misnomer

misnomer

is the wrong use of a name for something or someone inappropriate or undeserving:

• My name of Epic's no misnomer —Byron, 1818

• Morning sickness is a misnomer —it can strike at any time —The Guardian, 2000

• ‘Copy cat’ is a misnomer because cats never copy anybody —C. Van Vechten, 1996.

It originated as a legal word meaning ‘a mistake in naming a person or thing’ and was often used as a ‘non-count’ noun like fraud (as in committing misnomer rather than a misnomer). Acts of the reign of Victoria were riddled with the proviso ‘no misnomer or inaccurate description…shall hinder the full operation of this Act’. It was, characteristically, a lawyers' escape route. As often happens with underused words, usage put it to work among the ordinary people, and it came to mean ‘the use of a wrong name’ in any context, which is the meaning current today (as in the examples given above).

Now misnomer is being watered down even further in contexts that are not about the suitability of a name:

• A Christianity without peace would be a misnomer —Catez Stevens, 2004.

[What is meant is ‘contradiction in terms’]

• It might seem a misnomer to label an MPV as having good looks —Scotsman, 2005.

In these examples, there is no question of a name being wrongly applied, but of a word or phrase being inappropriately used. The better word here is misconception or even just mistake.