Reputation
Etymology
From Latin reputationem "a reckoning, consideration," from reputare "to count over, think over" (re- "again" plus putare "to reckon, calculate"). Reputation is literally the tally others keep on you — a communal act of accounting.
noun · /rep-yuh-TAY-shuhn/
The beliefs and opinions others generally hold about someone or something.
What it names
A handle for a social asset you do not fully own — a running collective estimate of you, held and revised by others, that can diverge from who you actually are.
Example
It took one viral clip to undo a reputation he had spent twenty years building.
Related idea
Distinct from character: character is who you actually are, your settled dispositions, while reputation is what others believe about you — an external tally that can lag, mislead, or be manipulated. As the saying goes, character is what you do in the dark; reputation is what the crowd thinks it saw.