Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A name consisting of a single term; a mononomial name in zoölogy.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A single name by which a person, thing etc is known. For example, Madonna (the pop star).

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

mono- (“one”) + -onym (“word, name”)

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Examples

  • He's still Tiger, a globally famous mononym, and despite a year in the rough, only a fool would rule him finished.

    Tiger, a Year Later Jason Gay 2010

  • As the title character, a headbanger with a mononym, Gordon-Levitt is a stringy-haired force of anarchy, wandering around shirtless showing his inky, home-made tattoos, cigarette screwed into the corner of his mouth.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Marshall Fine 2011

  • In part because of his nondescript, search-engine-dwarfed mononym, I don't know too much about Los Angeles alternative soul singer Miguel, but this smooth, downtempo number, shaded with accents of late-'90s underground hip-hop, but this track nicely whets appetites for his forthcoming debut album.

    Express Milwaukee 2010

  • Compare, for instance, another recent miniature city: Seth's (the mononym Gregory Gallant's nom de plume)

    Rhizome Inclusive: News, Blog, and Digest Patrick Ellis 2010

  • Compare, for instance, another recent miniature city: Seth's (the mononym Gregory Gallant's nom de plume)

    Rhizome Inclusive: News, Blog, and Digest Patrick Ellis 2010

  • Balckground/OG Aaliyah Dana Haughton (January 16, 1979 August 25, 2001), who performed under the mononym Aaliyah (pronounced/əˈliːə/), was an American recording artist, actress and model.

    WN.com - Articles related to British Airways fuel price-fixing trial collapses 2010

  • Megan Mullally, Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles, and Wynonna (now a mononym, herself, and no longer a "Judd" -- say, could she be the next honoree?).

    Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch 2009

  • Megan Mullally, Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles, and Wynonna (now a mononym, herself, and no longer a "Judd" -- say, could she be the next honoree?).

    Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch 2009

  • Megan Mullally, Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles, and Wynonna (now a mononym, herself, and no longer a "Judd" -- say, could she be the next honoree?).

    Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch 2009

  • Megan Mullally, Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles, and Wynonna (now a mononym, herself, and no longer a "Judd" -- say, could she be the next honoree?).

    Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch 2009

Comments

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  • A name consisting of one word only. (Listed in OED2).

    November 2, 2007

  • Prince, Cher

    September 9, 2009

  • John Clayton, a truly bizarre man,

    Is set among Hollywood's stars and

    We've only known him

    By this, his mononym -

    That swinger, the ape-man, our Tarzan.

    December 14, 2016