eponymous

adjective

epon·y·mous i-ˈpä-nə-məs

: of, relating to, or being the person or thing for whom or which something is named : of, relating to, or being an eponym

Did you know?

What’s in a name? If the name is eponymous, a name is in the name: an eponymous brand, café, river, or ice cream is named for someone or something. And because English is beastly sometimes, the one lending the name to the brand, café, river, or ice cream can also be described as eponymous. This means that if Noah Webster owns a bookstore called “Webster’s Books,” it’s an eponymous bookstore, and Noah himself is the bookstore’s eponymous owner. Most of the time, though, we see eponymous describing a thing named for a person—for example, an eponymous brand named for a designer, or a band’s eponymous album titled only with the band’s name. The related word eponym is less ambiguous: it refers to the one for whom someone or something is named. At our hypothetical “Webster’s Books,” Noah Webster is the bookstore’s eponym. Appropriately enough, the Greek root of both words is onyma, meaning “name.”

Examples of eponymous in a Sentence

… Ramayana, an Indian epic which chronicles, in sixty thousand verses, the adventures of its eponymous hero Rama … —

Leila Hadley, Give Me the World, (1958) 1999

"Cool Britannia," which goes back to Ben and Jerry's eponymous ice cream in Spring 1996, met its sell-by-date within weeks … —

Harold Perkin, Times Literary Supplement, 18 Dec. 1998

Karen Hubert Allison, the eponymous (if you count middle names) creator of Hubert's, didn't know she was making dining history … —

Peter Kaminsky, New York Times Book Review, 11 May 1997

Recent Examples on the Web

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When authorities released photos of the suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s fatal shooting, social media commenters called him everything from a modern-day Robin Hood to a real-life John Wick, the fictional hitman of the eponymous movie franchise. —

Kc Baker, People.com, 10 Dec. 2024 The eponymous massacre, a real-life event where hundreds of protesters were injured and 18 were killed, serves as the film’s sobering climax. —

Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 9 Dec. 2024 Electrolux makes an eponymous brand, plus AEG and Frigidaire brand appliances—that are not your grandmother’s appliances. —

Simon Mainwaring, Forbes, 9 Dec. 2024 Sarah Piantadosi The long wait is over: six months after beloved designer Dries Van Noten presented his last collection, his eponymous house has appointed Julian Klausner as creative director — in charge of women’s and men’s collections. —

Laure Guilbault, Vogue, 9 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for eponymous