An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named.^{[citation needed]} One who is referred to as eponymous is someone who gives his or her name to something, e.g., Julian, the eponymous owner of the famous restaurant Julian's Castle. Another term for eponym is namegiver.

In contemporary English, the term self-titled is often used to mean eponymous in the case of a work with the same name as the person or persons who created it.^{[citation needed]} An etiological myth can be a "reverse eponym" in the sense that a legendary character is invented in order to explain a term. This is one example of folk etymology.^{[citation needed]}

In different cultures, time periods have often been named after the person who ruled during that period.

By person's name

By category

For examples, see the comparison table below.

Christopher Walken (/ˈwɔːkən/; born March 31, 1943) is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including The Deer Hunter, Annie Hall, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New York, True Romance, Catch Me If You Can, Pulp Fiction, Wedding Crashers, The Rundown, Click, and Hairspray, as well as music videos by recording artists such as Madonna, Journey, Run DMC, The Left Rights and Fatboy Slim.

Walken's films have grossed more than $1.8 billion in the United States. He has also played the main role in the Shakespeare plays Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Coriolanus. He is also a popular guest-host of Saturday Night Live, having hosted 7 times as of April 2008. His most notable roles on the show include record producer Bruce Dickinson (no relation to the singer with the same name) in the "More Cowbell" sketch and his multiple appearances as The Continental.