Quick question, no dictionaries or google allowed

[conuly]

Let's say you have two people, John Doe Sr. and John Doe Jr. Which one is the namesake of the other one?

Poll #24506 Namesake

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 128

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Which one is the namesake?

View Answers

The older one
30 (23.4%)

The younger one
80 (62.5%)

It can go either way
14 (10.9%)

I'm familiar with the term but don't really know
4 (3.1%)

I'm not familiar with the term at all
0 (0.0%)

Comments

[minoanmiss]

Go me!

Also I wrote an extremely cutesy LOTR story about the topic. Pippin Took named his son Faramir Took after Faramir of Gondor, which makes Faramir Took the namesake of Faramir of Gondor. I don't know the etymology but I always had the impression that the 'namesake' is the person whose name is a reference to a pre-existing person.

(My 'little' roommate is not actually my boyfriend's namesake -- he was named after another person -- but because they have the same use-name I couldn't resist.)

[gingicat]

Well, his legal first name is after husband's uncle. Middle name (and use name) is from my Dad's suggestion and us going "yeah!" forgetting how many people have that name...

[minoanmiss]

I remember. :) I decided to leave it up to you to explain, tho.