eponymous
adjective
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
Natalie Oganesyan, Deadline, 13 Sep. 2025
This old-fashioned adventure stars Liam Neeson as the eponymous real-life chieftain, who in 18th-century Scotland romances Mary MacGregor (Jessica Lange) and goes on the run to clear his name after being falsely targeted by Archibald Cunningham (Tim Roth).
—Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 13 Sep. 2025
The Borderlands series is known for its wacky tone and colorful art style, and developer Gearbox has brought those to Tiny Tina Wonderlands, a spin-off game featuring the eponymous character from Borderlands 2.
—George Yang, PC Magazine, 12 Sep. 2025
Even before launching his eponymous label in 2005, Ford’s designs were worn by Aniston on the cover of magazines and red carpets.
—Leah Dolan, CNN Money, 11 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for eponymous
Cite this Entry
“Eponymous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eponymous. Accessed 18 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
eponymous
adjective
R. O. Brady
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