Word
namesake
Phoneticsname·sake
US/ˈneɪmˌseɪk/
UK/nˈeɪmseɪk/
Definitions
01sharing the same name
n. a person or thing that has the same name as someone or something else.
n. a person or thing that shares the same name as another entity.
“I was named after my grandfather, so he is my namesake.”
“The young prince was introduced to his elderly namesake, the retired general who had led the country during the previous century.”
General-service
Usage
The term is reciprocal; both the original bearer of the name and the person named after them are namesakes of each other.
Synonyms
02named after a person or thing
n. something, like a ship or a building, that is named in honour of a person or place.
n. an object, institution, or geographical feature named after a specific person or entity.
“The city of Washington is the namesake of the first American president.”
“The university's new library, a namesake of the founding benefactor, was inaugurated during the spring commencement ceremony.”
Formal
Synonyms
03to name after
v. to give someone the same name as another person.
v. to bestow the name of one entity upon another; to name after.
“They decided to namesake the child after his brave uncle.”
“In the epic poem, the king sought to namesake his firstborn after the legendary founder of the dynasty.”
Literary
Usage
This verbal use is rare in modern English; 'name after' is the standard contemporary equivalent.
Synonyms
Real-World Examples
“It was introduced in the late 1830s by its namesake, French artist and scientist Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre .” “Can you think of any other examples of players scoring in their namesake months?” wonders Paul Tiffen.” Etymology
Mid-17th century. Equivalent to name + sake. From the phrase “for (one's) name's sake”, first found in Bible translations as a rendering of a Calque of Hebrew לְמַעַן שְׁמוֹ (l'má'an sh'mó) idiom meaning “to protect one's reputation” or possibly “vouched for by one's reputation”. A familiar example is in Psalm 23:3.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.