Necronym

Not to be confused withDeadname.

Anecronym(from theGreekwords νεκρός,nekros,"dead," and ὄνομα,ónoma,"name" ) is thenameof or a reference to a person who hasdied.Manycultureshavetaboosandtraditionsassociated with referring to the deceased, ranging from at one extreme never again speaking the person's real name, bypassing it often by way ofcircumlocution,to, at the other end, mass commemoration via naming other things or people after the deceased.

For instance, in some cultures it is common for a newborn child to receive the name (a necronym) of arelativewho has recently died,while in others to reuse such a name would be considered extremely inappropriate or even forbidden.While this varies from culture to culture, the use of necronyms is quite common.

Use

InAshkenazi Jewishculture, it is a custom to name a child after a beloved relative who died as a way of honoring the deceased. Often the child will share the sameHebrew nameas the namesake but not the given name in the vernacular language (e.g. English).For most practicing Jews it is taboo to name a child after a person who is still living.

InJapan,Buddhistfamilies usually obtain a necronym, called akaimyō,for a deceased relative from a Buddhist priest in exchange for a donation to the temple. Traditionally, the deceased were thereafter referred to by the necronym, as a sign of pious respect. This name was often the only one inscribed ongravestonesin the past, though now it is more common to have the necronym in addition to the given name.

InAssyriaandBabylonia,children were often given "substitute-names," necronyms of deceased family members, to keep the dead's names and identities alive. Evidence suggests that the desire for children may have been motivated by the desire to pass on these necronyms.

During theCold War,necronyms were commonly used as a means of protecting anintelligence officer's true identity. For example, theSovietKGBagentKonon Molodywas only known as Gordon Lonsdale (the true Lonsdale was aCanadianborn two years after Molody who died in 1943 when he was 19) in the United States.Molody adopted the name when he was 32, 11 years after the real Lonsdale's death.

Historiography

The practice of bestowing necronyms has sometimes caused confusion forhistorians.This is primarily because of the two birth certificates or records that could be present at a given time. This confusion often stems from the inability to differentiate between the records of each child. One such example is the case ofShigechiyo Izumi(1865?–1986), accepted in 1986 as the world's oldest man byThe Guinness Book of World Records;it is suggested that he was possibly born in 1880 and the birth certificate of a brother whose name he assumed upon his death was submitted in place of Izumi's own.

Examples

• ComposerLudwig van Beethoven,born in 1770, had a brother named Ludwig Maria who was born in 1769 and lived for only six days.
• Vincent van Goghhad a brother of the same name who was born, and died, on March 30, 1852, exactly one year before the painter's birth.
• ArtistSalvador Dalíwas born nine months and ten days after his brother, also named Salvador, died from gastroenteritis at the age of one year and nine months.
• NASCARdriverJohn Hunter Nemechekwas named after his uncleJohn Nemechek,who died in a crash atHomestead-Miami Speedwayabout three months before John Hunter was born.
• MusicianRichard David James,known better as Aphex Twin, claims he had a stillborn older brother named Richard, from whom he inherited his name. The Aphex Twin moniker is also a tribute to his legacy, though this fact in general might be fabricated.

See also

• Deadname
• Posthumous name
• Taboo against naming the dead

Further reading

• Vanasco, Jeannie (July 1, 2015)."What's in a Necronym?".The Believer(112). McSweeney's.