Crowdsourcing a name: Trainy McTrainface

IMAGE: MTR SWEDEN

Remember Boaty McBoatface?

A public vote to name four trains running between the Swedish cities of Stockholm and Gothenburg has resulted in one of the four being called Trainy McTrainface in an echo of the name chosen by the British public for the new polar research vessel.

Trainy McTrainface received 49% of the votes in a poll, jointly run by Swedish rail company MTR Express and Swedish newspaper Metro. That placed it well ahead the other three options: Hakan, Miriam and Poseidon.

Get more details about the other interesting train names in Sweden in this Guardian article.

Call for Papers: 45th Annual Children’s Literature Association Conference, 45th Annual Children’s Literature Association Conference, June 28-30 2018

The 45th Annual Children’s Literature Association Conference will be held from the 28th to the 30th of June 2018 at the Sheraton Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, Texas. The exact theme of the conference is “Refreshing Waters: Eternal Springs, Winding Rivers, and Other Literary Oasis.” As a part of the conference, a special panel focused on Germany is planned for the conference. Interested researchers are asked to submit abstracts (max. 500 words) with professional bios (max. 250 words) dealing with any aspect of German children’s literature. Abstracts should be sent to the International Committee, Children’s Literature Association, at vanessa.joosen AT uantwerpen.be with the subject line “International Committee Paper Submission.” The deadline for submissions is September 15, 2017.

Call for Papers: “What is a word?” workshop, Zurich, Switzerland, Dec 14-15 2017

From the 14th to the 15th of December 2017, a workshop devoted to the question “What is a word?” will be held in Zurich, Switzerland. From formal grammar to comparative linguistics, the workshop will examine this question from a variety of different research perspectives. Among the confirmed list of guest speakers are Professor Heather Newell (Université de Québec à Montréal), Dr. Eric Lander (Göteborgs Universitet), and Professor Götz Keydana (Universität Göttingen). Detailed information about the workshop can be found at the website of The Zurich Center for Linguistics at the University of Zurich. The deadline for abstract submissions is the 31st of August 2017.

What will the next Swedish royal be named?

Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip of Sweden are expecting their second child. The expected birth month is this coming September. As with royal tradition, the baby’s name has not been released. However, that has not stopped enthusiasts of the Scandinavian monarchy from guessing name will be chosen for the sixth in line to the Swedish crown. With baby names like Estelle, Oscar, Leonore, and Nicolas, many of the names chosen by Swedish Royals have proven to be exceedingly popular throughout the northern nation. Whether or not the proud parents will continue in this tradition or will select a name that is comparatively unusual remains to be seen. For a look the top 100 boys and girls names in Sweden for the year 2016, check out Nameberry’s list.

Call for Papers: 20th International Conference on Cartography and Geoinformation Science (ICCGIS), Paris, France, Jan 25-26 2018

The 20th International Conference on Cartography and Geoinformation Science will be held in Paris, France from the 25th to the 26th of January 2018. The purpose of the conference is to provide an interdisciplinary research forum to discuss the most recent trends, innovations, and challenges in the field of Cartography and Geoinformation Science. Researchers working within the areas of cartography and toponymy are invited to submit an abstract by the 31 of July 2017. Detailed information about the conference, requirements, and the event timeline can be found at the website.

Naming contest for Portland, Maine’s new pro hockey team

The team name for the new Portland hockey franchise is…. UP TO YOU! Comcast Spectacor has announced that the hockey team that will start playing in Portland next year will have their name decided by a contest. Fans can submit suggestions for the name at PortlandMaineHockey.com, the team’s website, by Aug. 14. Five finalists will be announced Aug. 17, followed by a popular vote.

“The team name will not be Hockey McHockface or anything like that,” said Adam Goldberg, vice president of business operations for the ECHL franchise that’s scheduled to begin play at Cross Insurance Arena in October 2018. “We have some liberty in making sure the name is appropriate to the region and something we can take pride in.”

Call for Papers: Revista de Estudos da Linguagem (RELIN) 26:3

The Brazilian journal Revista de Estudos da Linguagem has opened a call for papers for issue 26, volume 3. Papers within the areas of toponymy and anthroponymy are particularly welcome. The deadline for submission is November 10, 2017. Submissions may be in Portuguese, English, French, or Spanish. Detailed information on journal guidelines and call may be found at this website.

Onomastics, represented by its two subfields – Toponymy and Anthroponomastics – has been studied in recent times under different approaches. This thematic issue of Revista de Estudos da Linguagem (FALE/UFMG/Brazil) intends to gather papers that illustrate this diversity and thus display the knowledge generated by research in the area, in addition to providing a general view of what is currently being investigated in the area.

Chester: A strong fortress

According to Nameberry, the name “Chester” is of Latin origin and means “fortress”. A favorite boy’s name in the late 1800’s, “Chester” reached its peak in US popularity in 1920, when 0.336 of all male births were given this name. Since the early 20th century, “Chester” has progressively declined in frequency and popularity within the United States. Nevertheless, the list of modern men with the name Chester includes many popular artists. An excellent example is Chester Charles Bennington, the late frontman of the band Linkin Park.

Linkin Park, the band formerly known as Hybrid Theory

The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines a “hybrid” as the “offspring of two […] different varieties, species, or genera”; or “something heterogeneous in origin in composition”. It is this definition that fits the musical and philosophical origins of the band Linkin Park. Beloved by millions of fans for their transformative synthesis of rock, hip hop, metal, indie, grunge, genius, and light, their original name was “Hybrid Theory” (which became the name of their first LP). As the band’s bassist, Phoenix, revealed in an early interview: “Although the styles we’re mixing can be very different, we want the combination to feel natural—that is a big part of our band’s identity.” For nearly two decades, since the band released the album “Hybrid Theory”, to its 2017 release named “One More Light”, the band has remained true to its goal to bring artforms and people together.