I was wondering if there is a word to describe someone whose name is diametrically oppossed to who they are. For instance a firefighter whose last name is "Arson" or a swimmer whose last name is "Dry".
Learn English – Word for describing someone whose name is the opposite of what they are
namessingle-word-requests
Best Answer
Aptronym is the word for a name aptly suited to its owner. ("Allegedly coined by the American newspaper columnist Franklin P. Adams" 1881-1960. Also see Encyclopedia Britannica.)
(Another word meaning the same thing is "euonym".)
Inaptronym is an ironic form of an aptronym, and examples are given at the link.
Given the linkage in at least one of the references to the word "malapropism", I suggest the neologism malaptronym.
Another possibility (also coined) is misaptronym.
To be more precise, though, the prefix mal- generally means "bad" or "badly" and the prefix mis generally means "wrong" (or "astray"). The prefix anti means "opposite". So a name that means the opposite of what a person does might be antiaptronym. (Contra-aptronym too, maybe, but it's a little hard to say.)