a.k.a.
or AKA, aka
- also known as: According to police records he is Joe Smith a.k.a. “Baby Face Smith” and Joseph Smathers.
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Origin of a.k.a.
First recorded in 1945–50
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for aka
Contemporary Examples
In May, the head of Guerreros Unidos, Mario Casarrubias Salgado, aka the Beautiful Toad, was arrested.
That kind of behavior would be in keeping with somebody who had been slipped a date rape drug such as Midazolam, aka Dazzle.
The horseman, aka Abraham, is actually passably cute, with a rocking bod and apparently steady source of income.
The compilation also brought the Nazi-riffic Apt Pupil and leach-tastic The Body (aka Stand By Me) to the silver screen.
The “Hall of Fame” also houses the Duchess of Cambridge (aka Kate Middleton), which seems sad though spot-on.
Historical Examples
Aka, do you know whence come the three great families that are beneath the heaven?
Travels in Tartary, Thibet, and ChinaEvariste Regis Huc
Aka (brother),” said we, “this is the first time we have come to seat ourselves in your tent.
Travels in Tartary, Thibet, and ChinaEvariste Regis Huc
The suffix -aka or -aga sometimes appears and gives a sense of continuance to the verbal root.
But if the adjective in the superlative expresses a lessening of the quality then -aka(ne) is suffixed.
The MafuluRobert W. Williamson
In the night of the full moon, the aka (ghost) shadow of that land leaped up into the moon and became fixed there.
Legends of Gods and Ghosts (Hawaiian Mythology)W. D. (William Drake) Westervelt
aka
- a vine, Metrosideros scandens, found in New Zealand
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Word Origin
Māori
a.k.a.
AKA
- also known as
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for aka
a.k.a.
also aka, initialism for also known as; attested in legal documents from at least 1936.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
aka
[(ay-kay-ay)]
An abbreviation meaning “also known as.” It is primarily used by law enforcement officials to specify an alias: “John Smith, aka Jonathan Jones.”
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Note
The abbreviation, which also appears as AKA and a.k.a., is often used figuratively and facetiously: “my cousin, aka the worst gossip in the neighborhood.”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.