Mark from Redmond, Washington, asks for the term for a person whose name happens to fit their line of work, such as CNN broadcaster William Headline, a preacher named James God, or the physician Dr. Hurt. Such names are called aptronyms or aptonyms. Franklin P. Adams, better known as F.P.A., coined the term in the 1920s or 1930s. Herb Caen dubbed them “name freaks” and collected examples such as piano teacher Patience Scales and bank president Furman Grip. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Aptronyms and Aptonyms: Names That Fit the Job”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hey, Grant and hey, Martha. This is Mark Corley from Redmond, Washington.
Hey, Mark.
Hi, Mark.
I’m certainly a big fan of the show, and there was a word I heard once where it described someone’s name who was, you know, which was related to their job. And I’ve got a little bit of background. I had this great guy work for me named Michael Hooker. And at one point, I said, hey, Michael, now what’s the origin of your family name? And he said, oh, a a hooker is an assistant to a Thatcher.
A Thatcher, you know, makes roofs or whatever we call a roof in the old days, and a hooker sort of had a little function to help build it.
And this past week, or I guess it was a week or two ago, I saw an obituary for a man named William Headline, who was this veteran broadcaster from CNN or helped start CNN, and it just reminded me, you know, what are the odds of some guy named Mr. Headline, who is in the newspaper business or in the media business.
That’s great. I miss that.
So there’s some historical connection. People’s names were, you know, Mr. Hammer the carpenter or Mr. Carpenter, who was a carpenter in the old days, or your name came from a city. But today that’s pretty unusual.
Is there a word that describes someone whose name is related to their work?
Yes, there is.
Yes, there’s at least one name. There’s actually several different names for somebody whose name is accidentally related to their work.
Okay, I’m ready to be edified.
Edified and educated.
Okay, the most common one is aptronym. Sometimes the R is left out and it’s called an aptonym. So it’s A-P-T-R-O-N-Y-M or A-P-T-O-N-Y-M. And it was originally coined in the 1920s or 30s by a famous newspaper columnist named FPA or Franklin P. Adams. And kind of has just continued from there.
Every time someone thinks they’ve discovered this phenomenon, they give it a new name.
The columnist Herb Cain, C-A-E-N, he called them name freaks.
I think I like aptronym better than name freak.
I agree.
I like the version without the R, though. I don’t understand why the R is in there.
I think aptonym works for me. But, you know, Herb Cain, he collected things like the piano teacher whose name was, supposedly, seriously, Patience Scales.
Oh, no.
And he also describes a glad-handing bank president by the name of, I kid you not, Furman Grip, F-I-R-M-I-N-G-R-Y-P.
I’ve been going back through all the old podcasts. Love your show. So thank you for all the interesting tidbits that I learn every week.
Well, it’s our pleasure, Mark.
Thank you so much.
Okay, take care.
All right, you too.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
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