Other forms: namesakes
A namesake is somebody named after another person. His namesake, my namesake, the town's namesake.
It works in both directions in modern use — the one named after and the one named for — which occasionally causes real confusion. The word comes from the phrase for one's name's sake, which is a biblical formula, and the sake in it means purpose rather than benefit.
1nounnamesakeSomebody named after another person.
“The baby was named after his grandfather, and the old man was proud of his little namesake.”
namesake is a person sharing a name.
Name plus sake, from the phrase for one's name's sake. Sake here means purpose or account.
Hebrew
לְמַעַן שְׁמוֹ
English, today
namesake
Mid-17th century. Equivalent to name + sake. From the phrase “for (one's) name's sake”, first found in Bible translations as a rendering of a Hebrew לְמַעַן שְׁמוֹ idiom meaning “to protect one's reputation” or possibly “vouched for by one's reputation”. A familiar example is in Psalm 23:3.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA