aptronym

noun

ap·tro·nym ˈap-trə-ˌnim

plural aptronyms

: a person's name that is suited to that person's profession, personality, etc.

I love an aptronym, and chef James Kitchens really lived up to his name …—

Jordan Barry

[Archie] Outlaw fretted about his aptronym. Headed for trial in 1981, he petitioned a New York court for a temporary alias, contending his real name would prejudice the jury. The judge said okay, but then Outlaw validated his aptronym—he pled guilty.—

Gerry Goldstein

But "The Rock" has always seemed like a suitable aptronym. He's hard, yes. Chiselled, sure.—

Louis Chilton

Word History

Etymology

apt entry 1 + -onym, with -r- probably from patronymic or the synonymous word patronym

Note: The earliest variant of this word noted thus far is aptronymic, which appears in newspaper articles from 1915 on, both as an adjective and a noun aptronymics. The Brooklyn Times-Union (December 6, 1917, p. 6) remarks that "aptronymic scouts" had been recruited by the journalist and humorist Don marquis in his newspaper column "The Sun Dial," to point out particularly amusing examples. It is possible that Marquis introduced the word aptronymic, but his columns, which certainly would illuminate the matter, appeared in the New York Evening Sun from 1911 to 1922, and to date a digital archive of this paper does not appear to exist. The form aptronym appears in Funk and Wagnall's The Desk Standard Dictionary of the English Language (New York/London, 1919), defined as "a surname indicative of an occupation; as Glass, the glazier." A number of sources, as the current online Encyclopedia Britannica, attribute aptronym to the columnist Franklin P. adams, though without further citation. Adams' column "The Conning Tower" appeared in the New York Tribune, which is searchable for the relevant years, but no mention of aptronymic or aptronym has been found.