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

Woo worked at Derek Lam and Chanel before starting an eponymous line in 2009, which closed in 2015. —Lisa Lockwood, Footwear News, 10 Feb. 2026

Since founding his eponymous firm in 1995, architect David Sharff has been designing timeless residences that fit beautifully within their contexts. —Elizabeth Stamp, Architectural Digest, 10 Feb. 2026

The case also inspired Lilian Hellman’s 1934 play The Children’s Hour, which was adapted for the big screen in William Wyler’s 1961 eponymous film starring Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, and James Garner. —Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 10 Feb. 2026

Cédric Grolet, whose trompe-l’œil desserts disguised as fruit skyrocketed the chef to Instagram stardom, has achieved celebrity status; the line to enter his eponymous pâtisserie in the central Opéra neighborhood never seems to dwindle. —Lane Nieset, Condé Nast Traveler, 9 Feb. 2026

Word History

Etymology

see 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