Eponymous or titular?

[miraloma]

Household argument.

Can anyone explain in the simplest of terms the difference between eponymous and titular?

What would Bilbo Baggins be?

Or Jane eyre?

Or say a book called 'the tall man' - would the character who turned out to be that person be the eponymous or titular tall man?

I need a drink

I think eponymous has to be a name, so Jane Eyre is the eponymous heroine of the book.

The tall man would be the titular hero of a book called the tall man.

Bilbo Baggins would be the titular hero of The Hobbit.

I’d say eponymous is when you have referred to the book then are referring to the character. The reverse for titular. So roughly: “Did you enjoy Jane Eyre? - Yes, the eponymous character was quite something!”; “What did you think of Jane Eyre’s character? - the titular woman was interesting”.

Eponymous means "the same name" so can only be used if the book title is just a name whereas titular can be either the name or the person described by the title so Emma can be both eponymous and titular but The Spy Who Came In From the Cold can't be eponymous due to not having been named.

@KihoBebiluPute

Eponymous means "the same name" so can only be used if the book title is just a name whereas titular can be either the name or the person described by the title so Emma can be both eponymous and titular but The Spy Who Came In From the Cold can't be eponymous due to not having been named.

Exactly.

Bean your OH with The Lord of the Rings and then ask 'Are you sore, Ron?' He would likely consider you somewhat titular.

Thank you so much! My argument with DH was that the 'ny' sound in eponymous meant name but I was struggling to articulate my point!

Thanks everyone

Patronym, pseudonym, homonym etc, OP. Should you need to beat him around the head with examples.

For one horrible moment I thought this thread was in Baby Names.

As you were.

Also hieronymous (which means "with a priestly name") and anonymous