List of eponyms
An eponym is a person (real or fictitious) from whom something is said to take its name. The word is back formed from "eponymous", which in turn is from the greek word "eponymos" meaning "giving name".
list of eponyms :
A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - Z
A
Achilles , Greek mythological character –Achilles' tendon
Adam , Biblical character – Adam's apple
Alvin Adams (1804-1877) – Adams Express
Len Adleman – the third letter of the name RSA , an asymmetric algorithm for public key cryptography, is taken from Adleman
Al-Khwarizmi , Persian mathematician of the 9th century – algorithm , algorism
Alfred V. Aho – the first letter of the name awk , a computer pattern/action language, is taken from Aho
Alice Liddell – Alice in Wonderland , Alice in Wonderland syndrome
Alois Alzheimer – Alzheimer's disease
Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss – A&M Records
André-Marie Ampčre – ampere - unit of electric current, Ampčre's law
Roald Amundsen – Amundsen Sea ; Amundsen crater , a crater on the Moon; Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
José de Anchieta - Anchieta Island , Anchieta Highway , in Brazil
Anders Jonas Ĺngström – angstrom , unit of distance
Archimedes – Archimedes' screw , Archimedes' principle
William George Armstrong – Armstrong breech-loading gun
Robert Atkins – Atkins Diet
Aurélio Buarque de Holanda – Aurélio's Brazilian Portuguese Dictionary .
R. Stanton Avery – Avery Dennison
Amedeo Avogadro – Avogadro's number , Avogadro's Law
B
Joseph Jules François Félix Babinski , French neurologist – Babinski reflex or Babinski sign, common name for Plantar reflex
Karl Baedeker – Baedeker's
Barbara, daughter of Ruth Handler , creator of Barbie – Barbie doll
Joseph Barbera and William Hanna – Hanna-Barbera Productions
Y. M. Barr – Epstein-Barr virus
Jean Alexandre Barré – Guillain-Barré syndrome
Caspar Bartholin the Younger – Bartholin's gland
Basarab I – Bessarabia
Karl Adolph von Basedow – Graves-Basedow disease
Heinrich Beck – Beck's beer, Beck's Futures art prize
Louis de Béchamel , a courtier to King Louis XIV – Béchamel sauce
Henri Becquerel – becquerel , unit of radioactivity
Hulusi Behçet , Turkish dermatologist – Behçet's disease
Alexander Graham Bell – bel - unit of relative power level; Bell Labs , BellSouth , Bellcore , Regional Bell operating company - companies
Carl Benz – Benz & Cie. (later Daimler-Benz )
David Berkowitz also known as "Son of Sam" – Son of Sam laws
Juan de Bermudez – Bermuda
Daniel Bernoulli – Bernoulli's principle
Yogi Berra , baseball player – Yogi Bear , a bear in animated cartoons
Henry Bessemer – Bessemer converter
Bieda, a Saxon landowner ("Bieda's ford" + shire) – Bedfordshire
Laszlo Biro – Biro , (ballpoint pen )
Otto von Bismarck , first German Chancellor – Bismarck Archipelago and Bismarck Sea near New Guinea ; German battleship Bismarck as well as two ships of the Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine Bismarck, North Dakota
Amelia Bloomer (1818-1894), popularizer of modest, practical trousers for women, called "bloomers"
Johann Elert Bode and Johann Daniel Titius – Titius-Bode Law
Niels Bohr – Bohr magneton , Bohr radius , Bohrium , chemical element
Lecoq de Boisbaudran – Gallium , chemical element. Although named after Gallia (Latin for France), Lecoq de Boisbaudran, the dicoverer of the metal, subtly attached an association with his name. Lecoq (rooster) in Latin is gallus .
Simón Bolívar – Bolivia
Ludwig Boltzmann – Boltzmann constant , Stefan-Boltzmann constant , Stefan-Boltzmann law
James Bond , the ornithologist – James Bond , the fictional spy character
Satyendra Nath Bose – bosons , Bose-Einstein statistics , Bose-Einstein condensates
Louis Antoine de Bougainville - French navigator who found the bougainvillea plant
Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott (1832-1897) - boycott
Robert Boyle – Boyle's Law
Thomas Bowdler (1754-1825), published an edition of Shakespeare without words or expressions unsuitable to family reading, hence bowdlerize
Jim Bowie – Bowie knife
Brahmagupta – Brahmagupta's formula , Brahmagupta's identity
Louis Braille (1809-1852) - the braille writing system for the blind
Robert Brown – Brownian motion
John Browning – Browning firearms, including the Browning Automatic Rifle
Prince Brychan – Brecknockshire
Bucca, a Saxon landowner ("Bucca's home" + shire) – Buckinghamshire
Professor Robert Wilhelm Bunsen (1811-1899) - Bunsen burner
General Ambrose Burnside - had distinctive whiskers which became known as sideburns
C
John Cadbury – opened his shop in 1824 which became the company Cadbury
Julius Caesar – month July , Caesarean section , Caesar cipher
John Calvin , 16th century theologian – the religious doctrine of Calvinism , Calvin from "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip
Caesar Cardini , Mexican restaurateur – Caesar salad
Sam Carr, neighbour of David Berkowitz also known as "Son of Sam" – Son of Sam laws
Hendrik Casimir – Casimir effect
Anders Celsius – degree Celsius , unit of temperature
Ceredig , son of Cunedda – Cardigan
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar – Chandrasekhar limit , Chandra X-ray Observatory
Jean-Martin Charcot , French neurologist – Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease , Maladie de Charcot, French name for Motor Neurone Disease
King Charles I of England – North Carolina and South Carolina
Jacques Charles and Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac Law of Charles and Gay-Lussac Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov – Cherenkov effect
Jesus Christ , "The Saviour" – El Salvador , Christianity , Christmas
Saint Christopher – Saint Kitts and Nevis
Walter Chrysler – founder of Chrysler , DaimlerChrysler
Alfred Chuang – the third letter of the company name BEA Systems , is taken from Alfred, a co-founder
Alonzo Church – Church-Turing thesis , Church-Turing-Deutsch principle
Cincinnatus , Roman statesman – Cincinnati, Ohio (indirectly)
Senator Claghorn , regular character on the Fred Allen radio show – Foghorn Leghorn , Warner Bros. cartoons
Ruth Cleveland, daughter of Pres. Grover Cleveland – Baby Ruth candy bars
Bill Coleman – the first letter of the company name BEA Systems , is taken from Bill, a co-founder
Samuel Colt – Colt revolver
Christopher Columbus - many places and territories, see Columbus , Colombia , Colombo , British Columbia in Canada
Arthur Compton – Compton effect
Captain James Cook – Cook Islands
Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis – Coriolis effect
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb – coulomb - unit of electric charge, Coulomb's law
Seymour Cray – Cray Research
Cunedda – Gwynedd
Marie and Pierre Curie – curie , unit of radioactivity, Curium , chemical element
Pierre Curie – Curie point
Saint Cuthbert ("church of Cuthbert") – Kirkcudbright
D
Jacques Daguerre – Daguerreotype
Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz – Daimler-Benz (later DaimlerChrysler )
John Dalton – dalton , non-SI unit of atomic mass
Charles Darwin – Darwinism , Neural Darwinism , Social Darwinism , Darwinian Happiness , Darwin's theory of evolution , Darwinian selection , Darwinian medicine , Darwin's Dangerous Idea , Darwin, Northern Territory , Darwin Mounds , Charles Darwin University , Darwin College, Cambridge , Charles Darwin National Park , Adelaide-Darwin Railway , Darwin Awards
Adi Dassler – founder of adidas
Arthur Davidson and William Harley – Harley-Davidson
Humphry Davy – Davy lamp
David Eisenhower, grandson of US President Dwight Eisenhower – Camp David US presidential retreat
Thomas Derrick (c. 1600), British hangman - Derrick (lifting device)
Melvil Dewey – Dewey Decimal System
Thomas Edmund Dewey , American politician – Dewey , one of "Huey, Dewey and Louie", animated cartoon characters
David Deutsch – Church-Turing-Deutsch Principle
Rudolf Diesel - the diesel engine
Paul Dirac – Dirac's constant , Dirac equation , Dirac delta function , Dirac sea , Dirac Prize , Fermi-Dirac statistics
Walt Disney – founder, The Walt Disney Company , Disneyland
Doily family (c. 1700)
Ray Dolby – Dolby Stereo, Dolby Surround and Dolby Pro Logic
Donatello , Renaissance painter – Donatello , one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic characters
Christian Doppler – Doppler radar , Doppler effect
Charles Dow and Edward Jones – Dow Jones & Company
Herbert Dow – The Dow Chemical Company
Guillaume Dupuytren - Dupuytren's contracture , Dupuytren's fracture
Dr. August Dvorak – Dvorak Simplified Keyboard
E
Thomas Edison – Edison effect , Edison Records , Edisonian approach , Edison, Georgia , Edison, New Jersey
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (brother of George III of the United Kingdom ), commander of British forces in Halifax – Prince Edward Island
Gustave Eiffel – Eiffel Tower , designer
Albert Einstein – Einstein Refrigerator , einsteinium - chemical element, Bose-Einstein statistics , Bose-Einstein condensates
Queen Elizabeth I of England , the "Virgin Queen" – Virginia and West Virginia
Saint Elmo – St. Elmo's fire
Roland Eötvös – Eotvos , gravitational gradient
M. A. Epstein – Epstein-Barr virus
Lars Magnus Ericsson – Ericsson
Bartolomeo Eustachi – Eustachian tube
F
Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736) - the Fahrenheit scale
Gabriele Falloppio – Fallopian tube
Michael Faraday – farad - SIunit of capacitance, faraday - cgs unit of current Faraday constant , Faraday effect , Faraday's law of induction , Faraday's law of electrolysis
Enrico Fermi – fermions , Fermi energy , Fermi paradox , fermium - chemical element, Fermi-Dirac statistics . fermi (obsolete name for femtometre)
Enzo Ferrari – founder, Ferrari
George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. – Ferris wheel
Fib of the Picts , one of the seven sons of Cruithe – Fife
B.C. Forbes – Forbes magazine
Henry Ford – Ford Motor Company
William Fox – 20th Century Fox
Benjamin Franklin – Franklin stove , franklin - cgs unit of electric charge
Leonard Fuchs (1501-1566) - Fuchsia
G
Johan Gadolin , Finnish chemist and geologist – gadolinite , the mineral after which the chemical element Gadolinium has been named
Thomas Gage (botanist) – greengage
Uziel Gal – the Uzi submachine gun
Galileo Galilei – Galileo or gal, unit of acceleration
Israel Galili – the Galil assault rifle
Luigi Galvani (1737-1798), discovered the Galvanic response of muscles to electricity. The process of galvanization is also named after him.
James Gamble and William Procter – Procter & Gamble
John Garand – M1 Garand rifle
Giuseppe Garibaldi – Garibaldi biscuits, Italian aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi Gideon Gartner – Gartner
Hermann Gartner – Gartner's duct
Richard J. Gatling – Gatling gun
Carl Friedrich Gauss – gauss - unit of magnetic induction, Gauss' law , see also a list of topics named after Carl Friedrich Gauss .
Enola Gay Tibbets Enola Gay Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac Jacques Charles – Law of Charles and Gay-Lussac Lou Gehrig , American Baseball player – Lou Gehrig's Disease
Hans Geiger – Geiger counter , Geiger-Mueller tube
King George I of Great Britain – Georgia
Domingo Ghirardelli – Ghirardelli Chocolate Company
Josiah Willard Gibbs – Gibbs free energy , Gibbs phenomenon
Thomas Gilbert – Kiribati
Gaston Glock – GLOCK
Kurt Gödel – Gödel's incompleteness theorem , Gödel's ontological proof
Samuel Goldwyn – Goldwyn Picture Corporation , later merged into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (or MGM)
Wilbert Gore – Gore-Tex
Ernst Gräfenberg – Gräfenberg spot (G-spot)
Sylvester Graham – Graham crackers , Graham flour
Thomas Graham – Graham's Law
Robert James Graves – Graves-Basedow disease
Louis Harold Gray – gray , unit of absorbed dose of radiation
Vicente Guerrero – Guerrero
Georges Guillain – Guillain-Barré syndrome
Dr. Joseph Ignace Guillotin (1738-1814) - advocate of what came to be called the guillotine ,
H
Otto Hahn – hahnium, chemical element. This element name is not accepted by IUPAC . See element naming controversy
Edwin Hall – Hall effect
Hugh Halligan – Halligan bar
Laurens Hammond – Hammond Organ
Hamo, a 6th century Saxon settler and landowner – Hampshire
John Hancock John Hancock Elliot Handler and Harold "Matt" Matson – Mattel
William Hanna and Joseph Barbera – Hanna-Barbera Productions
Gerhard Armauer Hansen – Hansen's disease
William Harley and Arthur Davidson – Harley-Davidson
Douglas Hartree – Hartree energy
Gerald Harvey and Ian Norman – Harvey Norman
Hakaru Hashimoto – Hashimoto's thyroiditis
Hassan-i-Sabah , leader of the murderous Hashshashin cult – assassin from hassansin (this etymology is disputed)
Paul Hawkins - Hawk-Eye tracking system used in cricket and other sports
Oliver Heaviside and Arthur Edwin Kennelly – Kennelly-Heaviside layer
Joseph Henry – henry , unit of inductance
William Henry – Henry's law
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz – hertz , unit of frequency
William Hewlett and David Packard – founders, Hewlett-Packard
Edward C. Heyde – Heyde's syndrome
Miguel Hidalgo – Hidalgo
David Hilbert – Hilbert's program
Eugen von Hippel – Von Hippel-Lindau disease
Harald Hirschsprung , Danish physician – Hirschsprung's disease
Thomas Hobbes , 17th century philosopher – Hobbes from "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip
Thomas Hobson (1544-1630), stable manager in England - Hobson's choice , an only apparently free choice that is no choice at all
Thomas Hodgkin – Hodgkin's disease , Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
Homer, father of Matt Groening , creator of The Simpsons – Homer Simpson , character in The Simpsons animated TV series
Soichiro Honda – founder, Honda
Mark Honeywell – founder, Honeywell
Robin Hood , English folk hero – Robin of the Batman series
Robert Hooke – Hooke's law
William Henry Hoover (1849-1932) - The Hoover Company ; in British English, the word "hoover" became a verb meaning "to vacuum a floor".
August Horch – founder of Audi (audi is Latin for horch . It means listen in English)
James Horlick and William Horlick – founded the company Horlicks in 1873
William Howe (1803-1852) - Howe truss bridges
Hroc, an ancient landowner ("Hroc's fortress" + shire) – Roxburghshire
Howard Hughes – Hughes Aircraft company, Howard Hughes Medical Institute , Hughes Airwest airlines, Hughes Glomar Explorer ship
Howard R. Hughes, Sr. – Hughes Tool Company , Baker Hughes company
I - J
K
Mikhail Kalashnikov – the Avtomat Kalashnikova series of weapons, including the AK-47 , the Kalashnikov Handheld Machine Gun or Ruchnoi Pulemet Kalashnikova obraztsa 1974g (RPK74 )
Ingvar Kamprad – the first two letters of IKEA , the home furnishings retailer he founded
Moritz Kaposi , Hungarian dermatologist – Kaposi's sarcoma
Tadao Kashio – founder of Casio
Shozo Kawasaki – founder, Kawasaki Heavy Industries
Lord Kelvin – kelvin , unit of thermodynamic temperature
John F. Kennedy – John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts , Kennedy Center Honors , John F. Kennedy University
Arthur Edwin Kennelly and Oliver Heaviside – Kennelly-Heaviside layer
Brian W. Kernighan – the third letter of the name awk , a computer pattern/action language, is taken from Kernighan
John Kerr (physicist) – Kerr effect
Gustav Kirchhoff – Kirchhoff's Laws
Donald Knuth – Knuth-Morris-Pratt algorithm
Wladimir Peter Köppen – Köppen climate classification
Gerard Kuiper – Kuiper Belt
L - Z
See List of eponyms (L-Z)
See also
