aptronym

English

Etymology

Blend of apt and patronym

Noun

aptronym (plural aptronyms)

1. A name that is aptly suited to its owner.
   • a. 1993, Danielle Schaub, "Mavis Gallant's Double Illusion", in, 1993, Jean-Michael Lacroix, Simone Vauthier, and Héliane Ventura, editors, Image et Récit, Presses de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, ISBN 2878540530, page 82 [1]:

     Speck also turns out to be a shopkeeper whose small-town mentality finds a reflection in his aptronym: "Speck" in German meaning bacon, he is the local butcher concerned with selling his merchandise regardless of its real quality.

   • 2000, Lorna Fitzsimmons, “Of ‘Broken Wall, the Burning Roof and Tower’: Gyno-Turning in Limit Up and Svankmajer’s Faust”, chapter 12 of Wendy Everett (editor), The Seeing Century: Film, Vision and Identity, Rodopi, ISBN 978-90-420-1494-7, page 149:

     This contradiction is condensed within the aptronym Casey Falls: her first name recalls Jim Casy, the preacher who is sacrificed helping migrant workers in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, while her surname evokes Eve and the Fall.

   • a. 2004, Peter Cosgrove, "History and Utopia in Ormond", in, 2004, Heidi Kaufman and Chris Fauske, editors, An Uncomfortable Authority: Maria Edgeworth and Her Contexts, Delaware, ISBN 0874138787 page 77 [2]:

     The latter after marrying Sir Ulick's steward becomes Mrs. M'Crule, an aptronym expressing her excessive bigotry in preventing the Catholic boy, Tommy Dunshaughlin, from attending a charity school.

Synonyms

• (personal name appropriate to one's character or trade): euonym, aptonym, charactonym

Derived terms

• aptronymic

See also

• Aptronym on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Nominative determinism on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:Nominative determinism

Anagrams

• patronym