For vs. After

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One of the things which irks me the most when reading articles online is the Americanism "named for".

For anyone reading this who thinks that "named for" is correct British English - it's not - correct British English is "named after".

To my mind "named for" means something else.

"Bob couldn't think of what to call his pet hamster, so thanks to his daughter, it was named for him"

To me (British) there's no way of telling what the hamster was called from that sentence - but to an American (or to a British person who's got it wrong) the hamster would be called "Bob".

Even worse that this is the, slightly rarer, turn of phrase "anagram for". I don't even think this one is correct US English - I think it should be "anagram of" wherever you are.

Anyway, rant over for tonight :-)

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