Month: August 2018

Registration opens for the 2019 ANS Conference, New York City, NY, January 3-6, 2019

American Name SocietyRegistration is now open for the 2019 ANS Conference in New York City, NY. The ANS conference will take place in conjunction with the Linguistics Society of American (LSA) Conference from January 3-6, 2019.

To register, you must join the ANS or renew your ANS membership.

Note that to renew your ANS membership, you will be redirected to the Taylor & Francis website where you will need to enter information from your renewal notice.

Once your membership is up to date, 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.

For more information about the ANS Conference and the LSA Conference, including rate and hotel information, please visit our Conference Page.

Call for Papers: 2019 ANS Conference Special Panel on Names, Naming, Gender, Sex, and Sexual Orientation

The ANS is currently inviting abstract submissions for this special panel on Names, Naming, Gender, Sex, and Sexual Orientation at the 2019 annual conference, which will be to be held in conjunction with the Linguistic Society of America. Although all topics within the theme are welcomed, papers dealing with the following questions are of particular interest: 1) general naming trends and controversies within the LGBT community; 2) official naming policies and laws for the designation of gender, sex, and sexual orientation; 3) considerations around name selection and name changes for trans people; 4) the intersection of gender, power, and naming for LGBT people.

The deadline for receipt of abstracts is August 15, 2018. To submit a proposal, simply send in a 350-word abstract (excluding references), a 100-word shortened version, and a 80-word biographical sketch in prose. Please email these materials to Dr. I. M. Nick using the following address: mavi.yaz@web.de. For organizational purposes, please be sure to include the phrase “ANS-Gender 2019” in the subject line of your email. All proposals will be subject to independent blind review. Official notifications of proposal acceptances will be sent on or before October 1, 2018. All authors whose papers have been accepted must be current members of both the ANS and the Linguistic Society of America. Please feel free to contact Dr. I. M. Nick mavi.yaz@web.de or Ms. Laurel Sutton laurelasutton@gmail.com should have you any questions or concerns.

A downloadable PDF of the call for papers can be found here.

We look forward to receiving your submission!

 

About Names: Wesley has worldly appeal as baby name

Wesley Crusher, Star Trek: The Next Generation

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his July 31st column, he looks at the history of the name Wesley.

Wesley is an English surname from several villages called Westley or Westleigh, meaning “western clearing.” Wesley is a given name because of John Wesley (1703-1791.) An Anglican priest who tried to reform the Church of England by promoting evangelical conversion, he ended up founding Methodism. Wesley was also an abolitionist and accepted women preachers.

In 1880, Wesley ranked 109th as a baby name. It plateaued between 151st and 171st from 1940 through 1975.

On Sept. 25, 1987, fantasy film “The Princess Bride” was released. Cary Elwes played Westley, farmhand turned pirate who’s killed by Prince Humperdinck, revived by Miracle Max and saves beautiful Buttercup from marrying the villain. In 1988, spelling Westley ranked 562nd, its highest ever.

Three days later “Star Trek: The Next Generation” premiered, with Wil Wheaton as teen Wesley Crusher (named after Gene Roddenberry, whose middle name was Wesley). Baby name Wesley ranked 92nd in 1987, highest since 1979.

Want to know more? Read on to find out more about Wesleys in history!