Eponyms: words from names
72 English words that began as somebody’s name, a character’s or a place’s, each with a short origin and its dictionary source.
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academy myth & legend from Akademos
From Greek Ἀκαδημία (Akadēmía), a grove outside Athens where Plato taught, named after its supposed former owner, the hero Akademos.
Wiktionary: academyatlas myth & legend from Atlas
From the Titan Atlas of Greek myth, who bore the heavens. Mercator named his book of maps after him, and the sense ‘book of maps’ comes from that.
Wiktionary: atlasbadminton place from Badminton House, Gloucestershire
Named after Badminton House, the Duke of Beaufort’s estate in Gloucestershire, where the game was first played in England.
Wiktionary: badmintonbedlam place from Bethlem Royal Hospital, London
From Bedlam, the popular name of the Bethlem Royal Hospital in London, an asylum (the name is a worn-down form of Bethlehem). It came to mean any scene of uproar.
Wiktionary: bedlambikini place from Bikini Atoll
From French bikini, after Bikini Atoll, where the United States tested nuclear weapons in July 1946; the swimsuit was expected to cause as much excitement as a bomb.
Wiktionary: bikinibloomers person from Amelia Bloomer
Named after Amelia Bloomer, who sought to introduce this style of dress for women.
Wiktionary: bloomersbowdlerize person from Thomas Bowdler
After Thomas Bowdler, who in 1818 published The Family Shakespeare, with the words he thought unfit to be read aloud in a family taken out.
Wiktionary: bowdlerizeboycott person from Charles Boycott
From Charles Boycott, an English land agent in Ireland who, in 1880, was shunned in a campaign organized by the Irish Land League after evicting tenants.
Wiktionary: boycottbraille person from Louis Braille
Borrowed from French, after Louis Braille. It names a system of raised dots that is read by touch.
Wiktionary: braillebungalow place from Bengal
Borrowed from a Gujarati word meaning ‘Bengali-style house’ (compare Hindi baṅglā ‘Bengali’), from the name of Bengal.
Wiktionary: bungalowcalico place from Calicut (Kozhikode), India
From Calicut (Kozhikode), the Indian port from which the cloth was first exported.
Wiktionary: calicocanary place from the Canary Islands
Through French and Spanish from the Canary Islands, Latin Canariae insulae. The largest island was named for its dogs, from Latin canis ‘dog’, so the bird is named, at a distance, after dogs.
Wiktionary: canarycardigan person from James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan
Named after James Brudenell, the 7th Earl of Cardigan.
Wiktionary: cardiganCelsius person from Anders Celsius
After Anders Celsius, who proposed the centigrade temperature scale in 1742.
Wiktionary: Celsiuscereal myth & legend from Ceres
Through French from Latin Cereālis ‘of Ceres’, the Roman goddess of agriculture.
Wiktionary: cerealchampagne place from Champagne, France
From French champagne, the sparkling wine of the Champagne region, whose name comes from Latin campānia, from campus ‘field, plain’.
Wiktionary: champagnechauvinism character from Nicolas Chauvin
Borrowed from French chauvinisme, named after Nicolas Chauvin, a legendary and excessively patriotic soldier made famous by a stage play. He may never have existed.
Wiktionary: chauvinismcoach place from Kocs, Hungary
Through French and German from Hungarian kocsi ‘of Kocs’, short for kocsi szekér ‘cart from Kocs’, a small Hungarian town known for its carts. The ‘tutor’ sense began as Oxford University slang around 1830.
Wiktionary: coachcologne place from Cologne, Germany
From eau de Cologne ‘water of Cologne’, the name given to the original scent in 1709.
Wiktionary: colognecurrant place from Corinth, Greece
From Anglo-Norman raisin de Corinthe ‘grapes of Corinth’.
Wiktionary: currantdahlia person from Anders Dahl
Named in 1791 after the Swedish botanist Anders Dahl by the Spanish botanist Antonio José Cavanilles.
Wiktionary: dahliadenim place from Nîmes, France
From French de Nîmes ‘from Nîmes’, the French town where the fabric was first made.
Wiktionary: denimdiesel person from Rudolf Diesel
After Rudolf Diesel, who developed the engine in Germany in the 1890s.
Wiktionary: dieseldraconian person from Draco
After Draco, the Athenian lawmaker known for very harsh laws (his name is the Greek word δράκων, drákōn, ‘dragon’).
Wiktionary: draconiandunce person from John Duns Scotus
From John Duns Scotus, a well-known medieval Scottish thinker. His later followers opposed the new learning of the Renaissance, so by 1530 dunce meant someone who rejected new knowledge, and later anyone thought stupid.
Wiktionary: dunceFerris wheel person from George Washington Gale Ferris Jr.
After George W. G. Ferris Jr., who built the first such wheel.
Wiktionary: Ferris wheelgalvanize person from Luigi Galvani
After the Italian physiologist Luigi Galvani (1737–1798), by way of galvanism. Its older sense was ‘to electrify’; ‘to shock into action’ grew out of that.
Wiktionary: galvanizegerrymander person from Elbridge Gerry
A blend of Gerry and salamander, after Elbridge Gerry, governor of Massachusetts: in 1812 the Boston Gazette compared a district he signed into law to the shape of a salamander.
Wiktionary: gerrymanderguillotine person from Joseph-Ignace Guillotin
From French guillotine, after Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, who proposed its use for executions.
Wiktionary: guillotineguy person from Guy Fawkes
From Guy Fawkes, executed for his part in the Gunpowder Plot. His effigies, burned every Guy Fawkes Night, were called guys, and the word widened to mean any man.
Wiktionary: guyhamburger place from Hamburg, Germany
Short for Hamburger steak or Hamburger sandwich, from German Hamburger ‘of Hamburg’.
Wiktionary: hamburgerjeans place from Genoa, Italy
From Gene or Jean, an old English name for Genoa. Jean fustian was a coarse cotton cloth linked with the city; the word was used for trousers of that cloth in the 19th century.
Wiktionary: jeansjovial myth & legend from Jupiter (Jove)
Through French and Italian from Latin Ioviālis ‘of Jupiter’. People born under the astrological influence of the planet Jupiter were believed to be cheerful.
Wiktionary: jovialKafkaesque person from Franz Kafka
Kafka plus -esque, after the writer Franz Kafka.
Wiktionary: Kafkaesquelaconic place from Laconia, Greece
Through Latin from Greek Λακωνικός (Lakōnikós) ‘of Laconia’, the region ruled by the Spartans, who were known for speaking briefly.
Wiktionary: laconicleotard person from Jules Léotard
Named after Jules Léotard.
Wiktionary: leotardMachiavellian person from Niccolò Machiavelli
From Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527), whose book The Prince advises that gaining and keeping power may require unethical methods.
Wiktionary: Machiavellianmackintosh person from Charles Macintosh
From Charles Macintosh (1766–1843), who patented a rubberized cloth in 1823. The k is a later addition to the spelling.
Wiktionary: mackintoshmagnet place from Magnesia
Through Latin from Greek μάγνης (mágnēs) ‘magnet, lodestone’, the ‘Magnesian’ stone, named after Magnesia: either the city of Magnesia in Lydia or the Greek region of Magnesia.
Wiktionary: magnetmagnolia person from Pierre Magnol
From the genus name Magnolia, after the French botanist Pierre Magnol (1638–1715).
Wiktionary: magnoliamalapropism character from Mrs. Malaprop
From Mrs. Malaprop, a character in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s play The Rivals (1775) who mixes up similar-sounding words. Her name probably comes from French mal à propos ‘inappropriate’.
Wiktionary: malapropismmarathon place from Marathon, Greece
Coined in French in 1894 by Michel Bréal for the first modern Olympic Games, after the Greek town of Marathon: the legend says Phidippides ran from Marathon to Athens with news of the battle.
Wiktionary: marathonmaudlin person from Mary Magdalene
From Maudelen, an old form of the name Mary Magdalene, who was usually shown weeping in art.
Wiktionary: maudlinmausoleum person from Mausolus
Through Latin from Greek Μαυσωλεῖον (Mausōleîon), the grand tomb built around 353–351 BCE at Halicarnassus for Mausolus, a ruler of Caria.
Wiktionary: mausoleummaverick person from Samuel Maverick
From Samuel Maverick (1803–1870), who refused to brand his cattle. A maverick was first an unbranded animal, then a person who shows independence in thought or action.
Wiktionary: maverickmeander place from the Maeander river
From Latin Maeander, from Greek Μαίανδρος (Maíandros), a river in Asia Minor known for its winding course.
Wiktionary: meandermesmerize person from Franz Anton Mesmer
From mesmerism, named after Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1815), a German physician who developed the theory of ‘animal magnetism’.
Wiktionary: mesmerizemuslin place from Mosul, Iraq
From French mousseline, from Italian mussolina, from Mussolo, the Italian name of Mosul in northern Iraq.
Wiktionary: muslinnicotine person from Jean Nicot
After Jean Nicot, the French ambassador to Portugal who sent tobacco seeds back to France in 1561, plus the suffix -ine.
Wiktionary: nicotineodyssey character from Odysseus
From the Odyssey, the Greek epic telling the long journey home of Odysseus.
Wiktionary: odysseyOrwellian person from George Orwell
From the surname of George Orwell, the pen name of the English writer Eric Arthur Blair (1903–1950).
Wiktionary: Orwellianpanic myth & legend from Pan
Through French panique from Greek πανικός (panikós) ‘of Pan’. Pan, the god of fields and woods, was believed to cause sudden groundless fear in herds and crowds.
Wiktionary: panicpasteurize person from Louis Pasteur
Borrowed from French pasteuriser, from Louis Pasteur, who devised the heating process, plus -ize.
Wiktionary: pasteurizepoinsettia person from Joel Roberts Poinsett
From an old genus name honoring Joel Roberts Poinsett, the 19th-century US minister to Mexico.
Wiktionary: poinsettiaquixotic character from Don Quixote
From Don Quixote, the idealistic hero of Miguel de Cervantes’ novel, plus the suffix -ic.
Wiktionary: quixoticraglan person from Lord Raglan
Named after Lord Raglan (1788–1855), a British commander in the Crimean War.
Wiktionary: raglanrugby place from Rugby School, Warwickshire
From Rugby School in Rugby, Warwickshire, where the modern game was developed in the 19th century.
Wiktionary: rugbysalmonella person from Daniel Elmer Salmon
From the genus name Salmonella, after Daniel Elmer Salmon.
Wiktionary: salmonellasandwich person from the Earl of Sandwich
Named after the Earl of Sandwich, its supposed inventor. The naming is well recorded; the story of exactly how he came to eat it is less certain.
Wiktionary: sandwichsaxophone person from Adolphe Sax
The surname of its inventor, Adolphe Sax (1814–1894), plus -o- and -phone, from Greek φωνή (phōnḗ) ‘sound, voice’.
Wiktionary: saxophoneshrapnel person from Henry Shrapnel
After Henry Shrapnel, who invented a shell that scattered bullets over a target.
Wiktionary: shrapnelsideburns person from Ambrose Burnside
Reshaped from burnside, after Ambrose Burnside, who was noted for his unusual facial hair.
Wiktionary: sideburnssilhouette person from Étienne de Silhouette
From the surname of Étienne de Silhouette (1709–1767), a French finance minister. Why his name was attached to outline portraits is not settled: suggestions include his penny-pinching policies, his short time in office and his own outline portraits.
Wiktionary: silhouettespoonerism person from William Archibald Spooner
After the Reverend W. A. Spooner of Oxford, who is supposed to have often swapped the sounds of words by mistake.
Wiktionary: spoonerismsuede place from Sweden
From French gants de Suède ‘gloves from Sweden’.
Wiktionary: suedetantalize myth & legend from Tantalus
From Tantalus of Greek myth, condemned to stand in water that drew back when he stooped to drink, under fruit that was always out of reach.
Wiktionary: tantalizetawdry person from Saint Audrey (Æthelthryth)
Shortened from tawdry lace, a slurred form of Saint Audrey lace: lace necklaces sold to pilgrims of Saint Audrey. When they went out of fashion, tawdry came to mean ‘cheap and showy’.
Wiktionary: tawdryteddy bear person from Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt
Made in 1902 by the Brooklyn shop owner Morris Michtom, who named it in honor of President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt after hearing that Roosevelt had refused to shoot a bear cub on a hunting trip.
Wiktionary: teddy beartuxedo place from Tuxedo Park, New York
From Tuxedo Park, New York, where the fashion is often said to have started.
Wiktionary: tuxedovolcano myth & legend from Vulcan
From Italian vulcano, after the island of Vulcano, named from Latin Vulcānus, the Roman god of fire.
Wiktionary: volcanovolt person from Alessandro Volta
The unit is named after Alessandro Volta.
Wiktionary: voltwatt person from James Watt
The unit is named after James Watt.
Wiktionary: watt
About these eponyms
An eponym is a word taken from a name. Search for the word (leotard), the person or place (Kafka, Greece) or anything in the story (cloth, units), and use Named after to show only real people, characters from books and plays, figures from myth and legend, or places.
Each origin is short and careful. Where a dictionary says a story is only “supposed” or “often said”, so do we: the Earl of Sandwich is the supposed inventor of the sandwich, and Nicolas Chauvin, who gave us chauvinism, may never have existed. Every entry was checked against its Wiktionary page, which is linked under it.
Questions
What is an eponym?
A word formed from a name, such as boycott from Charles Boycott. The word eponym can also mean the person a thing is named after, so Boycott is the eponym of boycott.
Why are place names included?
Many everyday words began as places: denim is cloth from Nîmes and jeans comes from an old English name for Genoa. Dictionaries sometimes call these toponyms; they are listed here so you can find them in one place.
Are the famous stories true?
Some are and some are not certain. We give only what the linked dictionary entry supports, and say so when it calls a story supposed, legendary or disputed. For outright myths, see the word origin myths page.