Call for Papers: 2023 ANS Emerging Scholar Award

In 2007, the American Name Society established the ANS Emerging Scholar Award (ANSESA) to recognize the outstanding scholarship of an early career onomastics researcher. This special distinction is given to a new scholar whose work is judged by a panel of onomastic researchers to be of superior academic quality. This year’s selection committee is made up of Dr. Jan Tent, the 2023 ANSESA Committee Chair; Dr. Dorothy Dodge Robbins; and Dr. Andreas Gavrielatos.

Recipients of this prestigious award receive the following:

  • a cash prize of $250 US dollars
  • one year of membership in the ANS
  • public announcements on the NAMES and ANS websites
  • a profile in the ANS newsletter, to be written by the Chair of the ANSESA Committee

Award recipients are encouraged to submit their manuscripts for publication in NAMES. The Selection Committee reserves the right to refrain from giving this award in those years in which no submission is deemed to have met the above-mentioned requirements.

Application Guidelines

To be considered for this award, applicants must submit the full text of their paper by midnight (E.S.T.), the 15th of December 2023, to this year’s ANSESA Chair, Dr. Jan Tent (<jan.tent@mq.edu.au>). Submissions must be sent as an email attachment in either a .doc or .docx format. For ease of processing, please be sure to include the keyword “ESA2023” in the subject line of your email.

Submission Requirements

All submissions must be prepared according to the guidelines provided at <https://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/guidelines>. Authors must use the formatting rules listed in the official Style Sheet of Names, the journal of the American Name Society. The Style Sheet is available at the journal website: <https://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/StyleSheet>. Submissions will not only be judged upon the quality of the writing and the scientific merit of the submission presented, but also on their adherence to these formatting regulations. NOTE: The main text should be no more than 5,000 words, excluding the endnotes, bibliography, graphics, and any supplementary material.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for the ANSESA, applicants must be an entry-level professional, an untenured academic, or a student. Applicants must have had their single-authored abstract accepted for presentation at the ANS annual conference and be a member of the ANS. Previously published papers are not eligible for consideration. However, papers based on unpublished theses or dissertations are eligible. The ANSESA Selection Committee will judge all submissions for their methodological soundness, innovation, and potential contribution to the field of onomastics. Although past recipients of the ANSESA are eligible to re-apply for an entirely new piece of scholarship, preference may be given to first-time applicants. Please direct questions to this year’s ANSESA Committee Chair, ANS Vice President, Dr. Jan Tent (<jan.tent@mq.edu.au>).

 

A PDF download of this call can be found here.

Registration opens for the 2024 ANS Conference, Online, February 17, 2024

The first ANS 2024 Annual Conference will be held online, using Zoom, Saturday February 17, 2024. This one-day event will feature presentations from 16 scholars, as well as updates on the ANS and a report on the Name of the Year Discussion.

The meeting is open to anyone who wishes to attend!  Each attendee must fill out this form and pay separately.

Detailed information for attendees, along with the book of abstracts, will be sent in January.

You can register online here, or download a PDF of the Conference Registration Form and mail it to ANS Treasurer Saundra Wright, as per the instructions on the form.

The schedule will be available as soon as possible.

For more information about the ANS Conference, please visit our Conference Page.

Call for Nominations: 2023 Names of the Year

Call for Nominations:


2023 Names of the Year

 

The American Name Society requests nominations for the 2023 “Names of the Year” (NoY) vote. Nominations should demonstrate significant linguistic features through their formation, productivity, and/or application, irrespective of associations with the name-bearer. It’s not just your favorite name! Nominations should also reflect important trends in US society during the past year. It is not necessary for a nominated name to have originated in the US.

Nominations are called for the following categories:

  • Personal Names: Names of groups or individuals, including nicknames, given names, surnames, or a combination of these.
  • Place Names: Names or nicknames of any real geographical locations (e.g., rivers, lakes, mountains, streets, buildings, regions, countries, etc.).
  • Brand Names: Names of commercial products, companies, organizations, and businesses (both for-profit and non-profit). This category includes personal names used as brands for commerce.
  • Artistic/Literary Names: Names of fictional persons, places, or institutions, in any written, oral, or visual medium (e.g., titles of art or musical works, books, plays, tv programs, movies, games, etc.).
  • E-Names: Names of online platforms, websites, and movements, as well as hashtags, usernames, etc.
  • Miscellaneous Names: Names that do not fit in any of the above five categories.

The same name can be nominated for more than one category. Each nomination must be supported with an explanation. The NoY Committee reserves the right to reclassify nominations and to reject nominations that do not meet the requirements. Nominations will be evaluated on their linguistic innovation, potential to influence US language use, and ability to capture national attention. The popularity or notoriety of the name-bearer is not prioritized in the evaluation process.

During the NoY special session, the NoY Coordinator will present all of the accepted nominations by category. Attending members discuss the nominations and the NoY may accept additional nominations from the floor. Once the nominations for a category are finalized, the attending members vote to determine a winner for each category. The category winners will automatically be put up for a vote for overall Name of the Year. In addition, the NoY Coordinator may accept nominations from the floor.

Although anyone may nominate a name in advance. However, only ANS members who attend the NoY discussion may vote during the special session. This year’s NoY session will take place at 12:00 pm [Noon] Pacific on January 4th 2024, held via Zoom. To make your nominations, complete the online form found here:

https://nick662.typeform.com/to/qiS2bXas

Advance nominations must be received no later than December 31st, 2023, at midnight Pacific.

Call for Papers: 2024 ANS Annual Conference (Online, 17 February 2024) — PROPOSALS DUE 31 August 2023

PROPOSALS ARE DUE 31 AUGUST 2023

The American Name Society is now inviting proposals for papers for its next annual conference. After considering an official proposal made on May 8, 2023, the ANS Executive Council voted to hold the 2024 Annual Conference online, as a 1-day event; the ANS expects to hold additional 1-day conferences during the remainder of 2024. Thus, the 2024 ANS conference will not be held in conjunction with the LSA meeting, which is still slated to be held in person, 4-7 January 2024 in New York City.

Abstracts in any area of onomastic research are welcome: personal names, place names, business and institutional names, names theory, names in literature, among others.

Proposals require these elements:

  • Title of proposed paper
  • 250-word abstract
  • Shorter 100-word abstract suitable for inclusion in conference program
  • 50-word biography suitable for inclusion in conference program

To submit a proposal, complete the 2024 Author Information Form found here:

http://www.americannamesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/ANS-2024-Author-Info-Sheet.doc

Email completed form to Dr. Michel Nguessan at this address: cangaley@yahoo.com

For organizational purposes, include this phrase in the subject line: ANS 2024 Proposal

The DEADLINE for receipt of abstracts is August 31, 2023.

All proposals will be subjected to blind review. Notification of proposal acceptances will be sent by September 30, 2023.  Authors whose papers have been accepted must be current members of ANS. Please contact Dr. Michel Nguessan at the above email address if you have any questions or concerns.

We look forward to receiving your submission!

Download a PDF of this call for papers here.

Call for Papers: 2024 ANS Annual Conference (Online, 17 February 2024)

The American Name Society is now inviting proposals for papers for its next annual conference. After considering an official proposal made on May 8, 2023, the ANS Executive Council voted to hold the 2024 Annual Conference online, as a 1-day event; the ANS expects to hold additional 1-day conferences during the remainder of 2024. Thus, the 2024 ANS conference will not be held in conjunction with the LSA meeting, which is still slated to be held in person, 4-7 January 2024 in New York City.

Abstracts in any area of onomastic research are welcome: personal names, place names, business and institutional names, names theory, names in literature, among others.

Proposals require these elements:

  • Title of proposed paper
  • 250-word abstract
  • Shorter 100-word abstract suitable for inclusion in conference program
  • 50-word biography suitable for inclusion in conference program

To submit a proposal, complete the 2024 Author Information Form found here:

http://www.americannamesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/ANS-2024-Author-Info-Sheet.doc

Email completed form to Dr. Michel Nguessan at this address: cangaley@yahoo.com

For organizational purposes, include this phrase in the subject line: ANS 2024 Proposal

The DEADLINE for receipt of abstracts is August 31, 2023.

All proposals will be subjected to blind review. Notification of proposal acceptances will be sent by September 30, 2023.  Authors whose papers have been accepted must be current members of ANS. Please contact Dr. Michel Nguessan at the above email address if you have any questions or concerns.

We look forward to receiving your submission!

Download a PDF of this call for papers here.

Publication Announcement: Names: A Journal of Onomastics 71, no. 2 is now available

 

The latest issue of Names: A Journal of Onomastics is now available online! Click here to read the latest in onomastics scholarship in volume 71, number 2 of Names. A table of contents appears below.

Names is published as an open access journal available to all via the Journal’s home at the University of Pittsburgh. All journal content, including the content found in previous volumes, is available for free online as downloadable PDF files.

 

 

Table of Contents

Articles

Practicing and Managing Foreign Toponyms in China: Cultural Politics and Ideologies by Guowen Shang and Lili Yang

Argument-Structure Constructions in Organization Names in the English Eurolect: The Case of [ORG + V + that + SC] by Fernando Sánchez Rodas and Gloria Corpas Pastor

Adopting French Names as Identity Markers among Second Foreign Language (L3) Learners in China by Ying Qi Wu and Shan Shan Li

Monosyllabic Affective Hypocoristics of Korean Names: Formation and Segmental Alternation by Hayeun Tang

Book Reviews

Gregory Bochner, Naming and Identity by Emilia Di Martino

John Moss, A History of English Placenames and Where They Came From by T. K. Alphey

Announcements                                                                                                      

2021 Award for Best Article in NAMES: A Journal of Onomastics by I. M. Nick
MLA 2024: ANS Panel to Explore DEI Concepts through Literary Onomastics by Anne Anderson

View All Issues

Call for Book Chapter Proposals: “Chosen, Bestowed, Acquired, Assigned: Names and Naming in Youth Literature”

“Children’s Literature” (Photo by Shambhavi Karapurkar, CC-BY-4.0)

Call for Book Chapter Proposals

Chosen, Bestowed, Acquired, Assigned: Names and Naming in Youth Literature

Edited by I. M. Nick and Anne W. Anderson

Just as names are among the first and most basic means by which we order and make sense of our world, so too do names in works of literature help readers order and make sense of created worlds. Moreover, names in literature often connote more than they denote. This edited collection will consider how names, depictions of naming practices, and explorations of name theory in youth literature can enrich our understanding of created worlds and, by implication, of our real world. For the purposes of this collection, we draw on the Children’s Literature Association’s conception of literature as “books, films, and other media created for, or adopted by, children and young adults around the world, past, present, and future” (https://www.childlitassn.org).

Chapters proposed for this volume might address names, naming, and name theory in youth literature of any media and/or modality, from any perspective, and using the analytical tools of any discipline. From the names of places, people, animals, and plants to the monikers of fairies and goblins, cyborgs and droids, any type of name from any time period or from any language is welcome. Please see the American Name Society’s glossary of naming terminology (https://www.americannamesociety.org/names/). The primary works examined may be fiction or non-fiction. The only subject-matter stipulation for submission is that the primary intended reading audience of the piece(s) of literature investigated must be youth (i.e., children, adolescents, and/or early adults).

The following is a partial list of possible topics, but we also welcome being surprised by other pertinent suggestions.

  • Names as chosen, bestowed, acquired, assigned, or self-selected
  • Naming practices, rites, rituals, and regulations and their implications
  • Literary devices or linguistic mechanisms used in creating names and their implications
  • Questions of unnaming and renaming of people, places, and things
  • Questions of names and identity, self-hood, and socio-cultural connection
  • Names as constructions of normal vs. abnormal, good vs. evil, acceptable vs. anathema
  • Theoretical frameworks for analyzing names in youth literature and media
  • Challenges and strategies for translating names
  • Names of the non-human, inhuman, mechanical, and systemic and their implications
  • Names in galaxies far, far away and in subatomic systems
  • Names as markers of political, ideological, historical controversies
  • Nonsensical names and/or memetic names and their implications
Proposal Submission Process

  • Abstract proposals (max. 500 words, excluding the title and references) should be sent as a PDF email attachment to Dr. Anne W. Anderson (YouthLit2023@gmail.com).
  • For organizational purposes, the proposals must include “YOUTHLIT2023” in the subject line of the email.
  • All proposals must include an abstract, a title, and a preliminary list of references.
  • The full name(s) of the author(s) and the author(’s’) affiliation(s) must appear in the body of the email. These details should NOT appear in the attached proposal.
  • In the case of multi-authored submissions, one person must be clearly identified as the primary contact.
  • The DEADLINE for proposal submissions is July 15, 2023. All proposals will be submitted to a double-blind review process. Authors will be notified about acceptance on or before September 15, 2023.
  • Final chapters (max. 7,000 words, excluding abstracts and references) will be due March 15, 2024.

For further information about this call, please feel free to contact Dr. Anne W. Anderson (YouthLit2023@gmail.com). We look forward to receiving your proposals!

Call for Papers: “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Names and Naming in Literature” (ANS panel, MLA 2024)

The American Name Society is issuing its Call for Papers for the ANS panel at the Modern Language Association (MLA) Convention, which will take place 4-7 January 2024 in Philadelphia, PA, USA.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION: NAMES AND NAMING IN LITERATURE

Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. Individually, each word has been used in multiple contexts with varying connotations. Narrative works can create scenes that make space for us to consider deeply the essence of the ideas encased in the labels. In this panel, we ask how literary components of narrative fiction and non-fiction works address DEI concepts through names of characters (charactonyms), places (toponyms), institutions, and events as well as through depictions of socio-cultural, religious, ideological, personal, and political practices of naming, renaming, and unnaming. We welcome explorations of these themes through literature from around the world, from any era, from any narrative genre, and for readers of any age. Useful resources might include the ANS list of terminology (https://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/keywords), the ANS archives (https://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/issue/archive), Luisa Caiazzo and I.M. Nick’s edited collection Shifting Toponymies: (Re)naming Places, (Re)shaping Identities (2020), Guy Puzey and Laura Kostanski’s edited collection Names and Naming: People, Places, Perceptions and Power (2016), and the Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming (2018).

Proposal Submission Process:

  1. The abstract of the proposal (350 words), with NO author identification, should be sent as an email attachment (PDF format) to Dr. Anne W. Anderson (awanderson@usf.edu);
  2. The subject line of the email should include “MLA 2024 proposal”;
  3. The body of the email must include the title of the proposal, the abstract, the full name(s) of the author(s), their affiliation(s), and their email address(s);
  4. DEADLINE: Proposals must be received by 11:59 pm EST on Friday 17 March 2023. Authors will be notified about the results of the blind review on or by 24 March 2023;
  5. Contributors selected for the thematic panel must be members of both MLA and ANS in order to present their papers; MLA membership must be obtained by 7 April 2023.

For further information, please contact Dr. Anne W. Anderson (awanderson@usf.edu).

Last Call for Nominations for the 2022 Names of the Year!

The American Name Society requests nominations for the “Names of the Year for 2022”. The names selected will be ones that best reflect important trends in US American society and demonstrate significant linguistic features through their formation and/or application. It is not necessary, however, for a nominated name to have originated in the US. Any name can be nominated as long as it has been prominent in US American cultural discourse during the past year.

Nominations are called for the following categories:

  • Personal Names: Names of individuals or groups of people.
  • Place Names: Names or nicknames of any real geographical location, including all natural features, political subdivisions, streets, and buildings. Names of national or ethnic groups based on place names could be included here.
  • Trade Names: Names of commercial products, as well as names of both for-profit and non-profit companies, organizations, and businesses.
  • Artistic & Literary Names: Names of fictional persons, places, or institutions, in any written, oral, or visual medium, as well as titles of art works, books, plays, television programs, movies, etc.
  • E-Names: Names of persons, figures, places, products, businesses, institutions, operations, organizations, platforms, and movements that exist in the virtual world.
  • Miscellaneous Names: Names that do not fit in the above five categories.

Winners will be chosen in each category, and then a final vote will determine the overall Name of the Year for 2021. Anyone may nominate a name. All ANS members attending the annual meeting on January 20-22 2023 will select the winner from among the nominees.

Survey Link

Advance nominations must be received before January 15, 2023. Nominations will be accepted from the floor at the annual meeting. You can also send your nominations, along with a brief rationale, by email to Deborah Walker: debwalk@gmail.com.

Thank you for your nominations!