Holocaust Education Week lecture explores discrimination based on names

The Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies at York University will host an event on November 3 2020 that explores how Nazis used names to fulfill Hitler’s genocidal vision.

The event runs during 2020 Holocaust Education Week and features a lectures with guest presenter Iman Nick on “Hitler’s Lists: How the Nazis Used Names to Spawn the Holocaust.” It runs from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Zoom.

Even before the infamous Yellow Star, the Nazis devised a simple yet effective method to pinpoint victims for wide-spread discrimination, marginalization, relocation, deportation and finally extermination. Using first-hand accounts from Holocaust survivors and documents unearthed from the once secret files of the Nazi Party, this lecture tells the story of how personal names were used to fulfill Hitler’s genocidal vision. The talk will also present modern-day examples in which something as seemingly innocuous as a person’s name has been used to carry out crimes against humanity.

Canadian Town of Asbestos chooses new name: Val-des-Sources

Residents had until Sunday night to vote in a ranked-choice referendum among six options: L’Azur-des-Cantons, Jeffrey-sur-le-Lac, Larochelle, Phénix, Trois-Lacs and Val-des-Sources. Val-des-Sources won 51.5 per cent on the third ballot.

Asbestos, a town of over 7,000 in the Eastern Townships, was once known mainly for the large Jeffrey mine that extracted the toxic mineral, but it chose to rebrand as the name was seen as an impediment to foreign investment.

The town had proposed a list of four new names in September, but criticism of that list led to a new one with six names announced earlier this month.

There were 2,796 ballots counted in total, Mayor Hugues Grimard announced in a special meeting broadcast on Facebook.

How Cleveland got its name

Cleveland takes its name from General Moses Cleaveland, a surveyor and investor for the Connecticut Land Company who led the first group to settle in the area in 1796. Cleaveland oversaw the planning of the early town, then headed back to Connecticut a few months later and never returned to the town that bears his name.

It’s not exactly clear when the first “a” in his surname got dropped from the city’s name, but one story explains that in 1830 the Cleveland Advertiser was pressed for space on its headline and simply axed the “a.” The change caught on, and the town became known as Cleveland.

The Goulbourn Museum announced a new series “WHAT’S IN A NAME”

Goulbourn Museum shares the story of Ottawa’s oldest military settlement and early life in the former Goulbourn Township. Located just south of Stittsville in Ottawa’s west end, Goulbourn Museum houses a diverse collection of artefacts and interactive exhibitions.

The Museum is excited to announce a new series “WHAT’S IN A NAME”. In this series Museum staff will explore the story behind names that appear throughout Goulbourn Township. Their first topic: A Transparent Look at Sir Henry Goulburn and Slavery.

Staff are actively conducting research and gathering knowledge and diverse perspectives on the subject of Sir Henry Goulburn. They are looking forward to sharing the results of their research and hosting an in-depth discussion.

“ATLASES IN TIME” ICA Joint Commission Workshop, Madrid 22-24 April 2021

As with most conferences in corona times, the organisers decided to postpone this Joint Commission Conference until April 2021.

Form Wednesday 22 April to Saturday 24 April 2021 the ICA Commission on Atlases, the Joint ICA/IGU Commission on Toponymy, the National Geographic Institute (IGN) and the Spanish Society of Cartography, Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (SECFT) will jointly host a symposium on atlases and toponymy im Madrid (Spain).

Toponymy helps tackle this issue and can help us also understand the symbolic power of place names, especially their role in space-related identity construction that reflects historic and recent power relations between dominant and non-dominant groups. Thus place names, their specification and selection are important and scientifically indicative ingredients of maps and, intrinsically, atlases.

Book Review: “A History of Jewish Name Changing in America”

Read review of the Kirsten Fermaglich’ book by Beth DiNatale Johnson. Kirsten Fermaglich’s groundbreaking work on Jewish name changing recasts popular perceptions of this long-standing practice in the twentieth-century United States.

In emphasizing the significance of names, Fermaglich astutely uses the book’s title as a prelude to her dismantling of the legal, historical, and social layers associated with the process of name changing, as discussed in each of the book’s six chronological chapters. A Rosenberg by Any Other Name alludes to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, in which Juliet declares “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Juliet, in her monologue, suggests that Romeo’s surname, Montague, should play no obstacle in their love story. Yet, as Fermaglich argues, names do convey important information about family, culture, and class that can have significant effects on people’s lives. As such, the book’s objective is to “recover the struggles of ordinary men, women, and children in a world that judged them for their names”. A Rosenberg by Any Other Name convincingly examines the enhanced social currency American Jews have experienced when they changed their last, and to a lesser extent, first names, while also revealing that such decisions often came at the expense of interpersonal relations and psychological turmoil.

Congressman halts attempt to rename Mount Rushmore

One of the country’s most famous landmarks probably will keep its name, despite a recent attempt to rename it. A California resident in July 2020 proposed renaming Mount Rushmore to Igmu Tanka Paha, a Lakota Sioux name that means Cougar Mountain, according to the federal Board on Geographic Names.

Anyone can submit a proposal to rename a geographic feature, but the board tends to be conservative when considering such requests, said Jennifer Runyon, a senior researcher with the board. A national landmark like Mount Rushmore introduces additional complications, and a name change would likely require overwhelming public support. Additionally, the board only has the power to rename the mountain itself — not the national monument that shares its name.

Walls of Names as Mnemonic Devices to Commemorate Enslaved People

The article by Ana Lucia Araujo examines walls of names commemorating the victims of Atlantic slavery and the slave trade in US heritage sites and museums. By exploring how, during the twentieth century, memorials of wars and genocides in Europe, Africa, and the Americas have featured walls of names to honor the dead, this article proposes a genealogy of the walls of names, by emphasizing the various contexts in which this device has been employed. Whereas naming has been a long-standing practice to honor the dead since antiquity, naming enslaved individuals in ship manifests or farm books was part of a process of dehumanization. Yet, during the last 30 years, emerging initiatives commemorating slavery incorporated walls of names to recognize the humanity of enslaved men, women, and children. By looking at a few case studies in the United States, the article seeks to understand how effectively this specific kind of memorial has been employed to recognize and pay homage to the victims of slavery.

Seeking New ANS Officers for 2021

Ever thought about getting more involved with the American Name Society but did not know how? Here is your opportunity! The American Name Society is currently looking for a few good people who are interested in joining the Executive Council, as well as the Editorial Board. Starting January 2021, new officers will be needed to fill the positions listed below.

To apply for one or more of these Executive Council positions, please fill out the application form on this page.

Information Officer (2021-2023)

The person elected to this position will be responsible for maintaining the ANS social media presence via our website as well as Facebook and Twitter. The main duties for this position include the following: updating the news page of the ANS website on a weekly basis; posting special alerts (e.g., conference announcements, calls for papers, ANS newsletters); responding to requests made via the Facebook and Twitter accounts; and adding books that are reviewed in NAMES to the ANS Amazon Wishlist. The person chosen for this position must not only be highly computer literate, but also an avid user of social media. Experience in using WordPress is desirable but not mandatory. Training will be provided. The new Information Officer must also have excellent writing and time-management skills as well as a high level of creativity. The Information Officer will work very closely with the ANS President and Vice President throughout the year.

Allied Conference Coordinator (2021-2023)

The person elected to this position is principally responsible for organizing the ANS session at the annual conference of the Modern Language Association. This activity involves issuing a call for papers, assembling a team of abstract reviewers, selecting three authors whose work will be presented at the MLA conference, and coordinating the presentation of the three winning abstracts with the MLA administration. In addition to these duties, as a voting member of the ANS Executive Council (EC), the Allied Conference Coordinator participates in the legislative decision-making of the Society. Although the term of service for this position is for two years, the holder of this office may be re-elected pending approval by the EC. Given the fact that this position requires close communication with the MLA, candidates who have a demonstrated expertise in literary onomastics will receive preference.

Member-at-large (2021-2023)

The person elected to this position will serve as a voting member of the Executive Council (EC) and is expected to participate actively in the legislative decision-making involved in resolutions and motions placed before the EC. In addition to these duties, members-at-large serve on various auxiliary sub-committees to, for example, help with the nomination of new officers, coordination of the annual conference, and organization of allied conferences. Officers in this position can renew their term of service twice.

Names Editorial Board

We are currently seeking new applicants to join the NAMES Editorial Board. Although onomastic specialists in all areas of onomastic research are welcome to apply, we have a particular need for scholars with expertise in the following areas: toponymy, literary onomastics, anthroponymy, corpus/computer linguistics. Interested applicants should be native or near native speakers of English, have published in onomastics, and be a member in good-standing of the ANS or an allied onomastic scholarly society (e.g. The Canadian Society for the Study of Names, the International Council of Onomastic Sciences, The Society fro Name Studies in Britain and Ireland, etc.). Familiarity with a modern language other than English is also a bonus. As a general rule, editorial board members will not be expected to review more than 2 manuscripts per month. In addition, once a year, all members of the Editorial Board participate in the selection of the Best Article of the Year. If you are interested in joining our team, please complete and return the application from found at the following link: https://nick662.typeform.com/to/P6dzaz. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Professor I. M. Nick (nameseditor@gmail.com).