立在船頭的那座人像
這一支就是畫面本身，沒有轉彎：實際裝在船頭的木雕。
noun · B2
A carved figure, usually made of wood and often a woman, fixed to the front of an old sailing ship as decoration.
船首像
核心畫面
Picture the front of an old sailing ship. A figure is fixed there, out ahead of everyone. It meets the wind first, it is the part you see from far away, and every sailor knows its face. But it is not steering. The wheel is at the back, in someone else's hands. Every use of this word keeps that one picture: out in front, clearly seen, not holding the wheel.
可以想成一艘老帆船的船頭。那裡立著一座木雕人像。它最先迎上風浪，也是遠遠就被人看見的那一塊，船上每個人都認得它的臉。…更多收起
可以想成一艘老帆船的船頭。那裡立著一座木雕人像。它最先迎上風浪，也是遠遠就被人看見的那一塊，船上每個人都認得它的臉。可是船要往哪裡去，不是它在決定——舵在後面，握在別人手裡。figurehead 的各種用法，都留著這個畫面：站在最前面、被看見、卻不掌舵。From the word’s history
The source entry gives the word as figure + head, and files the leader meaning as an extension of the ship's carving. So the carved figure at the front is where the picture starts.
來源把這個字拆成 figure（人像）＋ head（前端），並且把「掛名領袖」標為由船首像延伸出去的用法。所以起點是那座立在船頭的木雕，人的意思是後來長出來的。
Wiktionary via kaikki (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1063762820:8206): "From figure + head."; the leadership sense is tagged "(figurative, by extension)".
Two branches
站在最前面、卻不掌舵的人
把船首像的處境搬到人身上：名字在最前面，方向盤在別人手上。
noun · B2
A person who is called the leader of a country, company, or group, but who does not really decide anything, because the real power is held by other people.
名義上的領袖