Although the primary function of a proper name (PN) is to uniquely identify an individual, it can also be used to make attributivecomments on individuals other than the PN-referent, e.g.,Singapore is the Manhattan of Asia. Grammatically, eponyms can exhibitpluralization, modification, and in/definiteness contrast. This paper is concerned with eponymy in English, including paragonnames, eponymic verbal nouns and denominal verbs, and denominal adjectives.

In terms of the partitioned-narrative model of the self, a PN provides access to the totality of its referent’s life-narratives availableto the language-user. It is these life-narratives and their partitioned-representational nature which enable the PN’s eponymicbehaviors: one of the PN-referent’s life-narratives is focused on to such an extent that the PN is used to designate this one life-narrative instead. This is the effect of foregrounding, and the life-narrative in focus constitutes the cognitive basis of eponymy, atype of metonymy.