‘That which we call a rose
By any other name would
Smell just as sweet.’—William Shakespeare, “Romeo and Juliet”
Remarkably, 8,000 or so medical eponyms—diseases, syndromes, procedures, rules—are named after a person or a place. Using these names to describe them has become a lingua franca of medicine and science. Identification by a person’s name is generally considered as honoring that individual.
The eponym tradition has