A cognominal surname derives from a person's nickname, usually based a physical or character trait.

Now Pilgrim learned, from a notebook in the wallet, the private or code or cognominal identity of this man.

Based on origin, Polish family names may be generally divided into three groups: cognominal, toponymic and patronymic.

Cognominal surnames; based on nicknames relating to physical appearance/other features, on the appearance or character of the bearer (at least at the time of registration).

Nothing of him is left but the immortal nose, which, when his brazen head had tumbled to pieces, crying "Time's Past," was the only palpable fragment among its minutely pulverised atoms, and which is still resplendent over the portals of its cognominal college.