Idonyms
Idonyms are words that are eponyms that you would not necessarily think are eponyms.
I derived the term “idonym” from “idoneous” and I do not mind so much about combining Latin and Greek. I also create other words.
Not to be confused with Aptronym.
Not to be confused with Idionymon.
Not to be confused with Idiom.
I add to this list as I fancy. Contributions are welcome.
Legend
Kinds of idonyms
- common word with a reason
Page rank: home run perfect idonym 💯
- variant of common word with a reason
Cotten picking (you would think it was Cotton picking)
- common word but no real reason, usually a place name
Crush, Texas
- invented word
dumpster
- name-derived term
Debian, or the French ‘poubelle’ in the comments, which have become genericized to the point where most of its users don’t know the derivation
Adidas and Debian are unexpected simply because they don’t look like the name of a person, or anything else
- not a common word
Corby trouser press: named after a person, not the town. But the town is not a common word, so is it even an idonym?
A
Adidas is named after Adi Dassler.
Angel Falls in Venezuela is named after aviator Jimmie Angel.
Arby’s is based on R. B., the initials of Raffel Brothers.
Aspect’s experiment is named after Alain Aspect.
Automattic is named after Matt Mullenweg.
The Axel jump, a rotating forward jump in figure skating, is named after Axel Paulsen.
B
Baker’s Chocolate is named after Walter Baker & Company. 💯
BernzOmatic, maker of torches, is named after Otto Bernz.
Bird’s custard, which is eggless, is named after Alfred Bird.
Bloomers are named after Amelia Bloomer.
Bluetooth, a union of different communication protocols, after King Harold Bluetooth, 10th century uniter of Danish tribes.
Brain’s reflex is named after Russell Brain
Brownian noise is named after Robert Brown.
The burpee exercise was named after physiologist Royal H. Burpee.
C
The Caesar salad was named after Caesar Cardini, a restauranteur in San Diego and Tijuana.
The Child Ballads were anthologized by Francis James Child.
Children’s python is named after John George Children.
Childs Elementary School was named after Laura G. Childs, a longtime teacher in Bloomington.
Christmas disease is named after the first patient described to have it, Stephen Christmas.
ColorBrewer is named after Cynthia Brewer.
The Corby trouser press was named after its inventor Peter Corby, and has nothing to do with town of Corby.
Cotten picking fingerstyle is named after Elizabeth Cotten.
D
Dark Castle Entertainment pays homage to William Castle.
The decibel, a measure of loudness, is named after Alexander Graham Bell.
The dumpster is named after the Dempster brothers.
E
Elo is named after Arpad Elo
Erlang is named after Agner Erlang.
F
French drains are named after Henry Flagg French. 💯
G
Gardenia is named after Alexander Garden, a Scottish naturalist. 💯
Garmin is named after the two founders: Gary Burrell and Min Kao.
German chocolate cake is named after American baker Samuel German. 💯
German Dam is a person, not a dam.
A Good shot in Tiddlywinks is named after John Good.
H
The Hall effect is named after Edwin Hall.
The Heaviside step function is named after Oliver Heaviside.
The Heighway curve is named after John Heighway.
HMS Wager was named after Admiral Sir Charles Wager.
The Holland Tunnel is named after Clifford Milburn Holland.
Hotelling rent is named after Harold Hotelling.
K
King Street in London’s Hammersmith is named after bishop John King. 💯
The Australian Common Kingslayer is named after the American tourist, Robert King - that it killed.
L
Lazarus Lizards are named after the Lazarus family.
Leatherman company was founded in July 1983 by Timothy S. Leatherman.
Longyearbyen in Svalbard (Longyear Town), the main settlement, is named after John Monro Longyear, an American coal magnate from Michigan.
Loop subdivision is named after its inventor Charles Loop.
M
Main Street in San Francisco is named after Charles Main. 💯
Mars candy is named after Franklin Mars.
Max Factor is a line of cosmetics from Coty, founded in 1909 as Max Factor & Company by Maksymilian Faktorowicz.
Metropolis sampling is named after Nicholas Metropolis, nothing to do with Las Vegas or Monte Carlo. 💯
Millbrae, California (suburb of San Francisco-San Jose right next to SFO) is a conjunction of Mill and ‘brae.’ Mill refers to Darius Ogden Mills (at one point the richest person in California) who purchased the land in 1860 and brae is a Scottish word for “rolling hills”.
Morgan Hill, California is named after Hiram Morgan Hill.
MySQL is a combination of “My”, the name of co-founder Michael Widenius’s daughter My, and “SQL”.
O
Outerbridge Crossing is named after Eugenius Harvey Outerbridge.
P
PageRank algorithm is named after Larry Page. 💯
Perfect North Slopes is a skiing resort formed by the Perfect Family and others in 1980. 💯
Penney’s game, also known as Penney Ante, named after its inventor Walter Penney.
Perky effect is named after Mary Cheves West Perky.
Pink Lake in Quebec, Canada named for the Pink family who cleared land in the area.
Plateau’s Problem is named after a physicist named Joseph Plateau, not because the surfaces look like plateaus.
“trash can” in French is une poubelle, named after Eugene Poubelle.
The Poynting Vector, which gives the direction of propagation of electromagnetic waves, after the physicist John Poynting.
Price Club is named after Sol Price and Robert Price. 💯
Q
Quad is named after Harry Quadracci and Elizabeth Quadracci.
R
Raylib is named after its creator, Ramon Santamaria.
S
The Shell sort algorithm is named after D.L. Shell who invented it. 💯
Silhouette, named for a French finance minister back in the 18th century. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silhouette
Shephard’s Prayer is named after Alan Shephard.
Sideburns are named after the American Civil War general Ambrose Burnside.
Smart & Final is named after J. S. “Jim” Smart and H. D. “Hildane” Final.
Snowflake, Arizona is named after two people named Snow and Flake.
Southern blot is named after Edwin Southern.
Student’s T-test/distribution is named after pseudonym “Student”.
T
Taco Bell is an American multinational chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell.
Tupperware is named after Earl Tupper.
U
Uline is named after Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein.
Unilever is named after the Lever Brothers.
W
The Waltz filtering algorithm is named after David Waltz.
Waterfall Glen is named after Seymour Waterfall.
The Waterphone was invented by Richard Waters.
Westlake, Los Angeles is named after Henricus Wallace Westlake.
Wordle was created by Nick Wardle.