Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Harrison Ford (1884-1957) and Harrison Ford (1942-)

Would you normally call "namesakes" two random people bearing the same name?
"namefellows"?
"homonyms"?
In Italian it would be "omonimi", but "homonyms" doesn't feel a word English speakers would say in everyday speech, right?
 
Please notice I am asking about any random people sharing same name, 
not just the ones who were given a name after another person (e.g. after your 
grandfather, after a celebrity, after a fictional character, etc.).
 
Do said words apply to people who only share their first names?
E.g.: Bill Cosby, Bill Clinton.

 E.g.: Bill Cosby, Bill Clinton.
 
I do not know of a common word to describe two people with the same 
name. In discovering such a situation, I would ask, are you related or 
are your identical names a coincidence? If a street were named after an 
old relative of a person (we have no ancient relatives in the US), it 
could be referred to as a namesake for that person.
 
 
 

 but are spelled differently, like piece and peace.
 
This is not the strictest definition of a homonym, but you can look it 
up if you'd like a more detailed description. I thought the discussion 
referenced below might interest you. Not everyone would restrict the use 
of namesake as narrowly as I would.
 
You may have seen this discussion and perhaps it was the source of your 
question.
 
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/54502/is-there-a-word-for-someone-with-the-same-name
 
 

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Thanks! Yep, actually I did notice that stackexchange thread, but the 
source  of my question was the Wikipedia article about "Namesake". 
It states there are diverging usages for the word, which I was unaware of.
See section "Discrepancies in meaning (US usage)".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namesake
 
 
Anyhow, I gather the mainstream meaning in the US is what you said
in your first reply ("namesakes identify a direct relationship",
not any name coincidence).

 and peace.
 
 
Aren't they "homophones"?
 
 
-- 
AIOE ³¿³  

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Yes they are. I think homophones are a type of homonym but I'm sure 
linguists of various persuasions might insist that more exact 
distinctions be respected.
 
 
 

> Tony the Ice Man 17:19, venerdě 24 luglio 2015:

Actually, homonyms are words that are spelled and pronounced the same 
but have different meanings.
-- 
Remember: It is To Laugh
 

 but have different meanings.
 
If I may borrow an "actually," I was talking about linguists. As far as 
the average Joe goes, I'm sure there is even more variety in possible 
adamant idiolectic persuasions.
 
Fortunately for the Italian English-learners here, there are lots of 
dictionaries and language resources, each with its more or less 
inclusive definition of homonym, and they can choose what is actually 
right to fit their own predilections.

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Going back to my original question, there are even dictionaries 
that give "namesake" as one of the meanings for "homonym". 
 
But, seems to me it's--almost--a false friend, as that's not the word
two Harrisons would normally be referred with, as opposed to the Italian
language where "omonimi" would be a common choice.
 
"Il nuovo postino recapita tutte le mie lettere a un omonimo"!
 
Google Translate turns my sentence into
 
"The new postman delivers all my letters to a namesake"!
 
But then, "namesake" may imply something more than a name coincidence. 
 
For instance, in this piece of news,  "the school's namesake" stands for
"the man or woman whose name is on the school."
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/2015/06/26/why-students-need-to-learn-about-their-schools-namesakes
 
 
 
Strangely, the English language seems to lack an everyday word to just 
mean two random people sharing the same name.
 

 adamant idiolectic persuasions.
 
Really, Tony? Regardless of any persuasion, idiolectic or other, it 
doesn't change the fact that you incorrectly defined "homonym" as words 
that are pronounced the same but spelled differently. That's all I was 
pointing out.
 
I don't know if your comment about the "average Joe" was meant as an 
insult, but if it was, it was couched in such overborne pedantry it 
failed.



No, it wasn't meant as an insult. You are an average Joe, right? Not a 
linguist?
 
If we can stretch the idiomatic expression, I'm just an average Tony. 
Well, I may have won a British book award last year and an American book 
award this year, but I'm certainly not a linguist.
 
My point was, "homonym" was not the word that edevil wanted. I was not 
trying to define the word in all of its connotations as any casual 
reader without a grudge could easily notice. As I clarified, "you can 
look it up if you'd like a more detailed description."
 
A quick search of various language sources will tell you that words that 
are pronounced the same but spelled differently are homophones (as ADPUF 
noted), a type of homonym. If your personal goal was, for whatever 
reason, to offer a comprehensive definition of "homonym," then the 
definition you cited is too narrow, and more exactly fitting the 
category of homograph.
 
Now, are you going to post that a homograph can also be two words that 
are spelled the same but pronounced differently? Hoorah, hoorah, I know 
how to run a Google search, too.
 
 

 pointing out.
...snip...
 
Now now! "Incorrectly" is a strong word. :)
 
The online Merriam-Webster has all of those meanings for "homonym":
1.a :  homophone  
1.b :  homograph  
1.c :  one of two or more words spelled and pronounced alike but different in meaning (as the noun quail and the verb quail) 
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homonym
 
 
As to the definition in *linguistics*, if anyone cares,
I am not in the position to say who is right and who is wrong.
 
An English Wikipedia article makes me think that linguists favor the 
strict definition (*both* same sound *and* spelling) over the loose one
(*either*).
 
On the other hand, the Treccani Italian dictionary defines "omonimi" 
in linguistics as words with "same sound or, at least, spelling".
 
===
b. In linguistica, con riferimento al sistema lessicale di una lingua determinata, sono dette omonime parole di etimo e significato diversi che hanno il medesimo suono (omofone) o, se non altro, la medesima grafia (omografe): per es. le parole ital. miglio «misura» e miglio «graminacea» omografe e omofone; Cantiano, paese delle Marche, e kantiano «di Kant» ‹kanti̯àno›, solo omofone; e anche pesca «atto del pescare» ‹péska› e pesca «frutto del pesco» ‹pèska›, solo omografe. 
http://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/omonimo/
 
===
 
The difference might depend on some differences between our languages, though.
I am not sure about it! Well, I am going to ask the Italian group. 
 

 how to run a Google search, too.
 
More condescendion that can't be seen as anything but an insult. Or an 
attempt to antagonize, at least.
 
I have no idea what it is /I/ do or say that antagonizes /you./
 
Congratulations on your British book award.


 I am not sure about it! Well, I am going to ask the Italian group.
 
Even if there is a difference between the English and Italian words, 
that would not change the fact that in English "peace" and "piece" are 
considered homonyms.
 
 

 word to just mean two random people sharing the same name.
 
 
Two namealikes?
 
On the "lookalike" form...
 
 
-- 
AIOE łżł  

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Non so, mi suona meno netto.
Per es., Tyler e Taylor potrebbero essere "namealike"?
Nomi simili ma non necessariamente identici.
 
Nella discussione su stackexchange qualcuno ha scritto
"I'd use 'namealike' whenever someone had a name that has the same 'ring' to 
it, looked the same, had similar structure, etc."

 
 
"edevils"  wrote in message 
news:68b8a33c-8399-4a46...@googlegroups.com...
 
 
"Strangely, the English language seems to lack an everyday word to just
mean two random people sharing the same name.
-----------------------------------------
 
Unless it's UK English , where 'namesake' means exactly that (I've never 
heard it used to mean anything else).
 
Mike 
 

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That's interesting. The Wikipedia site describes this difference in 
British and American usage in the section "Discrepancies in meaning (US 
usage)."
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namesake