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Aptronym

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An aptronym is a name aptly suited to its owner. Fictional examples of aptronyms include Mr. Talkative and Mr. Worldly Wiseman in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678), Truman Burbank (true-man), the lead character in the 1998 film The Truman Show, the principal cast of the Mr Men (1971) and all the characters in Marc Blitzstein's 1937 play The Cradle Will Rock.

Examples

Other examples

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. A sampling from the list:

Some aptronyms are ironic rather than descriptive. The former Archbishop of Manila, Jaime L. Sin known as "Cardinal Sin," is a notable example. Lance Armstrong became a seven-time Tour de France champion because of leg, not arm, strength. Dickson's book also lists a Rev. Richard Sinner of Fargo, North Dakota. There was a Roman Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool called Derek Worlock. The British barrister Christmas Humphreys was not only born on 15 February rather than 25 December, but was known as a theosophist and later Buddhist. Actress Tuesday Weld was born on a Friday. Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post has called these "inaptonyms"[1] Place names can also be aptronyms, perhaps unintentionally, such as the former Liberty Jail, so called because of its location in Liberty, Missouri, USA.

Other issues

Aptronyms may be called "aptonyms" by other writers. San Francisco columnist Herb Caen used the term "namephreaks". Washington Post columnist Bob Levey prefers the term PFLNs, or Perfect Fit Last Names.

There does not yet seem to be a standard terminology for this linguistic curiosity, although it appears that aptonyms is winning out.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bob#Verb_2
  2. ^ Story, Louise. The New York Times http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/louise_story/index.html. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ^ Lattman, Peter (3 May 2006). "Law Blog Lawyer of the Day: Sullivan & Cromwell's Sue Yoo!". The Wall Street Journal.

References

  • "aptronym". Encyclopædia Britannica (Encyclopædia Britannica Online ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
  • Dickson, Paul. What's in a Name? Reflections of an Irrepressible Name Collector. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996. ISBN 0-87779-613-0

External links

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