Aptronym

An aptronym is a name aptly suited to its owner. Fictional examples of aptronyms include Mr. Talkative and Mr. Worldly Wiseman in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678), Truman Burbank (true-man), the lead character in the 1998 film The Truman Show and the principal cast of the Mr Men (1971).

Examples

• Gilbert Arenas, basketball player (basketball is played in an arena)
• Jeff Bagwell, Retired MLB 1st Baseman
• Grant Balfour, MLB Middle Reliever [1]
• Alan Ball, The name of two English footballers (father and son), the latter played in the 1966 World Cup winning team
• Lloy Ball, American volleyball player
• Michael Ball, footballer, currently a free agent
• Layne Beachley, Australian world champion surfer
• George Best, Manchester United and Northern Ireland footballer, considered to be one of the best players
• Usain Bolt, Jamaican sprinter, Olympic Gold medalist, 100m and 200m world record holder
• Samantha Bond, appeared in four films of the James Bond series, playing Miss Moneypenny
• Peter Bowler, cricketer (in fact, primarily a batsman)
• Earl Boykins, at 5'5" was one of the shortest players in the NBA
• Lord Brain, neurologist
• Brian Cashman, general manager of the New York Yankees, who consistently have the highest payroll in MLB
• Albert Champion, French road cycling Champion in the past.
• Richard Chopp, Dr. Richard (Dick) Chopp is well known in the Austin,TX community for performing Vasectomies
• Reggie Corner, cornerback for the Buffalo Bills
• Margaret Court, tennis player
• Thomas Crapper, manufacturer of Victorian toilets. (Note that the word "crap" predates Mr Crapper.)
• Tom DeLay, former U.S. Congressman from Texas (Lawmakers are known for using tactics to delay the progress of bills being considered)
• Billy Drummond, American jazz drummer
• Kevin Eggan, Harvard biologist who attempted to transform somatic cells to existing embryonic stem cells, or those found in human "eggs", once "again" (coincidental pun on name)
• Rich Fairbank, founder and CEO of Capital One Financial Corp.
• Cecil Fielder and son Prince Fielder, baseball players
• Bob Flowerdew, gardener and Gardeners' Question Time panelist
• Megan Fox, model
• Samantha Fox, pin-up model and singer
• Eric Gagné, French-Canadian major league baseball pitcher, whose last name translates from French to "win" (see also hockey player Simon Gagné)
• Jamie Gold, winner of the 2006 World Series of Poker, earning him $12 million
• Pippa Greenwood, plant pathologist and Gardeners' Question Time panelist
• Learned Hand, judge
• Henry Head, an English neurologist
• Butch Huskey, Major League Baseball player (Huskey had a husky build, weighing 255 pounds)
• Quentin Jammer, San Diego Chargers cornerback
• Derek Jeter, New York Yankees shortstop (jeter is French for "to throw")
• Chip Jett, professional poker player
• Angelina Jolie, actress, whose last name translates from French to "beautiful"
• Igor Judge, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
• Neel Kashkari, U.S. President Barack Obama's Interim Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability
• Mort Kunstler, American painter, whose name in German directly translates as "artist"
• Seth Lerer, Stanford professor specializing in literary deconstruction. "Lehrer" is the German word for teacher.
• Chuck Long, former NFL quarterback for the Detroit Lions and the Los Angeles Rams
• Ryan Longwell, NFL placekicker who holds the record for longest field goal in Green Bay Packers history.
• Bernard Madoff, architect of the world's biggest Ponzi scheme, who "made off" with investors' billions
• George McGovern, former South Dakota politician and presidential candidate.
• Bill Medley, singer, one half of The Righteous Brothers
• Chris Moneymaker, amateur winner of 2003 World Series of Poker, which earned him $2.5 million
• Vince Offer, infomercial host
• Eugenius Harvey Outerbridge, first chairman of the Port of New York Authority, for whom the Outerbridge Crossing was named
• Josh Outman, Oakland Athletics pitcher
• Alexandra Penney, author of the 1982 bestseller "How to Make Love to a Man," who lost all but a small fraction of her wealth in the Madoff scandal.
• J.C. Penney, Retailer
• Andre Poisson, a man who was conned into "purchasing" the Eiffel Tower (in French, the word poisson is used as a derogatory term for someone who is gullible)
• Michael Pollan, gardener, botanist, investigative journalist
• Antonio da Ponte, designer of the Rialto Bridge ("da Ponte" translates as "of the bridge").
• Alto Reed, saxophonist with Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
• Marc Rich, billionaire financier
• Bob Rock, rock music producer, including Metallica and Bon Jovi
• Dave Salmoni, animal trainer, zoologist, television presenter, and television producer.
• Martin Short, actor, stands well below male average height at estimated 5'6" (167cm)
• Mark Shuttleworth, the second self-funded spaceflight participant. (The vehicle however, was not a shuttle)
• Richard Smalley, Rice University pioneer in nanotechnology
• Anna Smashnova, tennis player
• Brenda Song, singer
• Larry Speakes, presidential spokesman under President Ronald Reagan
• Lake Speed, former Nascar driver
• Scott Speed, Nascar racing driver, formerly in Formula One, GP2 and A1GP
• Margaret Spellings, Education Secretary under George W. Bush
• Charlie Spikes, former Major League Baseball player
• Dana Strum, bass guitarist of the rock band Slaughter
• Willie Thrower, former NFL quarterback; first African-American quarterback in NFL during modern era (post WWII)
• John Tory, former leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party (Tories)
• Marco Velo, professional cyclist (vélo meaning bike in French)
• Chad Wackerman, long-term drummer and percussionist with Frank Zappa's band
• Rick Wagoner, former CEO of General Motors
• William Westmoreland, an American military general known for commanding the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War
• Tiger Woods, golfer (Wood is a type of golf club)
• F.W. Woolworth, Retailer
• William Wordsworth, poet
• Will Wynn, former mayor of Austin, Texas
• Marilyn vos Savant, a columnist famous for her extremely high IQ and penchant for puzzle solving

Other examples

In the book What's in a Name? (1996), author Paul Dickson cites a long list of aptronyms originally compiled by Professor Lewis P. Lipsitt, of Brown University. A sampling from the list:

• James Bugg, exterminator
• Dan Druff, barber
• Rev. James R. God, minister of the Baptist Church in Congress, South Carolina
• Priscilla Flattery, Environmental Protection Agency publicist
• William Headline, Washington, D.C. bureau chief for CNN
• C. Sharpe Minor, an organist
• Buck Naked, the name the Seinfeld character George Costanza said he would assume if he were ever in a porno film.
• Quentin Jammer, NFL cornerback
• Ima Assman proctologist
• Robert Killingback, chiropractor
• Marge Inuv Erra, statistician (and other fictional staff members) on NPR's Car Talk

Some aptronyms are ironic rather than descriptive. The former Archbishop of Manila, Jaime L. Sin known as "Cardinal Sin," is a notable example. Dickson's book also lists a Rev. Richard Sinner of Fargo, North Dakota. Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post has called these "inaptonyms"[2]

Other issues

Aptronyms may be called "aptonyms" by other writers. San Francisco columnist Herb Caen used the term "namephreaks". Washington Post columnist Bob Levey prefers the term PFLNs, or Perfect Fit Last Names.

There does not yet seem to be a standard terminology for this linguistic curiosity.

References

• "aptronym". Encyclopædia Britannica (Encyclopædia Britannica Online ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.. 2008. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/30911/aptronym. Retrieved 2008-07-19. 
• Dickson, Paul. What's in a Name? Reflections of an Irrepressible Name Collector. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996. ISBN 0-87779-613-0

See also

• Nominative determinism
• -onym

External links

• List of 125+ Aptonyms
• "Charol Shakeshaft, Topped!", a list of reader-submitted aptronyms by Slate's Timothy Noah.
• Article about Zimbabwean English naming conventions