The word “namesake” refers to any person or thing that was purposely given the same name as another. For example, a child named after a parent is considered a namesake, as is a company or city named after its founder. It also works in reverse, such as calling a parent named “John” the namesake of their child, John Jr. But why “namesake,” for Pete’s sake? Its origins can be traced back to the 17th-century Bible.
We find the term in Psalm 23:3 of the 1611 version of the King James Bible: “He restoreth my soule: he leadeth me in the pathes of righteousnes, for his names sake.” (The next verse is probably recognizable, even in unfamiliar spellings: “Yea though I walke through the valley of the shadowe of death, I will feare no euill: for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staffe, they comfort me.”) In this context, the use of “names sake” has less to do with literally carrying on the Lord’s name, and more to do with carrying oneself righteously in a way that honors God.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word “namesake” took on its modern meaning — to be named after someone else — by the 1640s. The word breaks down as such: Namesakes are named for the sake of (meaning “for the purpose of”) another. So if a person is named after their father, for instance, they may be expected to live in a way that honors the reputation of their patriarchal ancestors.
In modern history, we can look to baseball superstar Ken Griffey Jr. as the namesake of his father, McDonald’s being named for its pair of founding brothers, or Washington, D.C., being named for the first U.S. president. In all of these cases, the namesakes pay homage to those who came before, and carry on their legacy.
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