aptronym
nounUK /ˈæptɹəʊˌnɪm/ · US /ˈæptɹoʊˌnɪm/
Etymology Blend of apt + patronym.
1
A name that is aptly suited to its owner.
- Speck also turns out to be a shopkeeper whose small-town mentality finds a reflection in his aptronym: "Speck" in German meaning bacon, he is the local butcher concerned with selling his merchandise regardless of its real quality.a. 1993, Danielle Schaub, "Mavis Gallant's Double Illusion", in, 1993, Jean-Michael Lacroix, Simone Vauthier, and Héliane Ventura, editors, Image et Récit, Presses de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, page 82 http://google.com/books?id=yKi_z2XYb00C&pg=PA82&dq=aptronym
- This contradiction is condensed within the aptronym Casey Falls: her first name recalls Jim Casy, the preacher who is sacrificed helping migrant workers in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, while her surname evokes Eve and the Fall.2000, Lorna Fitzsimmons, “Of ‘Broken Wall, the Burning Roof and Tower’: Gyno-Turning in Limit Up and Svankmajer’s Faust”, chapter 12 of Wendy Everett (editor), The Seeing Century: Film, Vision and Identity, Rodopi, page 149
1 more example
- The latter after marrying Sir Ulick's steward becomes Mrs. M'Crule, an aptronym expressing her excessive bigotry in preventing the Catholic boy, Tommy Dunshaughlin, from attending a charity school.a. 2004, Peter Cosgrove, "History and Utopia in Ormond", in, 2004, Heidi Kaufman and Chris Fauske, editors, An Uncomfortable Authority: Maria Edgeworth and Her Contexts, Delaware page 77 http://google.com/books?id=HL0MH3x0ODUC&pg=PA77&dq=aptronym
- Synonyms
- euonym, aptonym, charactonym
- Antonyms
- inaptronym, misnomer
- Derived terms
- aptronymic, aptronymous
- Related terms
- apronym, nomen est omen