Amononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is amononymous person.
A mononym may be the person's only name, given to them at birth. This was routine in most ancient societies, and remains common in modern societies such as inAfghanistan,[1]Bhutan, some parts ofIndonesia (especially by olderJavanese people),Myanmar,Mongolia,Tibet,[2] andSouth India.
In other cases, a person may select a single name from theirpolynym or adopt a mononym as a chosen name,pen name,stage name, orregnal name. A popularnickname may effectively become a mononym, in some cases adopted legally. For some historical figures, a mononym is the only name that is still known today.
The wordmononym comes from Englishmono- ("one", "single") and-onym ("name", "word"), ultimately fromGreekmónos (μόνος, "single"), andónoma (ὄνομα, "name").[a][b]
Naming practices ofindigenous peoples of the Americas are highly variable, with one individual often bearing more than one name over a lifetime. In European and American histories, prominent Native Americans are usually mononymous, using a name that was frequently garbled and simplified in translation. For example, the Aztec emperor whose name was preserved inNahuatl documents asMotecuhzoma Xocoyotzin was called "Montezuma" in subsequent histories. In current histories he is often namedMoctezuma II, using the European custom of assigningregnal numbers to hereditary heads of state.
Native Americans from the 15th through 19th centuries, whose names are often thinly documented in written sources, are still commonly referenced with a mononym. Examples includeAnacaona (Haiti, 1464–1504),Agüeybaná (Puerto Rico, died 1510),Diriangén (Nicaragua, died 1523),Urracá (Panama, died 1531),Guamá (Cuba, died 1532),Atahualpa (Peru, 1497–1533),Lempira (Honduras, died 1537),Lautaro (Chile, 1534–1557),Tamanaco (Venezuela, died 1573),Pocahontas (United States, 1595–1617),Auoindaon (Canada, fl. 1623),Cangapol (Argentina, fl. 1735), andTecumseh (United States, 1768–1813).
Prominent Native Americans having a parent of European descent often received a European-style polynym in addition to a name or names from their indigenous community. The name of the Dutch-Seneca diplomatCornplanter is a translation of aSeneca-language mononym (Kaintwakon, roughly "corn-planter"). He was also called "John Abeel" after hisDutch father. His later descendants, includingJesse Cornplanter, used "Cornplanter" as a surname instead of "Abeel".
SomeNorth American Indigenous people continue their nations' traditional naming practices, which may include the use of single names. InCanada, where government policy often included the imposition of Western-style names, one of the recommendations of theTruth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada was for all provinces and territories to waive fees to allow Indigenous people to legally assume traditional names, including mononyms.[4] InOntario, for example, it is now legally possible to change to a single name or register one at birth, for members ofIndigenous nations which have a tradition of single names.[5]
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In modern times, in countries that have long been part of theEast Asian cultural sphere (Japan, the Koreas, Vietnam, and China), mononyms are rare. An exception pertains to theEmperor of Japan. In Japan, the emperor and his family have no surname, only a given name, such asHirohito, which in practice in Japanese is rarely used: out of respect and as a measure of politeness, Japanese prefer to say "the Emperor" or "the Crown Prince".[6]
In the past, mononyms were common inIndonesia, especially inJavanese names.[7] Some younger people may have them, but this practice is becoming rarer, since mononyms are no longer allowed for newborns since 2022 (seeNaming law § Indonesia).[8]
Single names still also occur inTibet.[2] MostAfghans also have no surname.[9]
InBhutan, most people use either only one name or a combination of two personal names typically given by a Buddhist monk. There are no inherited family names; instead, Bhutanese differentiate themselves with nicknames or prefixes.[10]
Mononyms also continue to be used in parts of India, especially the South.Mayawati, formerChief Minister ofUttar Pradesh, chooses to use only a single name. They are also used to resistcasteism, as surnames are generally a telltale sign of castes. Several Indian film personalities, such asBiswajit,Dharmendra,Govinda,Kajol,Pran,Rekha,Irrfan, andTabu, are also mononymous.Govindjee, Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Plant Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an Indian-American and an authority on photosynthesis, publishes his research under his singular name. In the northeastern state ofMizoram, most people have a single name, mostly of four syllables (e.g., Lalthansanga, Thangrikhuma, Zorinmawia). Everyone also has a tribal or clan name inherited from their father, but they do not include it in their official name.[citation needed]
The structure of persons' names has varied across time and geography. In somesocieties, individuals have been mononymous, receiving only a single name.Alulim, first king ofSumer, is one of the earliest names known;Narmer, anancient Egyptianpharaoh, is another. In addition, Biblical names likeAdam,Eve,Moses, orAbraham, were typically mononymous, as were names in the surrounding cultures of theFertile Crescent.[11]
Ancient Greek names likeHeracles,Homer,Plato,Socrates, andAristotle, also follow the pattern, withepithets (similar to second names) only used subsequently by historians to distinguish between individuals with the same name, as in the case ofZeno the Stoic andZeno of Elea; likewise,patronymics or other biographic details (such ascity of origin, or another place name or occupation the individual was associated with) were used to specify whom one was talking about, but these details were not considered part of the name.[12]
A departure from this custom occurred, for example, among theRomans, who by theRepublican period and throughout theImperial periodused multiple names: a male citizen's name comprised three parts (this was mostly typical of the upper class, while others would usually have only two names):praenomen (given name),nomen (clan name) andcognomen (family line within the clan) – thenomen andcognomen were almost always hereditary.[13] Famous ancient Romans who today are usually referred to by mononym includeCicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero) andTerence (Publius Terentius Afer).Roman emperors, for exampleAugustus,Caligula, andNero, are also often referred to in English by mononym.
Mononyms in other ancient cultures includeHannibal, theCeltic queenBoudica, and theNumidian kingJugurtha.
During theearly Middle Ages, mononymity slowly declined, with northern and easternEurope keeping the tradition longer than the south. TheDutch Renaissance scholar and theologianErasmus is a late example of mononymity; though sometimes referred to as "Desiderius Erasmus" or "Erasmus of Rotterdam", he was christened only as "Erasmus", after themartyrErasmus of Formiae.[14]
Composers in thears nova andars subtilior styles of latemedieval music were often known mononymously—potentially because their names weresobriquets—such asBorlet,Egardus,Egidius,Grimace,Solage, andTrebor.[15]
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Some French authors have shown a preference for mononyms. In the 17th century, the dramatist and actor Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622–73) took the mononym stage nameMolière.[16]
In the 18th century, François-Marie Arouet (1694–1778) adopted the mononymVoltaire, for both literary and personal use, in 1718 after his imprisonment in Paris'Bastille, to mark a break with his past. The new name combined several features. It was ananagram for aLatinized version (where "u" become "v", and "j" becomes "i") of his familysurname, "Arouet, l[e] j[eune]" ("Arouet, the young"); it reversed the syllables of the name of the town his father came from,Airvault; and it has implications of speed and daring through similarity to French expressions such asvoltige,volte-face andvolatile. "Arouet" would not have served the purpose, given that name's associations with "roué" and with an expression that meant "for thrashing".[17]
The 19th-century French authorMarie-Henri Beyle (1783–1842) used manypen names, most famously the mononym Stendhal, adapted from the name of the littlePrussian town ofStendal, birthplace of the German art historianJohann Joachim Winckelmann, whom Stendhal admired.[18]
Nadar[19] (Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, 1820–1910) was an early French photographer.
In the 20th century,Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873–1954, author ofGigi, 1945), used her actual surname as her mononym pen name, Colette.[20]
In the 17th and 18th centuries, most Italian castrato singers used mononyms as stage names (e.g.Caffarelli,Farinelli). The German writer, mining engineer, and philosopher Georg Friedrich Philipp Freiherr von Hardenberg (1772–1801) became famous asNovalis.[21]
The 18th-century Italian painterBernardo Bellotto, who is now ranked as an important and original painter in his own right, traded on the mononymous pseudonym of his uncle and teacher, Antonio Canal (Canaletto), in those countries—Poland and Germany—where his famous uncle was not active, calling himself likewise "Canaletto". Bellotto remains commonly known as "Canaletto" in those countries to this day.[22]
The 19th-century Dutch writer Eduard Douwes Dekker (1820–87), better known by his mononymous pen nameMultatuli[23] (from theLatinmulta tuli, "I have suffered [orborne] many things"), became famous for the satirical novel,Max Havelaar (1860), in which he denounced the abuses ofcolonialism in theDutch East Indies (nowIndonesia).
Surnames were introduced inTurkey only afterWorld War I, by the country's first president,Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, as part of his Westernization and modernization programs.[24]
The 20th-century British authorHector Hugh Munro (1870–1916) became known by hispen name, Saki. In 20th-century Poland, thetheater-of-the-absurdplaywright, novelist,painter, photographer, andphilosopherStanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (1885–1939) after 1925 often used the mononymous pseudonym Witkacy, aconflation of his surname (Witkiewicz) andmiddle name (Ignacy).[25]
The Syrian poet Ali Ahmad Said Esber (born 1930) at age 17 adopted the mononym pseudonym,Adunis, sometimes also spelled "Adonis". A perennial contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature, he has been described as the greatest living poet of the Arab world.[26]
Monarchs and otherroyalty, for exampleNapoleon, have traditionally availed themselves of theprivilege of using a mononym, modified when necessary by anordinal orepithet (e.g., QueenElizabeth II orCharles the Great). This is not always the case: KingCarl XVI Gustaf of Sweden has two names. While many European royals have formally sportedlong chains of names, in practice they have tended to use only one or two and not to usesurnames.[c]
Roman Catholicpopes have traditionally adopted a single,regnal name upon theirelection.John Paul I broke with this tradition – adopting a double name honoring his two predecessors[28] – and his successorJohn Paul II followed suit, butBenedict XVI reverted to the use of a single name.
In the West, mononymity, as well as its use by royals in conjunction with titles, has been primarily used or given to famous people such as prominent writers,artists,entertainers, musicians andathletes.[d]
Thecomedian andillusionistTeller, the silent half of the duoPenn & Teller, legally changed his original polynym, Raymond Joseph Teller, to the mononym "Teller" and possesses aUnited States passport issued in that single name.[30][31] Similarly,Kanye West legally changed his name to the mononym "Ye".[32]
In Australia, where nicknames and short names are extremely common, individuals with long names of European origin (such as formerPremier of New South WalesGladys Berejiklian, who is of Armenian descent, and soccer managerAnge Postecoglou, who was born in Greece) will often be referred to by a mononym, even in news headlines. Similarly, outside Greece the Greek basketball playerGiannis Antetokounmpo is often referred to as just "Giannis" due to the length of his last name.
In Brazil, it is very common for footballers to go by one name for simplicity and as a personal brand. Examples includePelé,Ronaldo,Kaká,Alisson,Neymar, andRonaldinho. Brazil's PresidentLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva is known as "Lula", a nickname he officially added to his full name. Such mononyms, which take their origin ingiven names,surnames ornicknames, are often used becausePortuguese names tend to be rather long.
Players from other countries where Portuguese is spoken, such as Portugal itself and Lusophone countries in Africa, also occasionally use mononyms, such asBruma,Otávio,Pepe,Toti andVitinha from Portugal.
Western computer systems do not always support mononyms, most still requiring a given name and a surname. Some companies get around this by entering the mononym as both the given name and the surname.
each autumn is credibly tipped for the Nobel in literature