Definition

• Brand Name
• Name That -nym: A Brief Introduction to Words and Names
• Name That -nym: A Matching Quiz
• Nicknames

Etymology

Examples and Observations

• "The parade of mononyms on the pop chart is getting monotonous: Beyoncé, Pink, Adele, Rihanna, Duffy, Akon, Usher, Mims, Eminem, Seal, Brandy, Joe et al."
  _{(Jon Bream, "Estelle: The First Name in One-Name Pop Stars." Star Tribune (Minneapolis-Saint Paul), Feb. 28, 2010)}
  
   
• "Some entertainers are so fabulous they are mononymous, meaning they only need one name. In some cases, that name is simply the performer's actual first name (Adele, Madonna, Ke$ha—minus the $ of course) or last name (Morrisey, Liberace). Some are neither."
  _{(Justin Cord Hayes, The Terrible Meanings of Names. Adams Media, 2013)}
  
   
• Hillary
  "In an apparent attempt to model her marketing on the likes of Madonna, Beyoncé and Cher, Mrs. Clinton's site proclaimed: 'Today, Hillary took the first step' and 'Send Hillary a message of support' and 'Hillary is the Democrats' best shot.'"
  _{(Peter Funt, "The Mononym Platform." The New York Times, Feb. 21, 2007)}
  
   

• The Star System in Religion, Politics, Sports, and Cinema
  "Many religious figures are recognizable from only one name, including Jesus, Moses, Mary, Judas, Buddha and the Pope. Political figures such as Che, Churchill, Kennedy, Nixon, Stalin, Hitler, Nelson and Lenin are known by one name, as are the most iconic sports stars, scientists and artists including Pele, Ali, Maradona, Einstein, Da Vinci and Shakespeare. . . .
  
  "In the past one's actions had to carry substantial significance for a level of fame high enough to be known by only one name. However, global communications networks and international marketing have enabled successful film stars such as Cagney, Brando, Chaplin, Laurel, Hardy, Monroe and De Niro to achieve a similar level of fame." 
  _{(Rupert Till, Pop Cult: Religion and Popular Music. Continuum, 2010)}
  
   
• Lukas
  "To the world he was Lukas. The Edinburgh-born rock star had sported the mononym since his early days with the band G7; and the first of the four platinum albums he had recorded since starting a solo career was, as the industry had it, 'self-titled.'"
  _{(Robert Ludlum, The Bancroft Strategy. St. Martin's Press, 2006)}
   
• Paranoia
  "The word paranoia has not only the advantage of having acquired a special meaning, namely insanity with more or less systematized delusional beliefs, but it has also the advantage of being a mononym, a one-word name."
  _{(F.X. Dercum, "The Heboid-Paranoid Group." American Journal of Insanity, April 1906)}
   
• The Lighter Side of Mononyms: McLovin
  Fogell: I got it; it is flawless. Check it!
   
  Evan: [examining the fake ID] Hawaii. All right, that's good. That's hard to trace, I guess. Wait. You changed your name to . . . McLovin?
  
  Fogell: Yeah.
  
  Evan: McLovin? What kind of a stupid name is that, Fogell? What, are you trying to be an Irish R&B singer?
  
  Fogell: Naw. They let you pick any name you want when you get down there.
  
  Seth: And you landed on McLovin...
  
  Fogell: Yeah. It was between that or Muhammed. . . . 
  
  Seth: It doesn't even have a first name. It just says "McLovin"!
  
  Evan: What? One name? One name? Who are you? Seal? . . . 
  
  Fogell: [grinning] I am McLovin!
  
  Seth: No you're not. No one's McLovin. McLovin's never existed because that's a made up dumb . . . fairy tale name.
  _{(Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Michael Cera, and Jonah Hill in the movie Superbad, 2007)}