While its name is a bit confusing, Who Named It? is an interesting free Web site that claims to be the “world’s most comprehensive dictionary of medical eponyms”. Based in Norway, but with content in English, Who Named It? aims to “present a complete survey of all medical phenomena named for a person, with a biography of that person”. While not complete (they solicit additional information from readers), it is off to a good start. At present, 6,480 eponyms relating to 2,609 individuals are listed.
The information contained here is well organized. Users can browse by person’s last name, country of origin, or eponym. Eponyms are also broken down into browsable categories (organs, disease type, etc.) that enable researchers to see all the entries related to kidneys or diabetes, for example. A separate list of women who are the basis of eponyms is also provided. The database is full‐text searchable and uses standard Boolean operators (AND or NOT). Phrase searching is the default if no Boolean operator is used. While no help screen is given, the home page provides basic information about navigating the site.
Entries include the eponym’s name, other eponyms for the disease, synonyms, associated persons (with links to biographical information), a description of the disease and a bibliography. Unfortunately, not all entries are this complete, and they vary widely in length. Entries for individuals include associated eponyms (with brief descriptions and links to more information), a biography, and a bibliography. Again, these vary in terms of length and content. Neither the eponym entries nor the entries for individuals are signed.
While 49 countries are listed, coverage is geographically skewed, with most individuals coming from Western Europe, the USA, and Australia. Entries are peppered with medical jargon, although most should be accessible to the layperson who has a medical dictionary handy for looking up unfamiliar terms. There is little information about who sponsors, edits, maintains, or contributes to this site. The name Ole Daniel Enersen is listed next to the copyright date, and clicking on that name takes users to contact information including e‐mail address, phone number, and mailing address. No biographical information for Enersen is provided.
While not yet truly comprehensive, Who Named It? is an interesting and useful site, particularly for those libraries lacking a print resource on the topic.
