Mid-17th century. Equivalent to name + sake. From the phrase “for (one's) name's sake”, first found in Bible translations as a rendering of a Calque of Hebrewלְמַעַן שְׁמוֹ(l'má'an sh'mó) idiom meaning “to protect one's reputation” or possibly “vouched for by one's reputation”. A familiar example is in Psalm 23:3.[1]
2001 June 29, Deborah Schofield, “Chris Evans”, in The Guardian[1]:
Chris Evans, British DJ and media manipulator extraordinaire, is not to be confused with Chris Evans, Australia's shadow minister for family services, nor with Chris Evans, the late train robber of the wilds of west California, or indeed potentially hundreds of other namesakes. One unquestionable aspect of this Chris Evans is that he is unique.
2006 October 28, Laura Jones, “Why I'm keeping up with the Joneses...”, in The Guardian[2]:
Look at our namesakes too. There's Tom, of course - a bit creepy now but he definitely had his moments. There's Davy Jones out of the Monkees. Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones preferred Jones to his birth name Baldwin. And he's quite cool. There's an American brokerage firm called Edward Jones which perhaps isn't so cool.
One who is named after another, often a child named after the parent or an ancestor.
Bill Sr's namesake, Bill Jr, is 30 years younger.
One for whom another is named, often the parent or ancestor who gave the name to a child.
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2018, James Lambert, “Setting the Record Straight: An In-depth Examination of Hobson-Jobson”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 31, number 4, →DOI, page 493:
It is the only citation from 1902, and was clearly added to the manuscript at a late stage, being only one of two examples of the dictionary’s namesake actually discovered by Crooke.
(by extension) Something (especially a ship, a building, or a medical condition, symptom, or sign) that is named after someone or something.
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