eponym
noun
ep·onym
ˈe-pə-ˌnim 
1
: one for whom or which something is or is believed to be named
From the New World voyages [Leonhard] Fuchs harvested some American plants … and posthumously he became the eponym of … the fuchsia.—
Daniel J. Boorstin
Daniel J. Boorstin2
: a name (as of a disease, invention, action, etc.) based on or derived from an eponym
… it had somehow escaped until she mentioned it that silhouette is a Gallic eponym, like guillotine …—Irish Times
Irish TimesExamples of eponym in a Sentence
Joseph Banks was surely the eponym of eponyms. From Alaska to Indonesia, from Tierra del Fuego to Tasmania, there are capes, islands, straits, mountains, bays, points, channels, peninsulas, counties and towns named after him.
—Pat Rogers, Times Literary Supplement, 3–9 June 1988
Toadfishes burp the songs of their eponyms; one sort of toadfish is called the singing midshipman.
—John Hersey, Harper's, May 1987
Almost from the onset of television, congressmen have realized the promotional potential of the carefully scripted hearing: the McCarthy and Kefauver hearings of the 1950s, which were among the first "televison events," made their eponyms famous.
—Gregg Easterbrook, Atlantic, Dec. 1984
Pat Rogers, Times Literary Supplement, 3–9 June 1988
Toadfishes burp the songs of their eponyms; one sort of toadfish is called the singing midshipman.
—John Hersey, Harper's, May 1987
Almost from the onset of television, congressmen have realized the promotional potential of the carefully scripted hearing: the McCarthy and Kefauver hearings of the 1950s, which were among the first "televison events," made their eponyms famous.
—Gregg Easterbrook, Atlantic, Dec. 1984
Recent Examples on the Web
The North Carolina Army base that was renamed Fort Liberty in 2023 went back to being known as Fort Bragg in honor of World War II paratrooper Roland Bragg, instead of its original eponym, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg.
—Elizabeth Crisp, The Hill, 18 July 2025
The daguerreotype, a high-end format invented by the French artist-scientist and eponym Louis Daguerre, was formally announced to the world on August 19, 1839, in Paris.
—Kaila Philo, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 June 2025
Over the next half-century, New College developed a reputation for providing a top-notch liberal arts education, inspired by the tutorial model of its Oxford eponym.
—Jack McCordick, The New Republic, 11 Jan. 2023
Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz’s Yanga, for choir, percussion quartet and orchestra, sets a Spanish libretto by Santiago Martín Bermúdez that pays tribute to the eponym’s revolutionary spirit.
—Dallas News, 8 June 2022
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Elizabeth Crisp, The Hill, 18 July 2025
The daguerreotype, a high-end format invented by the French artist-scientist and eponym Louis Daguerre, was formally announced to the world on August 19, 1839, in Paris.
—Kaila Philo, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 June 2025
Over the next half-century, New College developed a reputation for providing a top-notch liberal arts education, inspired by the tutorial model of its Oxford eponym.
—Jack McCordick, The New Republic, 11 Jan. 2023
Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz’s Yanga, for choir, percussion quartet and orchestra, sets a Spanish libretto by Santiago Martín Bermúdez that pays tribute to the eponym’s revolutionary spirit.
—Dallas News, 8 June 2022
See All Example Sentences for eponym
Cite this Entry
“Eponym.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eponym. Accessed 12 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
eponym
noun
ep·onym
ˈep-ə-ˌnim
1
: the person for whom something (as a disease) is or is believed to be named
2
: a name (as of a drug or a disease) based on or derived from the name of a person
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