(Image by Flaviovivoriosalles, CC-BY-4.0)
Recently, Pfizer announced that their FDA-approved COVID vaccine will be called “Comirnaty”, a combination of the words community, immunity, mRNA, and COVID. Phoebe Bain of Marketing Brew recently interviewed American Name Society President Laurel Sutton about this new name. Read more about President Sutton’s verdict over at Marketing Brew.
Several members of the American Name Society have contributed to a new publication at Palgrave Macmillan titled Names and Naming: Multicultural Aspects. The book is further described:
“This edited book examines names and naming policies, trends and practices in a variety of multicultural contexts across America, Europe, Africa and Asia. In the first part of the book, the authors take theoretical and practical approaches to the study of names and naming in these settings, exploring legal, societal, political and other factors. In the second part of the book, the authors explore ways in which names mirror and contribute to the construction of identity in areas defined by multiculturalism. The book takes an interdisciplinary approach to onomastics, and it will be of interest to scholars working across a number of fields, including linguistics, sociology, anthropology, politics, geography, history, religion and cultural studies.”
Purchase a copy at the publisher’s website by clicking here!
Boston Baked Beans in Concord, MA (Photo by Victorgrigas, CC-BY-3.0)
A short slideshow from the Chicago Tribune features 25 foods that were named after the cities or regions from which they emerged. “Boston Baked Beans”, “Buffalo Chicken”, and many other well-known foods appear on this list.
The latest university to update their team name is the private Lutheran Valparaiso University. Once known as the “Crusaders”, the sports teams will now be the “Beacons”. According to an associated press report, “School officials announced in February that they had retired the Crusaders name following input from students, faculty and alumni. That decision came after a decades-long debate that has recently intensified because groups such as the Ku Klux Klan began using the words and symbols of the Crusades, which were a series of bloody religious wars starting in the 11th century between Christians and Muslims.”
The latest issue of Names: A Journal of Onomastics is now available online! Click here to read the latest in onomastics scholarship in volume 69, number 3 of Names. A table of contents appears below.
Volume 69 marks the first year that Names is published as an open access journal available to all via the Journal’s new home at the University of Pittsburgh. All journal content, including the content found in previous volumes, is now available for free online as downloadable PDF files.
Subscribers to the print version of the journal will receive their copies within the next few weeks.
Note
“A Note of Remembrance in Honor of Edwin David Lawson (December 23, 1923—July 3, 2021)“, by Aaron Demsky
Articles
“Usernames on a Finnish Online Marketplace for Illegal Drugs“, by Lasse Hämäläinen, Ari Haasio, and J. Tuomas Harviainen
“Corpus-Based Methods for Recognizing the Gender of Anthroponyms“, by Rogelio Nazar, Irene Renau, Nicolas Acosta, Hernan Robledo, Maha Soliman, and Sofıa Zamora
““Boundary-Maintenance” or “Boundary-Crossing”? Name-Giving Practices among Immigrants in Germany“, by Jurgen Gerhards and Julia Tuppat
“The Use of a Matching Preference Index to Empirically Examine Distribution Imbalances in Beijing Citizens’ Names“, by Ziming Zhao, Xiaomeng Li, and Qinghua Chen
Book Reviews
“Naming, Identity, and Tourism“, by I. M. Nick
“Dictionary of French Family Names in North America“, by André Lapierre
Obituary
“In Memoriam: Edwin D. Lawson (1923-2021)“, by Thomas Gasque
A photo of Buzz Aldrin by Neil Armstrong, two individuals who hold the title “astronaut” (Public domain)
A piece in Time Magazine raises an interesting question: in the age of space tourism, who can hold the title “astronaut”? Some believe that only those who pilot a spacecraft should be given the title, whereas others believe anyone who crosses into low earth atmosphere—regardless of the role they have on the flight—should be given the moniker. Regardless, one point is clear, as Jeffrey Kluger writes:
“Hansen agrees, and warns that playing with astronaut nomenclature risks not only denying the title to people who may deserve it, but stripping it from those who historically earned it. The original NASA Mercury astronauts, after all, often complained that their missions were overly automated, with much of the flight run by computer, and the astronauts themselves there mostly to observe and intervene if needed.”
The American Name Society is pleased to share the ANS Summer 2021 Newsletter. Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his August 15th column, he looks at the history of the name Guy.
Right now on movie screens a Guy is saving his world.
“Free Guy” premiered Friday. In this fantasy film, a new program makes Guy (Ryan Reynolds), a minor nonplayer character in video game “Free City,” self-aware. He then must save his virtual world from being erased.
Guy is the French form of Wido, an ancient Germanic name from either witu (“wood”) or wit (“wide”). Brought to England in 1066, it stayed in use partly because of the legend of Guy of Warwick, retold in ballads since around 1200.
In his story, Guy is a lowly cupbearer who loves Felice, daughter of the Earl of Warwick.
To become worthy of her, he travels the world slaying dragons and other monsters. After wedding Felice, Guy makes a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, returning just in time to save Winchester from Danish invaders by defeating giant Colbrand in single combat.
The name’s heroic reputation was ruined by Guy Fawkes (1570-1606).
In 1605, Fawkes joined several other Catholics in the Gunpowder Plot, planning to blow up King James and Parliament on Nov. 5. Though Fawkes wasn’t the leader, he was first arrested, and his name came to exemplify treason.
Parliament declared Nov. 5 an annual celebration. Effigies of Fawkes made of old rags were tossed into bonfires. Soon these were called “guys”. Around 1830 “guy” became slang in England for any shabbily dressed man.
Photo of a bank app (Photo by TInkoff Bank, CC-BY-4.0)
This short piece in The New York Times showcases interviews with folks who share names with money- and banking-related apps. Included are Dave, Marcus, Robin, and other common first-names. Read more in The New York Times.
Fred Gwinne as Herman Munster in CBS’s “The Munsters” (Public domain)
Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his August 1st column, he looks at the history of the name Herman.
Today’s the birthday of Moby Dick’s father.
Herman Melville (1819-1891) was born 202 years ago. One of America’s most famous authors, he’s best known for “Moby Dick” (1851), the story of Captain Ahab and his obsession with the great white whale that bit off his leg.
Herman’s the English form of German Hermann, derived from ancient Germanic “army man.” Hermann was a common name in medieval Germany. One example, Hermann of Reichenau (1013-1054), a Benedictine monk, who, despite having cerebral palsy, studied mathematics and astronomy and composed hymns that are still sung today.
Norman invaders brought the name to England in 1066. Families surnamed Harman are descended from medieval Hermans. Though rare in England, Herman never completely died out, partly because it was continually reinforced by goldsmiths and merchants immigrating from Holland.
Herman was more common in America than England, mostly because of German and Dutch influence. That’s how Melville got the name — his mother, Maria, was a great-great-granddaughter of Harmen Gansevoort, a Dutch settler who came to New Amsterdam in 1655. Harmen’s grandfather, Hermann (born 1570), was a brewer in Dersum, just over the Dutch border in northern Germany.
