Fromself(“own, proper”) +name. Theautonym sense is possibly acalque ofAncient Greekαὐτο-(auto-,“self-”) +ὄνομᾰ(ónomă,“name”), which are the ultimateroots of Englishautonym itself.
selfname (pluralselfnames)
- Aproper name; a name for one's own self, as opposed to one's family; one's real name.
1986,Nikukua Sai Nagkiariien Nininife: - Issues 94-95; Issue 110, page181:Surnames are, with a few exceptions, monosyllabic.Selfnames can be either monosyllabic or bisyllabic.
2000, Diane Duane,My Enemy, My Ally:"Oh, Elements," she finally managed to say, sitting back against the seat cushion of the pilot's chair, "is that truly yourselfname?" "James, actually."
2000, Joan Slonczewski,A Door Into Ocean:But first of all came Lystra with herselfname.
- (linguistics, anthropology) Aname given to oneself; a self-denomination or self-appellation.
2005, Zygmunt Frajzyngier, Eric Johnston,A Grammar of Mina:Mina is theselfname of the language referred to in the literature as Hina or Besleri.
- (puristic) Anautonym.
2009, Nicolas Tranter,The Languages of Japan and Korea:In the past, the Ainu (theirselfname meaning 'person'), traditionally huntergatherers, occupied not only Hokkaido but also a considerable part of the island of Honshu until the middle the eighteenth century, [...]
