyah's command center for the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Bob Rock Robert Jens Rock (born April 19, 1954) is a Canadian record producer, recording engineer and musician. In 1976, Rock joined Little Mountain Sound Studios, starting out as a recording engineer and sound mixer. During his time there, he coll ...

, Canadian music producer best known for his works with rock acts such as

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

and

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...

* Mat Sadler, English football manager who played for and now manages

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

, nicknamed "The Saddlers" * Tennys Sandgren, American tennis player * Marilyn vos Savant, American columnist who has been cited for having the world's highest-recorded IQ (

savant Savant syndrome ( , ) is a phenomenon where someone demonstrates exceptional aptitude in one domain, such as art or mathematics, despite significant social or intellectual impairment. Those with the condition generally have a neurodevel ...

) * Toby Savin, English football goalkeeper ( saving) * Max Schreck, German actor known for portraying Count Orlok in the 1922 horror film '' Nosferatu'' ("Schreck" translates to "fright" or "scare" in German) * Offer Shlomi, better known as Vince Offer, Israeli-American TV infomercial pitchman * Kayla Sims, American YouTuber and Twitch streamer, best known for playing '' The Sims 4'' * Daniel Snowman, British historian and author of book on polar explorations * Larry Speakes, former acting White House Press Secretary *

Scott Speed Scott Andrew Speed (born January 24, 1983) is an American race car driver who has competed in numerous disciplines, including open-wheel racing, open-wheel, stock car racing, stock car, and rallycross racing. In , Speed became the first American ...

, American racecar driver who has raced in a variety of motorsport, including

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

and Formula E * Dávid Strelec, Slovak football forward ("Strelec" is the Slovak word for "shooter" or "striker") * Eugène Terre'Blanche, South African white nationalist (Terre'Blanche translates to "white land" in French) * Juan Trippe, founder of Pan American Airways * George Francis Train, entrepreneur who was heavily involved in the construction of the eastern portion of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States * Jeremy Wade, British angler. * Alexander Burns Wallace, creator of the rule of nines, a system for estimating bodily surface area affected by burns * Keith Weed, president of the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

* Anthony Weiner, American politician involved in sexting scandals * Emily Wines, American wine professional and board chair of the Court of Master Sommeliers *

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poetry, Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romanticism, Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Balla ...

, English poet and advocate for the extension of British copyright law * Early Wynn, baseball pitcher, member of the 300 win club *

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, ranks second in List of men's major championships winning golfers, men's m ...

, American professional golfer; a

wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

is a type of golf club * Mary Yu, associate justice of the

Washington Supreme Court The Washington Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. The court is composed of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Members of the court are elected to six-year terms. ...

who officiated the state's first same-sex marriage

Inaptonyms

* Rob Banks, British police officer * Grant Balfour, baseball pitcher ("ball four") * Frank Beard, an American musician who, until , was the only member of rock band

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1969. For almost 56 years, it consisted of vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard (musician), Frank Beard, and bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill prior to his death in 2021. ZZ ...

without a beard * Don Black, white supremacist * Peter Bowler,

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er (in fact, primarily a batsman) * Doug Bowser, President of Nintendo of America ( Bowser is the nemesis of Nintendo's mascot,

Mario Mario (; ) is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Ja ...

) * Samuel Foote, a British actor who lost a leg in a horseriding accident in 1766, and made jokes on stage about "Foote and leg, and leg and foot" * Claudio Gentile, Italian footballer known for his strength * Matt Gobush, spokesperson for

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...

during his campaign for the 2000 presidential election, which Gore eventually lost to rival

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

* Uzi Hitman, Israeli singer-songwriter, author of anti-war song Ratziti Sheteda. * Ciro Immobile, Italian footballer known for eluding defenders * Colleen Lawless, an American lawyer and judge * Neversink, a town in New York state that was submerged by the Neversink Reservoir in 1953 * Danielle Outlaw, former Philadelphia Police Commissioner * Jaime Sin,

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

. Upon being made a

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

in 1976, he gained the further inaptronymic title of " Cardinal Sin" * Bob Walk, baseball pitcher

References

External links

Aptonyms-wiki
(based on the extinct
Canadian Aptonym Centre
') * {{Personal names Names Semantics Types of words Word play

History

Notable examples

Inaptonyms

See also

References

External links