Eponym Puns

I'm curious which eponymous words (adjectives derived from names) or eponyms are present in your language's vocabulary. Most interested in words that describe qualities of a person (for better or for worse).

I've always wondered what those people would have thought if they knew that their name was carried on in this way.

The fortunate:

Maverick - an independent person, from the name of Samuel A. Maverick (1803–70), a Texas rancher who did not brand his cattle.

Ritzy - expensively stylish, from the name César Ritz and his Ritz hotels.

The unfortunate:

Dunce - a stupid person, originally an epithet for a follower of John Duns Scotus whose followers were ridiculed by 16th-century humanists and reformers as enemies of learning.

Masochist - a person who derives sexual gratification from their own pain or humiliation, named after Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (1835–95), the Austrian novelist.

Sadist, a person who derives pleasure, especially sexual gratification, from inflicting pain or humiliation on others, from the name of the Marquis de Sade.

Chauvinist, a person showing or relating to excessive or prejudiced loyalty or support for a particular group or cause, named after Nicolas Chauvin, a Napoleonic veteran noted for his extreme patriotism (may be a fictional person).

Hooligan - a violent young troublemaker, typically one of a gang, the surname of a fictional rowdy Irish family in a music-hall song of the 1890s, also of a cartoon character.

Draconian - (of laws or their application) excessively harsh and severe, from the name of Draco, a legislator of Athens.

Locations, eras, movements, concepts, inventions, prefixes and objects that are named after someone (an explorer, scientist, ruler) or something (a color, characteristic, metal, season, weather, element, or even an Eldritch god) from that same world/setting!

chauvinism (n.) 1840, "exaggerated, blind nationalism; patriotism degenerated into a vice," from French chauvinisme (1839), from the character Nicholas Chauvin, soldier of Napoleon's Grand Armee, who idolized Napoleon and the Empire long after it was history, in the Cogniards' popular 1831 vaudeville "La Cocarde Tricolore."

From Online Etymology Dictionary

Proprietary eponyms are brand names that come to be synonymous with a product. For example, the Spanish word for glue is pegamento, but in some parts of South America the most popular brand is Cascola, so people just use that as their word for glue.

What're some in your country?

Hello everyone, I am a student that is currently studying linguistics. I've been given a task to do a presentation on the topic Word Formation ; Coinage and Eponyms. In that presentation, I have to state a linguistic phenomenon based on the topic.

Coinage is the invention and general use of totally new terms. In English, it is not very common and typically used for commercial products that become general terms. For example, the word aspirin, nylon, vaseline and zipper. So it basically came out of nowhere but it was created for the sole purpose of that certain thing.

Meanwhile, eponyms are new words based on the name of a person or place. For example, we use the eponyms teddy bear, derived from US president Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt, and jeans from the Italian city of Genoa where the type of cloth was first made.

So I decided to state the coinage and eponyms in Bahasa Melayu as the linguistic phenomenon. If any of you guys know any coinage and eponyms words in Bahasa Melayu, please comment down below. I hope you guys can give me some as this is my final project for this semester. Thank you so much!

Hi. I grew up in Indonesia in the 80s (moved away as a teenager) and I remember a Bahasa Indonesia lesson when we discussed eponyms, specifically proprietary eponyms, i.e. trademark/brand name that is used to refer to an object (e.g. Kleenex). I remember our class managed to come up with 10+ examples. Aqua is probably the best Indonesian example.

(aside: I can’t remember if we called it ‘eponim’, so maybe I am using the wrong term).

Fast forward to now, I just had a chat with a young Indonesian and I mentioned that ‘supermi’ used to be the byword for instant noodle (e.g. ‘supermi Jepang’). She said she is aware of the brand, but never really used the word that way. I also recall using ‘honda’ to refer to motorcycles, whereas she would just use ‘motor’, but she said using ‘honda’ makes sense.

I was wondering if maybe these terms just got outdated, or is it a regional thing. Could be age gap too.

Would be interesting to hear of any eponyms you know. It’s getting rarer these days.

My other examples (I could be remembering wrong):

• Aqua still in use I think? I love it when I hear “ini aqua merk apa?”

• Fuji film generally means the place where you get a print out of your photos

• Kodak means camera

• Rinso means detergent

• Palmolive means liquid soap, but maybe that was just my household

• Sony used to mean something, but I can’t remember. My guess is sound system (tape deck). Not walkmans.

Plus, I remember using “Kentucky” to refer to western style fried chicken, not specifically KFC. Could just be a family thing though.

Anyone got more examples?

This is when actual brand names become the every day term for a whole product class e.g. Chapstick (lip balm), Kleenex (tissue), Band-aid (bandage), Hoover (vacuum cleaner), Google (internet search query/engine) etc.

To avoid any ambiguity I am referring to whether the Nizari Isma'ilis really killed that many (or that important) people using plots, secrecy and subterfuge, or whether they were convenient scapegoats.