namesake
Americannoun
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namesakes
plural
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a person or thing named after another or whose name is given to another person or thing.
Little Dora lay asleep in the arms of her namesake, great-aunt Dora.
The memory of Robert and Signe McMichael is honored in their namesake, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.
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a person or thing having the same name as another.
The cities of Hyderabad, Pakistan, and Hyderabad, India, are namesakes.
noun
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a person or thing named after another
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a person or thing with the same name as another
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of namesake
First recorded in 1640–50; alteration of name's ( name + 's 1 ) sake 1
Explanation
If your parents named you after your Great Uncle Abner, then you are his namesake. The two of you share a very nice name. Use the noun namesake to describe the recipient of a handed-down name, like Bob Jr., or Ricky Smith III. Less often, the word also means anyone who shares a name with someone else, so you could refer to all the Emmas in your school as namesakes. The first recorded use of the word namesake was in the mid-1600s, and it probably began as the phrase "for the name's sake," before being condensed into a single word.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Right now, the former Trump Taj Mahal, which fell into bankruptcy and disrepair under its namesake, is now thriving in Atlantic City as the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026
In 2017, her namesake foundation opened the Yayoi Kusama Museum for her art in Tokyo near her home and studio.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Dick’s on Tuesday said sales at its namesake stores remained strong, with sports gear outside of sneakers helping deliver a 4.9% same-store sales gain, and also said it was confident in Foot Locker’s long-term potential.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
Dragonfly is a survivor, just like its insect namesake.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Of course, there was frybread, the namesake of the drive-in.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Woody and Christopher were the namesakes of Johnson’s surviving siblings, the former a prominent Republican fundraiser and owner of the New York Jets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2025
Like their mythical namesakes, these pygmy squids are intimately connected with their natural environments in the emerald waters of Okinawa.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 24, 2023
I also wish I could have included the proto-punk group the Monks, who often dressed like their namesakes, but the band’s great 1966 album “Black Monk Time” isn’t available on any streaming platforms.
From New York Times ● Oct. 20, 2023
The majority of the crowd were wearing or waving the yellow of the Super Kings, who are co-owned by their Chennai namesakes.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2023
When she had visited Chicago a couple of years ago, she had told Petra that all of her namesakes had grown up to be very beautiful and very lucky.
From "Chasing Vermeer" by Blue Balliett
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
