big name

¹

noun

1. a person who has a preeminent public reputation in a specified field.

   He's a big name in education.

big-name

²

[big-neym]

adjective

1. having a widespread public reputation as a leader in a specified field; famous.

   a big-name doctor; a big-name actress.

2. of, relating to, or composed of a big-name person or persons.

big name

noun

1. informal

   1. a famous person

   2. ( as modifier )

      a big-name performer

Word History and Origins

Origin of big name¹

An Americanism dating back to 1930–35

Origin of big name²

An Americanism dating back to 1925–30

Example Sentences

On Thursday, Intel became the latest big name whose results topped Wall Street’s expectations, adding to a list of other upbeat reports in recent days from the likes of Coca-Cola, 3M and General Motors.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Like falling dominoes, plastic recycling plant closures have been endemic across Europe too: another big name, Veolia, will close its two German operations this year, while seven plastic recyclers closed in the Netherlands last year.

Read more on BBC

His comments are in contrast to recent widespread concern about the steady outflow of some big name companies from UK markets, particularly to the US.

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Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was a big name in baseball — thanks to his famous name — from the day he arrived in the majors in 2019.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

It often is wielded as a kind of roving “gotcha” narrative, in which we the public are encouraged to wait with bated breath for the drip-drip-drip revelation of the next big name to be outed as having been connected to Epstein and the one after that—Elon Musk!

Read more on Slate