in Britain, when someone famous' name is used to name something, such as a college or concert hall, we say that it is named after that person. So Churchill College, Cambridge is named 'after Winston Churchill'. Would not you Americans say that it was named 'for Winston Churchill'? Or do you sometimes say 'for' and sometimes 'after' ? If so, what rule do you apply?

I don't think I've heard anyone say 'for' that I can remember. I say 'after'.

A quick google of "named for" turns up the phrase mostly in the sense of "nominated for/appointed to": 'Director named for Beale Street association".

There's also this, however: Peak in Antarctica's Nebraska Range Named for UA Professor.

In the second example 'for' could mean something like 'because of', as in 'he couldn't speak for laughing'. It could also have the idea of a favor, as in 'I'll do it for you'.

The Antarctica article itself uses the phrase 'named in honor of' in the body of the piece and maybe that's the rule.

A google of "named after" turns up a first page of hits that don't have that idea of honoring a person: 'comic and cartoon characters named after someone' and 'A lost bet and a sweet tooth led to the announcement this week of a new mammal named after a chocolate brand'

We use both. Where I live, I believe it is more common to use "for."

quote:

Originally posted by coldfuse:
We use both. Where I live, I believe it is more common to use "for."

Thank goodness for that! I was beginning to think I'd imagined it.Saying ' named for' is one of the features of American speech which stands out here.It is particularly noticeable in travel guides for Americans, just as referring to a river as e.g. 'Severn River' instead of 'River Severn' is. Maybe all the Americans in Cambridgeshire, and those who write travel books, are from North Carolina