Language desk
< November 20	<< Oct \| November \| Dec >>	November 22 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

November 21[edit]

Namesake[edit]

When two persons have both first and last names identical, is there a more specific word or phrase than namesake? Russian does have, полный тёзка (literally "full namesake"), but "full namesake" in English doesn't show any meaningful results for me. Thanks. 212.180.235.46 (talk) 09:23, 21 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think the word is used where only the first names, or only the surnames, of two people are the same. Bill Jones and Bob Jones are not namesakes of each other. Neither are Bill Jones and Bill Smith. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 09:29, 21 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I agree; in colloquial use the term implies both names are the same, although in the case of women the last name may have been acquired by marriage, and any middle names do not need to match. For example, here Mary L. Trump is called the namesake of her grandmother Mary Anne Trump (née MacLeod). However, if (as in this case) a grandchild is named after their grandparent, it is also common to call them the namesake of the grandparent, even if the surnames do not match. For example, here one Daniel Merritt Mead is called "the namesake of his maternal grandfather", Captain Daniel Merritt. But for unrelated people who accidentally have matching names, both parts need to match; so the American Fiona Hill and the British Fiona Hill are each other's namesake, but do not have Fiona Bruce or Faith Hill as namesakes. For the Russian term, I think also the patronymic has to match, as with the two Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarins in this story. --Lambiam 11:01, 21 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]