Deonym
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A term which derives from a proper name (proper noun), such as brand name (genericized trademark), a given name or surname (eponym), or a place name (toponym).
"[…] increased occurrence of deonyms. Among them, nearly half come from trade names (company names, brand names or product names). This chapter aims to study deonyms deriving from trade names."
- 2 Synonym of theonym.
"A similar phenomenon occurs often, and also in connection with old Celtic toponyms which, if deonyms, were often suppressed by the growing might of the Church, […] [these other] deonyms serve to prove the Pelasgians spoke an Indo-European language far[…]"
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"[…] increased occurrence of deonyms. Among them, nearly half come from trade names (company names, brand names or product names). This chapter aims to study deonyms deriving from trade names."
Etymology
From de- + -onym (“name”). Compare Italian deonomastica (“words of a language that are derived from given names, last names, ethnonyms, and toponyms”), from de- + onomastica.
From Latin deus (“god”) + -onym.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.