eponymous

adjective

epon·​y·​mous i-ˈpä-nə-məs 

e-

1

: being the person or thing for whom or which something specified is named : of, relating to, or being an eponym

the eponymous owner of the bookstore

The epic poem's eponymous hero, then an aging warrior, stepped in.

—Sonja Anderson

2

: named for a particular person or thing

the band's eponymous album [=the album titled with the band's name]

an eponymous brand/label

[Simone] Biles performed a vault that was worth eight-tenths of a point less than her eponymous double-flipping skill.

—Thuc 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

… Ramayana, an Indian epic which chronicles, in sixty thousand verses, the adventures of its eponymous hero Rama … —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

Recent Examples on the Web

Anderson’s hallmarks are always easy to recognize, manifesting in different ways across Dior, his eponymous label, and his partnership with Uniqlo. —Alice Cary, Vogue, 3 Mar. 2026

The eponymous Kings Canyon is one of the deepest in the country, and drops over 8,000 feet from rim to river in some places. —Karthika Gupta, Travel + Leisure, 3 Mar. 2026

The Dominick’s latest partnership with jewelry designer Alexis Bittar‘s eponymous label — which has accompanied Michelle Obama, Dua Lipa, Kylie Jenner, Gigi Hadid, Angelina Jolie, and countless other A-listers to photoshoots, Met Galas, and everything in between over the years. —Stacia Datskovska, Footwear News, 2 Mar. 2026

The eponymous winery, now run by the founder’s grandson, has earned 100 points for its single-vineyard Malbec in six of the last seven vintages. —Mike Desimone, Robb Report, 2 Mar. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Greek epṓnymos "bearing a name derived from an existing name" + -ous — more at eponym

First Known Use

1846, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for eponymous

• anonymous
• autonomous
• economise
• synonymous

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Medical Definition

eponymous

adjective

epon·​y·​mous i-ˈpän-ə-məs, e- 

: of, relating to, or named after an eponym

those eponymous genetic conditions … such as … Friedreich's ataxia

—R. O. Brady