eponymous
adjective
Sonja AndersonThuc Nhi Nguyen
Did you know?
What’s in a name? If the name is eponymous, a name is in the name: an eponymous brand, café, river, or ice cream is named for someone or something. And because English is beastly sometimes, the one lending the name to the brand, café, river, or ice cream can also be described as eponymous. This means that if Noah Webster owns a bookstore called “Webster’s Books,” it’s an eponymous bookstore, and Noah himself is the bookstore’s eponymous owner. Most of the time, though, we see eponymous describing a thing named for a person—for example, an eponymous brand named for a designer, or a band’s eponymous album titled only with the band’s name. The related word eponym is less ambiguous: it refers to the one for whom someone or something is named. At our hypothetical “Webster’s Books,” Noah Webster is the bookstore’s eponym. Appropriately enough, the Greek root of both words is onyma, meaning “name.”
Examples of eponymous in a Sentence
Leila Hadley, Give Me the World, (1958) 1999
"Cool Britannia," which goes back to Ben and Jerry's eponymous ice cream in Spring 1996, met its sell-by-date within weeks …
—Harold Perkin, Times Literary Supplement, 18 Dec. 1998
Karen Hubert Allison, the eponymous (if you count middle names) creator of Hubert's, didn't know she was making dining history …
—Peter Kaminsky, New York Times Book Review, 11 May 1997
Madeline King, Chicago Tribune, 16 Mar. 2026
Kidman made audiences weep as Satine, the beautiful courtesan who is the star of the eponymous club in turn-of-the-century Paris.
—Mekishana Pierre, Entertainment Weekly, 16 Mar. 2026
Clearly, the textures, smells, and immediate after-effects of Vargas’ eponymous product line, combined with her magic touch, is what kept the Mindy Kalings, Laura Derns, and Julianne Moores of the world coming back to Vargas’ studios for more.
—Stacia Datskovska, Footwear News, 15 Mar. 2026
One of the best names in the category is Midleton Very Rare, an annual luxury release that is produced at the eponymous distillery where other major brands are made, and the brand just announced the launch of the new 2026 edition of this exceptional Irish whiskey.
—Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 12 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for eponymous
Cite this Entry
“Eponymous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eponymous. Accessed 19 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
eponymous
adjective
R. O. Brady
