SAN DIEGO, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Variations of Obama -- as in Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois -- have "obamacized" the American lexicon, a language monitor said.

Used as a root for a number of words, "obama" can become, among others, obamamentum, obamarama and obamanomics or something else obama-related, the Global Language Monitor, which tracks the growth and evolution of the English language worldwide, said Wednesday in a news release.

In August 2007, the San Diego, Calif., organization said "obama" become a political buzzword, ranking No. 2 on its Top Political Buzzwords list of the 2008 Presidential Campaign. Surge tops the list.

"To enter the English language," Paul Payack, GLM president and chief word analyst, said, "a word has to meet certain criteria, including frequency of appearance in the written and spoken language, in the media, have a large geographic footprint, and to stand the test of time."