Aptronym

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈæptɹəʊˌnɪm/

Definitions

1. A name that is strikingly fitting or appropriate for the person or character who bears it, often reflecting their profession, personality, or role in a humorous or coincidental way
2. A personal name whose meaning or sound remarkably suits the bearer's occupation, character, or destiny in a fitting or ironic manner
3. A person's given or surname that coincidentally or humorously corresponds to their profession, behavior, or life circumstances

Etymology: A sprinter called Bolt, a poet called Wordsworth: names that suit their owners a little too well have had a word of their own for about a century, and it began as a joke on "patronym", a name derived from one's father. One popular account says the coiner simply swapped the opening "pat" for "apt". However it was arrived at, the result, aptronym, is a blend of "apt" and "patronym". The coinage is generally credited to Franklin P. Adams, the New York newspaper columnist known to readers as F.P.A., whose column "The Conning Tower" made a sport of wordplay and light verse. It is usually placed in the early twentieth century, though no first printing has been securely pinned down. Some references date it as late as the 1950s, but its link with Adams suggests it was in circulation well before then. The blending shows. Logically, "apt" plus the Greek-derived "-onym" should give "aptonym", and that form does exist. The extra "r" is a fossil of "patronym", whose first half comes from Greek "pater", father. The joke only works if you can still hear the father's name underneath the fitting one. Each half has a long pedigree. "Apt" reached English from Old French "apte", or straight from Latin "aptus", meaning fit, suited or proper. "Aptus" began as the past participle of "apere", to attach, join or tie to, so something apt was originally something fastened on. That verb has been traced to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning to grasp, take or reach, and the same family gave English "adapt" and "aptitude". The other half, "-onym", goes back to Greek "onoma", the ordinary classical word for a name, which also lies behind "synonym" and "anonymous". Adams was not the first to want a word for the idea. An older, more learned term, "euonym", from Greek "eu-", good or well, plus the same "-onym", already meant a good or fitting name. It sounded like a scholar's label, while Adams's version carried a wink. The wink is what survived. The idea later gained a second, pseudo-scientific life. In the 1990s the Feedback column of New Scientist noticed a paper on incontinence in the British Journal of Urology by two authors named Splatt and Weedon, and wondered whether names might actually steer their owners toward a fate. The column called this "nominative determinism". In that version, an aptronym is no longer a coincidence to laugh at but a cause someone might suspect.

Synonyms: nominative, name, title, appellation, label