The return of the mononym

[Charles Doyle]

Isn't there a significant difference between mononyms for individuals who have well-known second (usually sur-) names, like Hillary, Elvis, and Che, and those who don't (the ESSENTIAL mononymites), like Pele, Madonna, and Dagmar?

Is "Ann-Margaret" a mononym or a binym?

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007 22:50:28 -0500
>From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>Subject: The return of the mononym

>
>According to an Op-Ed in today's NYT, Hillary is running on "The Mononym Platform", although this seems to refer only to the fact that she bills (no pun intended) herself as "Hillary" and not as "Hillary Clinton" (or "Clinton" for that matter), thereby aligning her nomenclaturally, if not politically, with Madonna, Cher, Wynona, Elvis, Che, Pele, et al.  "Mononym" is unlisted in AHD4 and its entry in the OED sports a death dagger as "obsolete" as well as "scientific", with no cites past 1899 and no proper name examples, but there are 1670 google hits, including the above individuals--chiefly singers, actresses, revolutionaries, and soccer stars--although no Hillary yet.  There are but 10 hits on Nexis (Major Papers), including today's Op-Ed, dating back to 1981 (a reference in the Washington Post to a 14-year-old actress billed as "Louanne" who sang the role of Annie at the Kennedy Center).  Is "mononym" a candidate for best revival, if it really did lapse for most of a cen!
 tu!
!
ry before coming back to life?
>
>LH

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