Aptronym
An aptronym, aptonym or euonym is a personal name aptly or peculiarly suited to its owner.
History
The Encyclopædia Britannica attributes the term to Franklin P. Adams, a writer who coined it as an anagram of patronym, to emphasize "apt".[1]
According to Frank Nuessel, in The Study of Names (1992), an aptonym is the term used for "people whose names and occupations or situations (e.g., workplace) have a close correspondence."
In the book What's in a Name? (1996), author Paul Dickson cites a long list of aptronyms originally compiled by Professor Lewis P. Lipsitt, of Brown University.[2] Psychologist Carl Jung wrote in his book Synchronicity that there was a "sometimes quite grotesque coincidence between a man's name and his peculiarities".[3]
Nominative determinism is a hypothesis which suggests a causal relationship based on the idea that people tend to be attracted to areas of work that fit their name.
Notable examples
- Jules Angst, German professor of psychiatry, who has published works about anxiety[4]
- Michael Ball, football player[5]
- Lonzo Ball, basketball player
- Colin Bass, British bassist in the rock band Camel[4]
- Lance Bass, bass singer for the American pop boy band NSYNC[6]
- Sara Blizzard, meteorologist (television weather presenter) for the BBC[4]
- Usain Bolt, Jamaican sprinter[7]
- Rosalind Brewer, executive at Starbucks and a former director at Molson Coors Brewing Company[8][9]
- Margaret Court, Australian tennis player[5]
- Thomas Crapper, sanitary engineer[5][10]
- Josh Earnest, the third press secretary for the Obama Administration (Stephen Colbert observed, "What a name for a press secretary. Josh Earnest. His name literally means, 'Just kidding, but seriously.'"[11])
- Cecil Fielder and Prince Fielder, baseball players[12]
- Franz Fischler, former European Union Commissioner for Fisheries
- Amy Freeze, American meteorologist[13]
- Theodore Gill, American ichthyologist
- Igor Judge, English judge and Lord Chief Justice[14]
- Chris Moneymaker, American poker player and 2003 World Series of Poker champion[15]
- Francine Prose, American novelist[16]
- Marilyn vos Savant, American columnist who has been cited for having the world's highest recorded IQ[17]
- Anthony Weiner, American politician involved in sexting scandals[13]
- William Wordsworth, English poet and advocate for the extension of British copyright law[18][19][5]
Inaptronyms
Some aptronyms are ironic rather than descriptive, being called inaptronyms by Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post.[20] A notable example is the former Archbishop of Manila, Jaime Sin who in 1976 was made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI, thus becoming known as "Cardinal Sin".[4]
- Frank Beard, an American musician who, until recently, was the only member of rock band ZZ Top without a beard[21]
- Don Black, white supremacist[4]
- Peter Bowler, cricketer (in fact, primarily a batsman)[4]
- Samuel Foote, a comic actor who lost a leg in a horseriding accident in 1766, and made jokes on stage about "Foote and leg, and leg and foot"[22]
- Danielle Outlaw, Chief of Police at Portland Police Bureau[23]
- Larry Playfair, NHL defenseman known for his fighting[24]
See also
References
- ↑ "aptronym". Encyclopædia Britannica (Encyclopædia Britannica Online ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
- ↑ Dickson, Paul (1996). What's in a Name? Reflections of an Irrepressible Name Collector. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster. ISBN 0-87779-613-0.
- ↑ "When the name fits the job" BBC. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nunn, Gary. "Reckless by name, reckless by nature? (But at least he's not called Rich White)".
- 1 2 3 4 Maxwell, Kerry (4 March 2008). "BuzzWord: Aptronym". MacMillan Dictionary.
- ↑ Holley, Shawn. "20 20 Smart Lists".
- ↑ Nordquist, Richard. "Aptronym - Definitions and Examples in English".
- ↑ Berman, Laura (September 6, 2017). "Starbucks Adds Fittingly Named Rosalind Brewer, Sam's Club Veteran, as COO". The Street. Retrieved 2017-09-14.
- ↑ Noah, Timothy (May 17, 2006). "Wayne Schmuck, Used-Car Distributor". Slate. Retrieved 2017-09-14.
- ↑ Wilton, David (2008). Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends. Oxford University Press. p. 138.
- ↑ Topaz, Jonathan (24 June 2014). "Stephen Colbert to 'quitter' Jay Carney: Man up!". Politico. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
- ↑ Love, Jordan. "Famous People with Literal Names".
- 1 2 Johnson, Theodore R. (14 March 2016). "Do Our Names Shape Our Destinies? Trump's Might". Slate.
- ↑ Johnston, Philip (2013-08-02). "Farewell to a doughty champion of liberty and the public interest". ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
- ↑ Wilgoren, Jodi (2003-05-25). "A Player Called 'Money' Wins World Poker Title". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
- ↑ Sánchez Canales, Gustavo (2016). ""What's in a Name?": Aptronyms and Archetypes in Bernard Malamud's The Assistant and The Fixer". In Aarons, Victoria; Sánchez Canales, Gustavo. Bernard Malamud: A Centennial Tribute. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press. ISBN 9780814341148. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
- ↑ Elster, Charles Harrington (2005). What in the Word?. Orlando, FL: Harcourt. p. 109.
- ↑ Wordsworth, William (1876). Alexander B. Grosart, ed. The Prose Works of William Wordsworth. London: Edward Moxon, Son and Co. p. 21.
- ↑ Swartz, Richard G. (1992). "Wordsworth, Copyright, and the Commodities of Genius". Modern Philology. 89 (4): 482–509. JSTOR 438162.
- ↑ Gene Weingarten (July 18, 2006). "Chatological Humor* (UPDATED 7.21.06)". Washington Post.
- ↑ "ZZ Top Drummer Frank Beard Finally Grows One". 103.7 The Hawk. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
- ↑ Clarke, Norma (28 December 2014). "Samuel Foote, the one-legged wonder". The Times Literary Supplement. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
- ↑ "Q&A with new Portland Police Chief Danielle Outlaw". Fox 12 Oregon. Retrieved 2018-08-13.
- ↑ "6 Biggest Goons In Buffalo Sabres' History". Rant Sports. 19 January 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
External links
- Aptonyms-wiki (based on the extinct Canadian Aptonym Centre)
- "Charol Shakeshaft, Topped!", A Yellow Pages of aptronyms. reader-submitted aptronyms by Slate's Timothy Noah
 |
Look up aptronym, aptonym, or euonym in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
| ||
| Personal name | ||
| By sequence | ||
| By trait | ||
| By life situation | ||
| Pseudonyms (List) | ||
| By culture Surnames by country Courtesy names |
| |
| By religion | ||
| Manners of address | ||
| Related traditions | ||
| Related | ||
| ||
This article is issued from
Wikipedia.
The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike.
Additional terms may apply for the media files.