byname

or by-name

[ bahy-neym ]

noun

1. a secondary name; cognomen; surname.
2. a nickname.

Word History and Origins

Origin of byname¹

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English; by- ( def ) + name ( def )

Example Sentences

That byname, by the nature of DuVernay’s project, almost immediately comes to seem not merely inadequate but unjust.

From The New Yorker

Rant′er, a noisy talker: a jovial fellow: a boisterous preacher: a byname for the Primitive Methodists: a nickname applied to the members of a sect of the Commonwealth time; Rant′erism.—adv.

From Project Gutenberg

This in allusion to the byname of "the vetoing Mayor of Buffalo" the people had given him on account of his systematic opposition to all extravagant expenditure when Governor of the State.

From Project Gutenberg

He was Conrad Pile—or "Old Coonrod," as he is known, the descriptive adjectives and byname ever coupled as though one word.

From Project Gutenberg

It was not so; and the byname by which I went behind my back confirmed it.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• epithet
• moniker
• sobriquet
• style
• tag