What's In a Name, Part 2

Part 1 was Sunday, and for those who get the blog via email something went wrong. You'll have to get on the blog to see about eponym, pseudonym, and titular. We must move on.



What are those words for “pen name” mentioned in the previous blog? Technically, though rarely used, the word allonym is the best word for an author who uses another name. Mark Twain is one example, as is George Eliot, the pseudonym used by Mary Anne Evans, who felt that using a man’s name would ensure that her writings would be taken more seriously. If you want to find out about other –nym words (it doesn’t make you a nimrod) you can go to http://www.fun-with-words.com/nym_words.html

The more common phrase for “pen name” is nom de plume. It is a French phrase meaning writing name (from the time when quills were the most common writing instrument). It literally means “name of pen”. Its first use was in 1823, though the practice is much older. It was even later that the similar phrase “nom de theatre” came into use (1874). We more commonly use stage name when referring to information such as that Elton John is the stage name for Reginald Dwight.

The earliest “nom de…” phrase we still use is nom de guerre, which dates to 1679, and refers to a name taken in war. There are many reasons for adopting a nom de guerre, and they continue to be used in modern times. Perhaps you were unaware that Lenin and Stalin in Russia and Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan in Israel were all noms de guerre eventually adopted after the revolutionary struggle ended.

The final word in this category is sobriquet, and it is the one with the most disagreement regarding its etymology. It means nickname. For instance, while Larry is a nickname for Lawrence, in my case it is my given name, not a sobriquet. However, the Pete Rose memorabilia in my office is autographed to me in my nickname, “Hoss”.

In the lack of any clear etymology, my dictionary merely suggests it is French. Etymonline.com suggests a commonly referenced derivation from the French soubriquet, which literally means “chuck under the chin”. Wikipedia suggests another option: that it comes from sot (foolish) and briquette, a French adaptation of the Italian brichetto, which means knave. Again, why a foolish knave might come to mean nickname is not explained.

Sobriquet has a meaning beyond what I refer to above as nickname. It also includes names that don’t necessarily shorten a name but instead identify a characteristic of the person. Sports seem to abound with sobriquets. Baseball saw the Babe, the Splendid Splinter, Dizzy and Daffy Dean, the Iron Horse, and even Charley Hustle, the sobriquet for the aforementioned Pete Rose. Basketball had Pistol Pete and Magic, soccer had Pele and football had Broadway Joe. Politics had Old Hickory, Old Kinderhook , and Honest Abe.

So what’s in a name? Plenty, whether false, nick, pen, or title.