Ananym

An ananym is a word whose spelling is derived by reversing the spelling of another word. It is therefore a special type of anagram. There is a long history of names being coined as ananyms of existing words or names for entities related to the thing named by the ananym.

Contents

Examples

Ananym Derived from Explanation Type References
20461 Dioretsa asteroid asteroid with retrograde orbit astronomy
Livic civil (engineering) trade newspaper, "a reflection of Civil Engineering") work
Rekkof Aircraft Fokker Rekkof aircraft are based on Fokker designs business
yrneh henry A reciprocal unit of measurement for electrical inductance. electricity
daraf farad a unit of elastance equal to the reciprocal of a farad. electricity
mho ohm A unit of electrical conductance which is the reciprocal of an ohm. Now known by its official SI name "siemens" although mho is still sometimes used. electricity
Trebor Robert Trebor may refer to: Cadbury Trebor Bassett, a British confectionery company; Trebor, a 14th-century composer; Robert Trebor, an actor; Trebor Healey, an American poet and novelist; Trebor Edwards, a Welsh tenor; The titular character from Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord and its immediate sequels, arch-enemy of Werdna. name
Seltaeb Beatles Beatles' merchandising company business
Llareggub "bugger all" In Under Milk Wood work
Harpo Productions Oprah (Winfrey) Oprah's media company business
Senim Silla "all is mines" "mines" is AAVE for "mine". name (alias) [1]
Navi (Virgil) Ivan (Grissom) Apollo program joke by Grissom astronomy [2]
Dnoces (Edward H. White the) Second Apollo program joke by Grissom astronomy [2]
Regor Roger (Chaffee) Apollo program joke by Grissom astronomy [2]
Erewhon "nowhere" A utopia. The digraph <wh> is not reversed. Many names within the book are also ananyms. work [3]
elgooG Google reverse-spelling search engine business
Xallarap parallax Converse microlensing effect term
Ebbot (Lundberg) Tobbe Tobbe is the usual hypocoristic of Torbjörn, his real given name. name (alias)
로꾸거 (Rokuko) 거꾸로 (gokkuro) Backwards for Korean for "backwards" work
semordnilap palindrome A semi-palindrome term
Xvid DivX A competitor product
Trugoy (The Dove) yogurt He likes yogurt name (alias)
Posdnuos "Sound-Sop" High school DJing nickname name (alias)
MAPS (Mail Abuse Prevention System) spam reverse backronym product
Alucard Dracula Borne by various characters derived from Dracula work
Nimda admin The computer worm assumed admin-like powers. product
Emirp Prime An emirp is a prime number that results in a different prime when its digits are reversed. term
(Coquitlam) Adanac(s) Canada Team is Canadian organization
Nujabes Jun Seba His real name name (alias)
Essiac Rene Caisse Its inventor product
"Revilo" Oliver Christianson His real name name (alias)
Adanac(, Nipissing District, Ontario) Canada Location placename
"Airegin" Nigeria Composer Sonny Rollins is African American work
Yarg (Allan and Jenny) Gray Couple who provided the recipe product
Soma Records Amos Heilicher Owner business
Nomad (band) Damon (Rochefort) Founder member organization
Gnip Gnop ping pong Reminiscent of the other tabletop game product
Trebloc, Mississippi Colbert Local family, whose name is found in many places; the reversal was "to avoid further repetition". placename [4]
"Nagirroc" Corrigan Owner's surname placename
Strebor Roberts Founder/owner? business
Ridan (horse) Nadir Named after another horse name (animal)
Niloak Pottery kaolin Material used in products business
Rellim Farm (Paul) Miller Founder business
Yellek, Ontario (R. J.) Kelley Trainmaster at the passing point placename
Nomar (Garciaparra) Ramon His father's name name
OAT (organizing autonomous telecomms) TAO (The Anarchy Organization) reverse backronym of its former name organization
Kroz Zork Homage to older computer game product
Ani Lorak Karolina Her real forename name (alias)
Sevas Tra "art saves" work
Azed (Diego) Deza Crossword compiler named after Spanish inquisitor name (alias) [5]
Tesremos (Derrick) Somerset (Macnutt) His middle name name (alias) [6]
Sualocin Nicolaus (Venator) Niccolò Cacciatore's name (~Nicholas Hunter) Latinized and reversed astronomy [7]
Rotanev (Nicolaus) Venator Niccolò Cacciatore's name (~Nicholas Hunter) Latinized and reversed astronomy [7]
Senrab (F.C.) Barnes After Senrab Street, after Barnes Street organization
(Neuchâtel) Xamax Max (Abegglen) Founder, backwards and forwards organization
C. W. Ceram K. W. Merak Surname Latinised and reversed name (alias) [8]
Tamarac (Florida) Car-A-Mat Financed by Ken Behring from his Car-A-Mat car wash fortune placename [9]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ "Crazy Illa Wulf" (May 2007). "Senim Silla: return of a star". platform8470. Gistel, Belgium. http://www.platform8470.com/artists/ai_senimsilla.asp. Retrieved 22 February 2011. 
  2. ^ a b c Harland, David Michael (2007). The first men on the moon: the story of Apollo 11. Springer. p. 136. ISBN 9780387341767. http://books.google.com/books?id=y4jik85mL8EC&pg=PA136. Retrieved 22 February 2011. 
  3. ^ Balfour Daniels, R. (Winter, 1969). "Names in the Fiction of Samuel Butler (1835-1902)". The South Central Bulletin (Johns Hopkins University Press, South Central Modern Language Association) 29 (4): 129–132. JSTOR 3187333. 
  4. ^ Phelps, Dawson A.; Edward Hunter Ross (Fall 1952). "Names Please: Place Names along the Natchez Trace". The Journal of Mississippi History (Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Mississippi Historical Society) 14: 240. http://mdah.state.ms.us/pubs/natchez_place-names.pdf#page=24. 
  5. ^ Room (2010), p.40
  6. ^ Room (2010), p.517
  7. ^ a b Ridpath, Ian; Tirion, Wil (2007). Stars and planets: the most complete guide to the stars, planets, galaxies, and the solar system. Princeton University Press. p. 140. ISBN 9780691135564. 
  8. ^ Room (2010), p.99
  9. ^ "Tamarac Real Estate". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on 2007-03-14. http://web.archive.org/web/20070314171538/http://www.sun-sentinel.com/classified/realestate/community/sfl-homespot-tamarac,0,7833813.story. Retrieved 2007-07-23.