american english - "Named for" vs. "named after"


As a Brit, I'm used to the phrase named after being used to say how something got its name. For example, in Wikipedia's List of eponymous roads in London, we read that Addison Road is named after the English essayist, poet, playwright and politician Joseph Addision(1672–1719). But sometimes I hear or read named for, where it's clear from the context that the intent is the same. It seems to me that this latter usage is exclusively American. Is this so? And in what sense is for being used here?




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