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May 6, 2003

This week's theme
Words about words

This week's words
exonym
mononym
cryptonym
teknonym
matronym

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mononym

noun: A term or name consisting of one word only. For example, Madonna (pop star).

[From Greek mono- (one) + -onym (word, name).]

"They have all come here to see Mia Hamm. 'Meeee-aaaa!' the girls squeal. It must be a sound Mia hears in her sleep. Mia, by the way, is a mononym now. Just like Brazilian soccer great Pele, no last name is needed."
Kelly Whiteside; Mia Mania / Like Pele, Mia Hamm Has Become a One-name Phenomenon in the World of Soccer; Newsday (New York); Jul 6, 1999.

"That was from Morissette's first second album, 1992's Now Is the Time, an out-of-print disc from north of the border, released when she was still an overly made-up, severely bejeweled Canadian teen star using the mononym of Alanis."
Chris Willman; The Second Coming of Alanis; Entertainment Weekly (New York); Nov 6, 1998.

X-Bonus