People Etymology

Here are a few words in the English language that have been named for people. This list consists of widely-used words which are obviously named after specific people. You'll be surprised to find words like, bloomer, maudlin, namby-pamby, tarmac and tawdry having their origins in men and women of yesteryears. Enjoy!!!

oh! and add on more if you know, in comments.

ALDRIN Kurt Alder (1902-1958), American chemist

ALGORITHM al-Khowarizmi (c800 - c850), Arab mathematician. This term, which means "rules for computing" in English, comes from al-Khowarizmi (Try saying it fast), an Arab mathematician living around A.D. 825 who completed the earliest known work in arithmetic using Arabic numerals. He was the first to establish rules for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing with the new Arabic numerals.

AUGUST Augustus Caesar (63 B.C. - A. D. 14)

BAKELITE Leo Hendrik Baekeland (1863-1944), Belgian-born American chemist

BÉCHAMEL SAUCE Marquis Louis de Béchamel (d.1703), steward of Louis XIV of France

BEEF STROGANOFF Count Pavel Alexandrovich Stroganoff (1772-1817), Russian diplomat

BEGONIA Michel Bégon (1638-1710), French patron of botany

BLOODY MARY Mary I Tudor (1516-1558), English queen (probably)

BLOOMER Amanda Bloomer or Amelia Jenkins Bloomer (1818-1894), American feminist

BOUGAINVILLEA Louis Antoine de Bougainville (1729-1811), French explorer

BOYCOTT Charles C. Boycott (1832-1897), English land agent

BOYSENBERRY Rudolph Boysen, American botanist

BUHLWORK A. C. Boule (1642-1732), French cabinet maker

BUNKUM, BUNK Col. Edward Buncombe, Revolutionary War hero, This word actually comes from the name of Buncombe County, North Carolina; the county was named in honor of Col. Edward Buncombe, a Revolutionary War hero. The word originated after the congressman from that county defended an irrelevant speech in Congress by claiming that he was speaking to Buncombe.

BUNSEN BURNER Robert Wilhelm Bunsen (1811-99), German chemist

CAESAREAN SECTION Gaius Julius Caesar, who according to legend was born in this manner

CAESAR SALAD Cesar Cardini, Tijuana, Mexico restaurateur

CAMELLIA George Josef Kamel (1661-1706), Moravian Jesuit missionary

CARDIGAN James Thomas Brudnell, 7th Earl of Cardigan (1797-1868), British cavalry officer

CASANOVA Giovanni Jacopo Casanova de Seingalt (1725-98), Italian adventurer

DAHLIA Anders Dahl (1751-1789), Swedish botanist

DECIBEL Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)

DERBY Edward Stanley, 12th earl of Derby, founded the race, 1870

DIESEL Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913), German automotive designer

DOBERMAN PINSCHER Ludwig Dobermann, 19th century German dog breeder

DOILY Mr. Doyley, a 17th century London draper

DOLOMITE Deodat de Dolomieu (1750-1801), French geologist

DRACONIAN Draco, Athenian lawgiver, circa 650 B. C.

DUNCE John Duns Scotus (c. 1265-1308), Scottish theologian (who was actually very smart)

EGGS BENEDICT Commodore E. C. Benedict (1834-1920), American yachtsman and banker

EPICURE Epicurus (342?-270 B. C.), Greek philosopher

EUSTACHIAN TUBE Bartolommeo Eustachio (1524-1574), Italian anatomist

FALLOPIAN TUBE Gabriel Fallopius (1523-1562), Italian anatomist

FERRIS WHEEL George Washington Gale Ferris (1859-96), American engineer

FRANGIPANI Marquis Frangipani, 16th century Italian nobleman

FREESIA Friedrich Heinrich Theodor Freese (d. 1876), German physician

FRISBEE William Russell Frisbie, pie shop owner in Bridgeport CT

FUCHSIA Leonard Fuchs (1501-1566), German botanist

GALVANIZE Luigi Galvani (1739-1798), Italian physiologist

GARDENIA Alexander Garden (1730-91), Scottish-American botanist

GARIBALDI Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-82), Italian patriot and soldier

GREENGAGE Sir William Gage (1777-1864), English botanist

GROG Old Grog, nickname of Sir Edward Vernon (1684-1757), British admiral

GUILLOTINE Joseph Ignace Guillotin (1738-1814), French physician

GUPPY Robert J. L. Guppy (1836-1916), British scientist from Trinidad

GUY Guy Fawkes (1570-1606), British terrorist

HANSOM Joseph Aloysius Hansom (1803-82), English architect

HAVELOCK Sir Henry Havelock (1795-1857), British general in India

HOBSON’S CHOICE Thomas Hobson (1544-1631), English liveryman

JACQUARD Joseph Marie Jacquard, 18th cent. French inventor

JACUZZI Roy Jacuzzi and Candido Jacuzzi (1903-1986), American inventors

JEROBOAM Jeroboam, first king of the northern kingdom of Israel

JULY Gaius Julius Caesar (c. 101 - 44 B. C.)

KLIEG LIGHT John H. (1869-1959) and Anton T. Kleigl (1872-1927), American lighting experts

KNICKERBOCKERS Dietrich Knickerbocker, pseudonym of Washington Irving (1783-1859), American author

LEOTARD Jules Léotard (1839-70), French acrobat

LEVIS Levi Strauss (1830-1902), Bavarian immigrant to the USA and clothing merchant

LOBELIA Matthias de Lobel (1538-1616), Flemish botanist and physician

LOBSTER NEWBURG Ben Wenberg According to Dictionary of Words and Phrases by William and Mary Morris, the term is named for Ben Wenberg, a West Indies ship captain who came up with this dish by adding the ingredient cayenne to his famous recipe at Delmonico's Hotel. As the story goes, Mr. Wenberg had a falling out with the hotel owner, who, as revenge, reversed the first three letters of a dish which had previously been called Lobster Wenberg; hence, "Lobster Newberg."

LOGANBERRY Judge James H. Logan (1841-1928), horticulturist in California

LUDDITE Ned Ludd, 18th cent. Leicestershire workman who destroyed machinery (see note below)

LYNCH Capt. William Lynch (1742-1820), plantation owner in Virginia

MACADAMIA NUT John Macadam (1827-1865), Australian scientist

MACH Ernst Mach (1838-1916), Austrian physicist

MACKINTOSH Charles Macintosh (1766-1843), inventor of the waterproofing process

MAGNOLIA Pierre Magnol (1638-1715), French botanist

MANSARD François Mansart (1598-1666), French architect

MARIGOLD Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus

MASOCHISM Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (1836-1895), Austrian novelist

MAUDLIN Mary Magdalene, Biblical figure

MAUSOLEUM Mausolus, 4th century B. C. king of Caria, Asia Minor

MAVERICK Samuel Augustus Maverick (1803-1870), Texas cattle owner

MELBA TOAST and PEACH MELBA Dame Nellie Melba (1861-1931), Australian soprano

MENNONITE Menno Simons (1492-1559), Dutch religious reformer

MESMERIZE Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815), Austrian physician

MORSE CODE Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791-1872), American artist and inventor

NAMBY-PAMBY Nickname of Ambrose Philips (1674-1749), English poet

NICOTINE Jean Nicot (c. 1530 - 1600), French ambassador to Portugal

OSCAR Oscar Pierce, American wheat and fruit grower and uncle of an Academy executive director

PAP SMEAR George Papanicolaou (1883-1962), American physician

PASTEURISE Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), French chemist

PAVLOVA Anna Pavlova (1881-1931), Russian ballerina

PLATONIC Plato (c. 427-347 BC), Greek philosopher

POINSETTIA Joel Roberts Poinsett (1779-1851), U. S. minister to Mexico

PRALINE César de Choiseul, Count Plessis-Praslin (1598-1675), French soldier and diplomat

PULLMAN George Mortimer Pullman (1831-97), American inventor

PYRRHIC Pyrrus (c. 318 - 272 B. C.), king of Epirus, who overextended himself

QUISLING Maj. Vidkun Abraham Quisling (1887-1945), pro-Nazi Norwegian leader

RASTAFARIAN Ras Tafari, precoronation name of Haile Selassie (1892-1975), Emperor of Ethiopia

RICKETTSIA Howard T. Ricketts (1871-1910), American pathologist

RORSCHACH TEST Hermann Rorschach (1884-1922), Swiss psychiatrist

RITZY César Ritz (1850-1918), Swiss hotelier

SADISM Count Donatien Alphonse François de Sade (1740-1814), French soldier and novelist

SALISBURY STEAK James J. Salisbury, 19th century English physician

SALMONELLA Daniel Elmer Salmon (1850-1914), American veterinarian

SANDWICH John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich (1718-92), English diplomat

SAXOPHONE Antoine-Joseph Sax, also known as Adolphe Sax (1814-1894), Belgian inventor

SEQUOIA Sequoya (c. 1770-1843), Cherokee Indian who invented the Cherokee syllabary

SHRAPNEL Henry Shrapnel (1761-1842), British army officer

SIDEBURNS Gen. Ambrose Everett Burnside (1824-1881), Union soldier

SILHOUETTE Etienne de Silhouette (1709-1767), French minister of finance in 1759

SPOONERISM Rev. William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930), of New College, Oxford

SOUSAPHONE John Phillip Sousa (1854-1932), American composer and bandleader

STETSON John Bauerson Stetson (1830-1906), American hat-maker

TARMAC John Loudon McAdam (1756-1836), Scottish engineer (the word is short for "tarmacadam")

TAWDRY St. Audrey (St. Etheldreda, c. 630 - 679), queen of Northumbria

TEDDY BEAR Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), U. S. president

TETRAZZINI Luisa Tetrazzini (1874-1940), Italian opera singer

THESPIAN Thespis, 6th century B. C. Greek poet

TIMOTHY GRASS Timothy Hanson, 18th century American farmer (probably)

TOMMY GUN Gen. John Taliaferro Thompson (1860-1940), U. S. soldier

TONTINE Lorenzo Tonti (1620-1695), Neopolitan banker

TUPPERWARE Earl Silas Tupper (1907-1983), American landscaper and inventor

UZI Uziel Gal (1923-2002), Israeli inventor

VALENTINE Valentine, 3rd century Christian martyr

VERNIER Pierre Vernier (1580-1637), French mathematician

WELLINGTON BOOT Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), British soldier and statesman

WISTERIA Caspar Wistar (1761-1818), American physician

ZEPPELIN Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838-1917), German general and aeronautical pioneer

ZINNIA Johann Gottfried Zinn (1727-1759), German botanist

Dec 31, 2008 - Wise Words for the Day
" He drew a circle that shut me out
heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win,
we drew a circle that took him in."
--- Edwin Markham, Outwitted