Meaning & use
misname
Last updated
Meaning
verbtransitive
To give someone or something the wrong name, or a name that does not suit them.
Grammar: Takes an object: misname a person or thing. Often used in the passive: the street was misnamed.
Patterns
- misname someone
- misname something
- be misnamed after someone
The teacher misnamed me as 'Maria' on the first day of class.
The street was misnamed 'Cherry Lane' even though there are no cherry trees there.
It is easy to misname a newly discovered species if you rely only on a photograph.
Word forms
| third person singular | misnames |
|---|---|
| past tense | misnamed |
| past participle | misnamed |
| -ing form | misnaming |
Common combinations
- misname someone as
- The announcer misnamed the winner as 'Johnson' instead of 'Johnston'.
- misname a street
- The city misnamed the street after a politician who had never lived there.
- be misnamed after
- The bird was misnamed after an explorer who never saw it.
- commonly misnamed
- This plant is commonly misnamed 'bluebell' although it is a different species.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mislabel
- Use mislabel for giving a wrong category or description, not a wrong proper name: mislabel a product, but misname a person.
- miscall
- Miscall is old-fashioned and mainly means to call someone by a wrong name, often in a formal or literary context.
Word family
- misnomer noun
- A wrong or unsuitable name for something.
Commonly confused: misname or misnomer?
misname vs misnomer
Misnomer is a noun meaning a wrong name; misname is the verb meaning to give a wrong name.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence.
Choose one answer.
Misname is transitive and can take 'as' before the wrong name: misname someone as something. Option 2 lacks 'as', which is needed when the name is a label; option 3 wrongly adds 'to'; option 4 uses 'like' incorrectly.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “misname”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.