Language Arts Eponyms refers to both a) words that derive from a person’s name and b) the person whose name is the source (or thought to be the source) of the name of something else. Read this article to learn more about eponyms.

Eponymous naming can occur when something is named after its founder, inventor, or discover, or when something is dedicated to someone as a way of honoring them. Two of the most widely known eponyms are Julius Caesar, who gave his name to the month of July, and Augustus Caesar, for whom August is named.

Eponyms do not have to be related to real people. The Adam's apple, the Indiana Jones hat, and the atlas, are eponyms named for Adam in the Book of Genesis, Indiana Jones, the hero of the Steven Spielberg - George Lucas movie series, and the Greek titan who, in tales of Greek mythology, held the world on his shoulders. Eponym comes from the Greek word parts epi- and onoma, meaning “after the name,” that is, something that's named after something else. To learn more about eponyms, continue with this article.

Musical Instrument Eponyms

Musical instrument eponyms come both from inventors of new types of instruments, as well as from master craftsmen who built particularly fine examples of instruments invented by others. In the first group we have John Philip Sousa, the American composer and band leader who invented the Sousaphone; German composer Richard Wagner, who conceived of the Wagner tuba, and Adolphe Sax, the Belgian instrument maker who invented the Saxophone (among other instruments). In the second group we find violin makers Antonio Stradivari, Nicholas Amati, and Giuseppe Guarneri.

Body Part Eponyms

A number of body parts - some that you may not have heard of - are named for the scientists who identified them. For example, there are several such glands:

• Albarran's glands are named for Joaquin Maria Albarran y Dominguez
• Aselli's glands are named for Gasparo Aselli
• Audrey's glands are named for Charles Audry
• Bartholin's gland is named for Caspar Bartholin the Younger
• Bauhin's gland is named for Gaspard Bauhin
• Skene's gland is named for Alexander Skene

Other eponymous body parts are more familiar, such as the Adam's apple, mentioned earlier, and the Achilles' tendon, named for the hero of Homer's Iliad.

Food Eponyms

Naming an exquisite dish after someone is a very interesting way to honor them. There are a number of famous examples:

• Peach Melba is named for singer Dame Nellie Melba
• Louis de Béchamel, courtier in the court of King Louis XIV gave his name to Béchamel sauce
• Restaurateur Caesar Cardini is credited with the invention of the Caesar salad
• The Tatin sisters, Stéphanie Tatin and Caroline Tatin, are said to have invented this famous apple tarte at their Hotel.
• Eggs Benedict was apparently named by the maître d' of the Waldorf, Oscar for New York stockbroker, Lemuel Benedict, or by the head chef at Delmonico's, Charles Ranhofer, for a different New York stockbroker with the same surname, LeGrand Benedict.

Eponymous Plants

This is another realm with many eponyms. The tropical tree and shrub Gardenia is named for Dr. Alexander Garden, the Scottish naturalist. The flowering shrub Pointsettia is named after the United States Ambassador to Mexico, Joel Roberts Poinsett, who first brought the plant into the United States. The Bougainvillea plant was named for Louis Antoine de Bougainville, a French navigator, who found it in Brazil. And Douglas-fir is the common name of a group of coniferous trees that was named after Scottish botanist David Douglas, who first cultivated the trees.

Other Eponyms

Although this article has focused on eponyms that connect a person, real or imaginary, with something else bearing the person's name, there are also eponyms that derive from the names of places. Many names in the United States beginning with new are this type of eponym. New England, New York, and New Jersey spring readily to mind. But there are other, less grand, uses of names as commemoration. For example argyle socks are said to be named for Argyll, Scotland, the residence of Clan Campbell, from whose tartan the argyle pattern is thought to derive.

Sources

Who Named It? - whonamedit.com