(someone) by the name of (a name)

Talk about a person this way when you think that your listener probably doesn't know who the person is:

There's a man by the name of Tom Johnson who owns a hardware store in that neighborhood. Have you ever met him?

It was founded in the late '30s by a woman by the name of Eloise LaPointe.

This is casual spoken English. Don't use it in writing.

This phrase appears in these lessons: