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TRA | Medical Imaging | Excellence | Person to Person tramedicalimaging.com |
A mononymous person is an individual who is known by a mononym,[1] or "single name". In some cases, that name has been selected by the individual, who may have originally been given a polynym ("multiple name"). In other cases, it has been determined by the custom of the country[2] or by some interested segment of the public.
[edit] HistoryThe structure of persons' names has varied across time and geography. In some communities, individuals have been mononymous, that is, each person has received only a single name. This contrasted with the custom among the Romans, who by the Republican era and throughout the Imperial era used multiple names: a male citizen's name comprised three parts, praenomen (given name), nomen (clan name) and cognomen (family line within the clan) — the nomen and cognomen being virtually always hereditary.[3] Monarchs and other royalty, for example Napoleon, have traditionally availed themselves of the privilege of using a mononym, modified when necessary by an ordinal or descriptor. While many European royals have formally sported long chains of names, in practice they have tended to use only one or two and not to use surname. (The names of a few European kings have included surname — for example, those of most of Poland's elected kings, such as Stefan Batory.[4]) In Japan, the emperor and his family have no surname, only a given name, such as Hirohito, which in practice is rarely used: out of respect and as a measure of politeness, Japanese prefer to say "the Emperor" or "the Crown Prince."[5] In India, the first six Mughal Emperors were known by just one name, a title adopted upon their accession by each Emperor. Some French authors have shown a predilection for mononyms. In the 17th century, the dramatist and actor Jean Baptiste Poquelin (1622–73), France's greatest comedy writer and "a figure of incalculable importance in the history of the theater",[6] adopted the mononym stage name "Molière." In the 18th century, François-Marie Arouet adopted the mononym "Voltaire", for both literary and personal use, in 1718 after his incarceration in Paris's Bastille, to mark a break with his past. The new name combined several features. It was an anagram for a Latinized version of his family surname, "Arouet, l[e] j[eune]"; it reversed the syllables of the name of a family château, "Airvault"; and it conveyed connotations of speed and daring through resonance with such French expressions as "voltige", "volte-face" and "volatile." "Arouet", by contrast, could not serve the purposes of the developing societal gadfly, given that name's associations with "roué" and with an expression that meant "for thrashing." [7] The 19th-century French novelist Marie-Henri Beyle used many pen names, most famously the mononym "Stendhal", adapted from the name of the little Prussian town of Stendal, birthplace of the German art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann, whom Stendhal greatly admired.[8] In the 20th century, a fourth French writer, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (author of Gigi, 1945), used her authentic surname as her mononymous pen name, "Colette."[9] 19th century British author Hector Hugh Munro became known by his nom de plume, "Saki." In 20th-century Poland, the theater-of-the-absurd playwright, novelist, painter, photographer and philosopher Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz after 1925 often used the mononymous pseudonym "Witkacy", a conflation of his surname (Witkiewicz) and middle name (Ignacy).[10] The American writer of non-fiction and fiction, Rodney William Whitaker (1931–2005), is best known for some novels that he wrote under the mononym pen name, "Trevanian." A number of visual artists, such as Michelangelo, Titian, Tintoretto and Caravaggio, are commonly known by mononyms. The modern Russian artist Erté formed his mononymous pseudonym from the initials of his actual name, as did the Belgian comics writer Hergé. Italian painter Bernardo Bellotto, who is now ranked as an important and original painter in his own right, traded on the mononymous pseudonym of his uncle and teacher, Antonio Canal (Canaletto), in those countries—Poland and Germany—where his famous uncle was not active, calling himself likewise "Canaletto." Bellotto remains commonly known as "Canaletto" in those countries to this day.[11] Mononymity was represented in photography, from that art's infancy, by Nadar (Gaspard-Félix Tournachon). The Armenian-Canadian portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh was commonly known as "Karsh of Ottawa". [edit] Modern times[edit] AsiaIn modern times, in countries that have long been part of the Chinese cultural sphere (Japan, Korea, Vietnam and China itself), mononyms are rare. A notable exception pertains to the Emperor of Japan. Mononyms are, however, common as stage names in the Japanese entertainment industry—e.g., Hide, Hyde, Gackt, Mana, Yui, Ayaka, Kana and Tsunku. In Hong Kong a few musicians are also known by mononyms, e.g., Janice,[12] Jin, and Justin Lo (who uses the Chinese mononym, "側田"). In Korea, singers such as BoA, Rain and Shoo are known by their mononyms. A single name remains a common usage in India, where a prominent politician, Mayawati, has chosen to use only one name. Mononyms are also common in Indonesia, especially on Java, both for members of the ruling class such as Sukarno and Suharto and for commoners such as Rossa. Single names still also occur in Tibet[13] and Mongolia.[citation needed] Most Afghans have no surname.[14] Surnames were introduced in Turkey after World War I, as part of his westernizing and modernizing program, by that country's first president, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.[15] His own surname, Atatürk, bestowed by the Turkish parliament, means "Father of Turkey." [edit] WestIn the West, mononymity, as well as its use by royals in conjunction with titles, has been a privilege of famous persons such as prominent writers, artists, entertainers, musicians and sportsmen.[16][17] Some persons, such as the artist Christo, the sculptor Chryssa, and the singer-songwriter Basia, have had polynymous names that were unwieldy, or unfamiliar and difficult to remember or to pronounce in the community in which they were currently active, but have not wanted to entirely change their names to something more familiar to the broad public at the cost of abandoning their sense of self-identification, and so have used only a single part of their full names. Some mononym stage names are merely the performer's actual given name (e.g. Beyoncé, Madonna, Prince), while others may be the performer's actual surname (e.g. Liberace, Mantovani, Morrissey). Mexican actor Fortino Mario Alfonso Moreno Reyes invented for himself the pseudonym "Cantinflas." French actress Germaine Lefebvre adopted the pseudonym Capucine (French for "nasturtium"). In Lusophone countries such as Portugal, Angola and especially Brazil, football players often adopt a mononym (e.g. Deco, Pelé, Romário, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Robinho, Adriano, Eusébio). Similarly the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is known simply as "Lula." Such mononyms, which take their origin in given names, surnames or nicknames, are used because Portuguese names tend to be rather long. In Latin America it is extremely common for cartoonists to take mononyms—for example, the Argentinians Quino, Tute and Liniers, the Brazilians Angeli, Henfil, Ziraldo and Jaguar, the Chilean Pepo, and the Mexicans Adis, Trino, Magu, Kabeza, Rius, Rictus and Tormentas. Teller, an illusionist and comedian, and the silent half of the duo Penn & Teller, legally changed his original polynym, "Raymond Joseph Teller", to the mononym "Teller" and possesses a United States passport issued in that single name.[18] Some individuals have selected their mononym themselves, when they have been able to do so because of its distinctiveness. Others have come to be known by a mononym that has been applied to them by some segment of the public. Both mechanisms contributed in the case of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has been called, and has publicly called herself, simply "Hillary". Peter Funt, of Candid Camera, wrote in a February 21, 2007, New York Times op-ed piece, "The Mononym Platform": "Someone has apparently decided that Mrs. Clinton will be the first major single-name candidate since 1952, when Ike's P.R. gurus realized that 'Eisenhower' was tough to fit on a bumper sticker.... In an apparent attempt to model her marketing on the likes of Madonna, Aretha and Cher, Mrs. Clinton's site proclaimed: 'Today, Hillary took the first step...'..."[19] Oprah Winfrey, famed American talk show host, is usually referred to by only her first name, Oprah. In Spain, football players often adopt mononyms for professional use. These mononyms may be nicknames (Michel, Arteaga, Arzú), derivations of the player's surname (Coro, Guti), diminutives (Juanito, Pichi), or the player's first name (Xavi, Sergi, Raúl). Because there are a few very common surnames in Spain (García, López, Hernández), use of mononyms makes it easier to distinguish between the many Garcías and Pérezes on each team. [edit] Gallery[edit] See also[edit] Notes
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[edit] External links
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