Aptronym
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An aptronym (also: aptonym) or charactonym is a name aptly suited to its owner. The medieval Latin poem Eupolemius uses aptronyms based on Greek words to allegorise the story of the Gospel. 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. Psychologist Carl Jung wrote in his 1952 book, Synchronicity, that there was a "sometimes quite grotesque coincidence between a man's name and his peculiarities". 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, the principal cast of the Mr. Men (1971), and all the characters in Marc Blitzstein's 1937 play The Cradle Will Rock.
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Notable examples
- Jules Angst, German professor of psychiatry, who has published works about anxiety
- Jack Armstrong, retired MLB (Major League Baseball) pitcher
- Jeff Bagwell, Retired MLB firstbaseman
- Colin Bass, British bassist in the rock band Camel
- Chip Beck, professional golfer
- Sara Blizzard, meteorologist (television weather presenter) for the BBC
- Lorena Bobbitt, arrested for "bobbing" her husband's penis
- Usain Bolt, Jamaican sprinter
- Russell Brain, neurologist
- Marc Breedlove, neuropsychologist involved in experimentally modifying the prenatal environment in rats to produce female rats who exhibit male sexual behavior (mounting), and male rats who exhibit female sexual behavior (lordosis)
- John Carbon, American organic chemist, biochemist, and molecular biologist
- Novella Carpenter, author
- Dr. Richard Chopp, urologist known for performing vasectomies
- Rich Coleman, British Columbia's Minister of Energy and Mines
- Chuck Close, American artist most well known for his lifelike, close-up paintings of people's faces
- Michael Christopher Coke, Jamaican drug lord
- Barry Commoner, Citizens Party candidate for President in 1980. (The liberal Citizens Party focused on the rights of "common people"—in other words, average citizens.)
- 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.)
- Mansfield Smith-Cumming, advocated the use of semen as invisible ink
- Paddy Driver, former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and race car driver
- Tim Duncan, F/C of the San Antonio Spurs, who often dunks the ball
- Nicholas Economides, professor of economics, New York University, Stern School of Business
- Rich Fairbank, founder and CEO of Capital One Financial Corp.
- Andrew Fast, endurance and trail runner
- Storm Field, meteorologist
- Cecil Fielder and son Prince Fielder, baseball players
- Bob Flowerdew, gardener and Gardeners' Question Time panelist
- Martyn Fogg, an expert on the atmosphere of Mars
- Ronald A. Footer, MD, podiatrist
- Allen Forward, rugby forward
- Amy Freeze, meteorologist
- Yekaterina Gamova, Russian volleyball player whose nickname is "game over"
- States Rights Gist, Confederate Army brigadier general
- Go Seigen, considered the greatest modern Go champion (the Go Master)
- Eiichi Goto, computer scientist (goto or "go to" is a common piece of code in many programming languages)
- Learned Hand, judge
- William Headline, bureau chief for CNN
- Ryder Hesjedal, professional cyclist from Canada
- Jim Horn, saxophonist and woodwind player
- Quentin Jammer, San Diego Chargers cornerback - defensive player tasked to "jam" opposing receiver
- Chip Jett, professional poker player
- Igor Judge, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
- Lateef Kayode, boxer, a knockout is often abbreviated KO, and is used as a verb after abbreviation as "Kay-Ohhed"
- 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
- Mildred and Richard Loving, interracial couple who challenged miscegenation laws in a landmark American Supreme Court case
- Auguste and Louis Lumière, pioneering 19th century filmmakers (lumière is the French word for "light")
- Bernie Madoff, who made off with a lot of other people's investment money
- John W. Marshall, former United States Marshal for the Eastern District of Virginia
- George McGovern, former South Dakota politician and presidential candidate
- Jim McGovern, Scottish politician
- Chris Moneymaker, 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event champion
- Vince Offer, infomercial host
- Josh Outman, Oakland Athletics pitcher
- James Cash Penney, businessman, entrepreneur, retailer
- J. P. Pickens, musician, writer, banjo and guitar player
- Michael Pollan, gardener, botanist, investigative journalist
- John Henry Poynting, physicist who invented the Poynting vector which specifies the direction and magnitude of electromagnetic energy flux, i.e., "points" in the direction energy is traveling
- Francine Prose, writer
- Dallas Raines, chief meteorologist at KABC-TV in Los Angeles, California
- Bob Rock, rock music producer, including Metallica and Bon Jovi
- Philander Rodman, father of Dennis Rodman and 28 to 46 other children
- James Roe, Paralympic rower
- Steve Roper, mountain climber, rock climber, mountaineering historian, founding editor of the Sierra Club journal Ascent
- David Sheppard, Anglican Bishop of Liverpool (bishops are sometimes known as shepherds)
- William Shockley, co-inventor of the transistor
- Tod Slaughter, actor known for playing killers and maniacs in early melodramas
- Richard Smalley, Rice University pioneer in nanotechnology
- Larry Speakes, presidential spokesman under President Ronald Reagan
- Lake Speed, former Nascar driver
- Scott Speed, Nascar driver, formerly in Formula One, GP2, and A1GP
- Charlie Spikes, former Major League Baseball player
- Takeo Spikes, NFL linebacker
- Marina Stepanova, former Soviet hurdler, first woman to run under 53 seconds in the 400 m hurdles
- Louise Story, a business reporter for the New York Times
- Dana Strum, bass guitarist of the rock band Slaughter
- Eugène Terre'Blanche, South African white nationalist (Terre'Blanche is French for "white land" and Eugene means "born well", compare eugenics)
- Willie Thrower, former NFL quarterback; first African-American quarterback in NFL during modern era
- John Tory, former leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party (Tories)
- Tommy Tune, Broadway singer, dancer, and choreographer
- Dr. Unk, Ohio doctor. Elizabeth Unk convicted for drunk driving.
- Marco Velo, professional cyclist (vélo meaning bike in French)
- Marilyn vos Savant, a columnist famous for her extremely high IQ and penchant for puzzle solving
- Rick Wagoner, former CEO of General Motors
- Anthony Weiner, U.S. Congressman embarrassed in a 2011 sex-scandal by a self-taken snapshot of a closeup of his underpants. ('Weiner' can be a slang term for a man's penis.)
- Arsène Wenger, manager of Arsenal FC in the Premier League
- Jamie Whincup, four-time V8 Supercar champion and four-time Bathurst 1000 winner
- Sam Whitelock, New Zealand Rugby Union player whose name reflects his race and position.
- Emily Wines, a master sommelier.
- John Wisdom, a leading 20th-century British philosopher
- Wolfgang Wolf, the former manager of German football club VfL Wolfsburg
- William Wordsworth, poet
- Early Wynn, baseball pitcher; recorded two wins in Opening Day games for the Cleveland Indians (1952, 1954) and two no-decision Opening Day games for the Chicago White Sox that resulted in wins (1960, 1961)
- Steve Wynn, casino owner
- Sue Yoo, lawyer
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Inaptronyms
Some aptronyms are ironic rather than descriptive, being called inaptonyms by Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post. The former Archbishop of Manila, Jaime L. Sin known as "Cardinal Sin," is a notable example.
- Lance Armstrong, a Tour de France-winning cyclist, became famous because of leg, not arm, strength.
- Grant Balfour, MLB pitcher (closer), although as a pitcher ball four is generally not a good thing
- Frank Beard (musician), the only member of ZZ Top to not have a beard.
- Peter Bowler, cricketer (in fact, primarily a batsman)
- Samuel Foote, a comic actor who lost a leg in a horseriding accident in 1766, and made jokes on stage about “Foote and leg, and leg and foot”
- Kristian, an anti-Christian blackmetal musician
- Bob Walk, retired MLB pitcher
- Hudson Freeze, co-discoverer of Thermus aquaticus, a bacteria that thrives in hot water.
Place names can also be aptronyms, perhaps unintentionally, such as the former Liberty Jail, so called because of its location in Liberty, Missouri, USA.
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See also
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Aptronym" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
