private eye

A privately employed detective, as opposed to one working for the police or another authority. For example, The children loved stories about private eyes, and Janey wanted to become one. This expression comes from the term private investigator, the "i" of investigator being changed to "eye," which plays on the idea of a person looking into things. [1930s]

private eye

n. a detective who is licensed to work privately rather than for a police department. I worked for a while as a private eye.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Euandros	-	Greek Mythology
Modesta	mo-DHE-stah (Spanish)	Spanish, Late Roman
Rodolph	-	English (Rare), French (Rare)
Gaufrid	-	Ancient Germanic
Branca	BRAN-ka (Galician)	Portuguese, Galician
Clint	KLINT	English