Mononym

Plato, a person with only one known name

A mononymous person is an individual who is known and addressed by a mononym, or "single name". In some cases, that name has been selected by the individual, who may have originally been given a polynym ("multiple name"). In other cases, it has been determined by the custom of the country or by some interested segment. In the case of historical figures, it may be the only one of the individual's names that has survived and is still known today.

History

Europe

The structure of persons' names has varied across time and geography. In some communities, individuals have been mononymous; that is, each person has received only a single name. Alulim, first king of Sumer, is one of the earliest names known; Narmer, an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, is another. Later, Biblical names were typically mononymous, as were names in the surrounding cultures of the Fertile Crescent. Ancient Greek names also followed the pattern, with second names only used to avoid confusion, as in the case of Zeno the Stoic and Zeno of Elea.

A notable departure from this custom occurred among the Romans, who by the Republican period and throughout the Imperial period used multiple names: a male citizen's name comprised three parts, praenomen (given name), nomen (clan name) and cognomen (family line within the clan) — the nomen and cognomen being virtually always hereditary. Post-antiquity most of them are, however, mononymous in most contexts: examples are Cicero (also known as Tully: Marcus Tullius Cicero), Pompey (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus), Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro), Nero (Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus) or Juvenal (Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis).

In other cultures the following can be named: Euripides, Xenophon, Aristotle and, further afield, Boudica and Jugurtha.

During the early Middle Ages, mononymy slowly declined, with northern and eastern Europe keeping the tradition longer than the south; an example is Edeko, the East Germanic chieftain whose son ruled Italy as Flavius Odoacer. By the end of the period, however, surnames had become commonplace: Edmund Ironside, for example, ruled England, Brian Boru was High-king of Ireland, Kenneth MacAlpin had united Scotland, and even in Scandinavia surnames were taking hold. The Dutch Renaissance scholar and theologian Erasmus is a late example of mononymity; though sometimes referred to as "Desiderius Erasmus" or "Erasmus of Rotterdam", he was christened only as "Erasmus", after the martyr Erasmus of Formiae.

The Americas

Between Columbus' arrival in the New World and the late 19th century, most native Americans were mononymous. Examples include Agüeybaná (Puerto Rico, died 1510), Auoindaon (Canada, flourished 1623), Pocahontas (United States, 1595–1617), Guamá (Cuba, died 1532), Anacaona (Dominican Republic, 1464–1504), Moctezuma (Mexico, 1398–1469), Lempira (Honduras, died 1537), Diriangen (Nicaragua, fl. 1520), Urracá (Panama, died 1531), Tamanaco (Venezuela, died 1573), Atahualpa (Peru, 1497–1533), Cangapol (Argentina, fl. 1735), Lautaro (Chile, 1534–1557), and Tecumseh (United States, 1768–1813). Uniquely, the Dutch-Seneca diplomat Cornplanter was given both a Seneca language mononym (Kaintwakon, which roughly translates as "corn planter") from his mother and a given name and surname (John Abeel) from his father, and he used both throughout his life; however, his later descendants, such as Jesse Cornplanter, would instead use "Cornplanter" as the family name instead of "Abeel." In the 19th century, most chiefs involved in the Apache Wars had mononymous birth names, and some replaced those with mononymous nicknames: Geronimo (born Goyaałé), Victorio (born Beduiat), Cochise, and so on.

Post-medieval uses

Since the medieval period, mononyms in the west have almost exclusively been used to identify notable people who already had surnames. These nicknames were either adopted by the persons themselves or conferred by contemporaries.

France

Some French authors have shown a preference for mononyms. In the 17th century, the dramatist and actor Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622–73) took the mononym stage name "Molière".

In the 18th century, François-Marie Arouet took the mononym "Voltaire", for both literary and personal use, in 1718 after his imprisonment in Paris' Bastille, to mark a break with his past. The new name combined several features. It was an anagram for a Latinized version of his family surname, "Arouet, l[e] j[eune]"; it reversed the syllables of the name of a family château, "Airvault"; and it has implications of speed and daring through similarity with French expressions such as "voltige", "volte-face" and "volatile". "Arouet", on the other hand, would not serve the same purpose, given that name's associations with "roué" and with an expression that meant "for thrashing."

The 19th-century French author Marie-Henri Beyle used many pen names, most famously the mononym "Stendhal", adapted from the name of the little Prussian town of Stendal, birthplace of the German art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann, whom Stendhal greatly admired.

In the 20th century, a fourth French writer, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (author of Gigi, 1945), used her actual surname as her mononymous pen name, "Colette".

Some French actors and singers, e.g., Trenet and Dani, have used their given name or surname as a stage mononym.

Other European countries

The German writer, mining engineer and philosopher, Georg Friedrich Philipp Freiherr von Hardenberg (1772–1801), became famous as Novalis.

The 19th-century Dutch writer Eduard Douwes Dekker (1820–87), better known by his mononymous pen name Multatuli (from the Latin multa tuli, "I have suffered [or borne] many things"), became famous for the satirical novel, Max Havelaar (1860), in which he denounced the abuses of colonialism in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). In 2002 Multatuli was proclaimed by the Society for Dutch Literature to have been the most important Dutch writer of all time. The Dutch writer Jan Hendrik Frederik Grönloh (1882-1961) wrote under the pseudonym Nescio (Latin for "I don't know").

The 20th-century British author Hector Hugh Munro became known by his pen name, "Saki".

In 20th-century Poland, the theater-of-the-absurd playwright, novelist, painter, photographer and philosopher Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz after 1925 often used the mononymous pseudonym "Witkacy", a conflation of his surname (Witkiewicz) and middle name (Ignacy).

In the Soviet Union, Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky are assumed names, for similar reasons. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov adopted the pen name Lenin while publishing anti-Tsarist propaganda in the 1910s, and was generally known as Lenin (or sometimes V.I. Lenin) after rising to power in the October Revolution. Ioseb Besarionis Zhugashvili assumed the pen name Stalin, from the Russian word for "steel", and was also generally known by this name after the revolution. Similarly, Lev Davidovich Bronshtein assumed the name Leon Trotsky, which then became shortened over time to, simply, Trotsky.

A number of visual artists, such as Michelangelo, Titian, Tintoretto, Caravaggio and Rembrandt, are commonly known by mononyms. The modern Russian artist Erté formed his mononymous pseudonym from the initials of his actual name, as did the Belgian comics writers Hergé and Jijé.

Italian painter Bernardo Bellotto, who is now ranked as an important and original painter in his own right, traded on the mononymous pseudonym of his uncle and teacher, Antonio Canal (Canaletto), in those countries—Poland and Germany—where his famous uncle was not active, calling himself likewise "Canaletto." Bellotto remains commonly known as "Canaletto" in those countries to this day.

Mononymity was represented in photography, from that art's infancy, by Nadar (Gaspard-Félix Tournachon).

North America

The American writer of non-fiction and fiction, Rodney William Whitaker (1931–2005), is best known for some novels that he wrote under the mononym pen name, "Trevanian". The Armenian-Canadian portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh was commonly known as "Karsh of Ottawa".

Royalty

Monarchs and other royalty, for example Napoleon, have traditionally availed themselves of the privilege of using a mononym, modified when necessary by an ordinal or descriptor (e.g., Queen Elizabeth II). While many European royals have formally sported long chains of names, in practice they have tended to use only one or two and not to use surname. In Japan, the emperor and his family have no surname, only a given name, such as Hirohito, which in practice is rarely used: out of respect and as a measure of politeness, Japanese prefer to say "the Emperor" or "the Crown Prince." In India, the first six Mughal emperors were known by just one name, adopted by each emperor upon his accession.

Roman Catholic popes, except for John Paul I and II, have traditionally, on their election, adopted a single name.

Mononyms in modern times

Countries where mononyms are normal

The western style of having both a family name (surname) and a given name (Christian name or forename) is far from universal.

• Surnames were introduced in Turkey only after World War I.
• It is very common in India, especially in the south, for people to have only one name.
• Mononyms are also common in Indonesia, notably for Javanese names, both for prominent government figures such as former presidents Sukarno and Suharto as well as for commoners such as Triyatno.

In Asia

Akihito, Emperor of Japan

In modern times, in countries that have long been part of the Chinese cultural sphere (Japan, Korea, Vietnam and China itself), mononyms are rare. A notable exception pertains to the Emperor of Japan. Mononyms are, however, common as stage names in the Japanese entertainment industry, usually when the performer's legal name is not publicly known; e.g., Ayaka, Becky, Gackt, hide, Hyde, Mana, Miyavi, Tsunku, and Yui. Also, Japanese baseball superstar Ichiro Suzuki is widely known in both Japan and North America simply as "Ichiro".

In Hong Kong, a few musicians are also known by mononyms, e.g., Janice, Jin, and Justin Lo (who uses the Chinese mononym, "側田"). In Korea, singers such as BoA, Rain, Zelo, Shoo and Psy are known by their mononyms.

Mononyms continue to be used in parts of India. Mayawati, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, chooses to use only a single name. Several Indian film personalities, such as Sridevi, Rekha, Kajol and Rajnikanth, are also known only by their mononyms.

Mononyms are also common in Indonesia. In some cases, such as those of former Presidents Sukarno and Suharto, the mononyms are the full legal name, as often among Javanese people of common birth. Other mononyms, such as Rossa, Chrisye and Tohpati, are stage names taken from a nickname or part of the full name.

Single names still also occur in Tibet and Mongolia. Most Afghans have no surname.

In Thailand, people usually address each other in informal situations by nicknames (chue-len or Thai: ชึ่อเล่น). Given by parents or relatives in early childhood, these nicknames are typically one syllable (or worn down from two syllables to one). They may often be nonsense words or humorous, and usually have no relation to the person's actual name, although in some cases may be diminutive forms of their first name, like "Nok" for "Noknoi" which means respectively bird and little bird, the first used as nickname and the second being the first name. All Thais have such a name, even the royal family, and they are freely used in everyday life.

Surnames were introduced in Turkey after World War I, as part of his westernizing and modernizing program, by that country's first president, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. His own surname, Atatürk, which was bestowed by the Turkish parliament, means "Father Turk."

In the West

Sting

In the West, mononymity, as well as its use by royals in conjunction with titles, has been primarily a privilege of famous persons such as prominent writers, artists, entertainers, musicians and sportsmen.

Some persons, such as the artist Christo, the sculptor Chryssa, and the singer-songwriter Basia, have had polynymous names that were unwieldy, or unfamiliar and difficult to remember or to pronounce in the community in which they were currently active, but have not wanted to entirely change their names to something more familiar to the broad public at the cost of abandoning their sense of self-identification, and so have used only a single part of their full names.

The case of the Icelandic musician Björk is similar, but her use of a single name also has roots in her native culture. Like most Icelanders, she has no family name; the second part of her full name is a patronymic. Icelanders generally address one another solely by given names even in formal settings.

Some mononym stage names are merely the performer's given name (e.g. Rihanna, Ke$ha, Cher, Donovan, Prince, Madonna, Beyoncé), while others may be the performer's surname (e.g. Liberace, Mantovani, Morrissey). Some mononym stage names are invented (e.g. Cantinflas, Xzibit), adopted words (e.g. Capucine, French for "nasturtium") or nicknames (e.g. Sting, Bono, Moby).

In Lusophone countries such as Portugal, Angola and especially Brazil, football players often adopt a mononym (e.g. Pelé, Nani, Ronaldo, Eusébio, Marta). In Spain, mononyms for football players are also very common; they include nicknames (Michel, Arteaga, Arzú), derivations of the player's surname (Coro, Guti), diminutives (Juanito, Pichi), or the player's first names (Xavi, Sergi, Raúl). Because there are a few very common surnames in Spain (García, Pérez, López, Hernández), the use of mononyms makes it easier to distinguish between the many Garcías and Pérezes on each team. Mononyms are occasionally used by players from other countries, for example the Venezuelan Miku and the Ivorian Gervinho. Mononyms can be seen in other sports in these countries, with notable examples including Brazilian basketball players Hortência and Nenê.

The former president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is known simply as "Lula", a nickname he officially added to his full name. Such mononyms, which take their origin in given names, surnames or nicknames, are used because Portuguese names tend to be rather long.

The comedian and illusionist Teller, the silent half of the duo Penn & Teller, has legally changed his original polynym, "Raymond Joseph Teller", to the mononym "Teller" and possesses a United States passport issued in that single name. The professional wrestler Warrior legally changed his name to the mononym, Warrior.

Some have selected their mononym themselves, when they have been able to do so, because of its distinctiveness. Others have come to be known by a mononym that has been applied to them by some segment of the public. Both mechanisms contributed in the case of Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has been called, and has publicly called herself, simply "Hillary". Peter Funt, of Candid Camera, wrote in a February 21, 2007 New York Times op-ed piece, "The Mononym Platform": "Someone has apparently decided that Mrs. Clinton will be the first major single-name candidate since 1952, when Ike's P.R. gurus realized that 'Eisenhower' was tough to fit on a bumper sticker... In an apparent attempt to model her marketing on the likes of Madonna, Beyoncé and Cher, Mrs. Clinton's site proclaimed: 'Today, Hillary took the first step...'..." In an interview with Hillary Clinton published in Salon.com, the interviewer acknowledged receiving reader accusations of sexism whenever he referred to Clinton in print as "Hillary" (in contrast with male candidates who were almost always referred to by their last names), although he stated it was primarily to avoid confusion with her husband Bill Clinton.

Oprah Winfrey, famed American talk show host, is usually referred to by only her first name, Oprah. In Canada, Senator Nancy Ruth had previously dropped her family name of Jackman, using both of her remaining names together as a mononym instead of using "Ruth" as a family name. She is alphabetized under "N," not "R", on the Senate website.

Omarosa, who is a reality television star born as Omarosa Manigault and later on married and became Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, now simply goes by Omarosa. She has gone by this in the television shows The Celebrity Apprentice and All-Star Celebrity Apprentice.

Some famous computer programmers are recognized by just the use of their first name. Examples are Linus and Ken.

Gallery

• 
  Tintoretto
• 
  Molière
• 
  Voltaire
• 
  Novalis
• 
  Stendhal
• 
  Multatuli
• 
  Nadar
• 
  Saki
• 
  Colette
• 
  Witkacy
• 
  Sukarno
• 
  Cantinflas
• 
  Capucine
• 
  Pelé
• 
  Cher
• 
  Teller

See also

• List of legally mononymous people
• List of one-word stage names
• List of pseudonyms

References

• Encyclopedia Americana, Danville, CT, Grolier, 1986 ed., ISBN 0-7172-0117-1.
• Encyklopedia Polski (Encyclopedia of Poland), Kraków, Wydawnictwo Ryszard Kluszczyński, 1996, ISBN 83-86328-60-6.
• Richard Holmes, "Voltaire's Grin", New York Review of Books, November 30, 1995, pp. 49–55.
• Richard Holmes, Sidetracks: Explorations of a Romantic Biographer, New York, HarperCollins, 2000.
• William Smith (lexicographer), Dictionary of the Bible: Comprising Its Antiquities..., 1860–65.
• Peter Wetzler, Hirohito and War: Imperial Tradition and Military Decision-Making in Prewar Japan, University of Hawaii Press, 1998, ISBN 0-8248-1166-6.

External links

• Peter Funt, "The Mononym Platform", The New York Times, February 21, 2007.
• Penn & Teller FAQ (Internet Archive).