Month: October 2023

Call for Papers: 3rd International Scientific Conference “ONOMASTIC INVESTIGATIONS” (University of Latvia, 9-10 May 2024)

CALL FOR PAPERS

3rd International Scientific Conference “ONOMASTIC INVESTIGATIONS”. 

 

Latvian Language Institute (University of Latvia) invites to participate in the 3rd International Scientific Conference “Onomasticinvestigations”. Conference will be held at the University of Latvia on May 9–10, 2024. The conference is dedicated to our colleague Ojārs Bušs (1944–2017) who would have celebrated his 80th anniversary on April 28, 2024. The theme of the conference is “Variability of proper names.” We invite you to submit paper topics that address an area of research relevant the variability of place and personal names, as well as other proper names. We invite to look at their changes and changing processes, both in time and in perception, and under theinfluence of linguistic and extralinguistic factors. 

 

Working languages: Latvian, English, German. 

Duration of presentation: 20 minutes. 

Please submit the application form and the abstract of your presentation (2500-3000 characters with spaces) by 15 January 2024 online: https://lavi.lu.lv/onomastikas-petijumu-anketa/  

Abstracts, regardless of the language of the presentation, must be submitted in English. 

The notification of acceptance/rejection will be sent by 1 March 2024. 

 

After positive peer-review, articles based on the presentations will be published in the journal of the conference “Onomastic InvestigationsIII”. 

 

Participation fee: 

EUR 80 (paid by 20 March 2024) or EUR 90 (after 20 March 2024) for presenter; 

EUR 60 (paid by 20 March 2024) or EUR 65 (after 20 March 2024) for each co-author participating in the conference. 

 

Participation fee includes: 

for presenters and co-authors participating in the conference – a certificate of participation, participant’s materials, technical support at theconference and for the journal of the conference, rights to submit an article, coffee breaks, copy of the author of the journal of theconference. 

Scientific Commitee
Dr. philol. Laimute Balode
Mg. hum. Anna Elizabete Griķe
Dr. habil. philol. Irēna Ilga Jansone
Dr. philol. Sanda Rapa
Dr. philol. Renāte Siliņa-Piņķe
Dr. philol. Anta Trumpa

Organizing Commitee
Mg. paed. Gunita Arnava
Mg. hum. Ieva Auziņa
Mg. hum. Anna Elizabete Griķe
Bc. hum. Laura Paula Jansone
Mg. hum. Agita Kazakeviča
Mg. hum. Sintija Ķauķīte
Elīna Ķēniņa
Mg. hum. Anete Ozola
Bc. hum. Odrija Ratfeldere
Mg. hum. Marita Silkāne
Mg. hum. Ilze Štrausa

For more information about the conference, including bank transfer details for the fee, visit: https://lavi.lu.lv/en/conferences-2024/

or

E-mail: onomastikaspetijumi@gmail.com

 

Call for Papers: The 28th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences (DUE 31 October 2023)

CALL FOR PAPERS

The 28th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences

Paper proposals for the 28th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences are now invited. The deadline for proposal submissions is 31 October 2023.

Congress theme

The theme of the congress is Sustainability of names, naming and onomastics (see full description here). We organizers encourage scholars to link their papers to the congress theme. Examples of possible approaches are (but not limited to):

  • People’s relation to their environment (both physical and digital) from the standpoint of toponyms and other place-related names
  • Names and minorities, the power relationships conveyed by names
  • Urban toponymy in smart and sustainable cities
  • Commercial names as a part of sustainable economy
  • Identity and naming, the rights to express identities via names
  • Changing names (place names, personal names, commercial names etc.)
  • Names in the digital world
  • Names and law-making
  • Names, traffic and tourism
  • Onomastics as a sustainable science

Abstract contents

When preparing your paper abstract, please follow these instructions:

  • The abstract can be written in English, French or German
  • The paper title should clearly define the topic and must be no longer than 15 words
  • The body text (including possible references) must be no longer than 300 words
  • The abstract should logically contain the following issues: objectives, research question(s), and materials and methods
  • Add 1–5 keywords that describe your research
  • Possible literature references should use the same referencing style as in Onoma journal   (see section 4 in Onoma Style Sheet)

Proposal submission

Paper proposals must be submitted by using the online submission system here: https://confedent.eventsair.com/icos2024/abstractsubmission

When submitting your proposal, you also choose:

  • presentation type: whether you want to present your paper as an oral presentation or as a poster
  • theme: whether you offer your paper to general paper session or to one of the thematic workshops

You can find detailed instructions for using the online submission system at the congress website. If you have any problems with the online system, you can contact to icos2024@confedent.fi.

The online system opens on 22 June 2023. The proposals must be submitted by 31 October 2023.

Evaluation

The paper proposals will be evaluated by the members of the scientific committee. The proposals will be accepted or rejected based on their scientific quality, originality and impact.

Papers offered to thematic workshops are evaluated by workshop convenors. If a paper cannot be accepted to a workshop but it fulfills the overall scientific criteria of the congress, it can be included in general paper sessions.

Evaluation results will be sent to the abstract submitters by 31 January 2024.

Download the ICOS 2024 Call for Papers

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.

DC Politicos and the Name “Doug”

General Douglas MacArthur (Photo: Public Domain)

An article recently published on the site Politico.com explores the frequency of the name “Doug” amongst politicians. The article reveals a camaraderie amongst people with the name “Doug”, and there are many of them. The author, Sam Stein, also interviewed American Name Society Past President Cleveland Evans. On the history of the name “Doug”, Stein writes:

“The name Doug or Douglas traces back to Douglas Water, a tributary of the River Clyde in Scotland. Cleveland Evans, professor emeritus of Psychology at Bellevue University and America’s foremost expert on names, said it became common in both the USA and Canada in the 1940s and 1950s. The predominant theory was that parents in that era saw it as a “‘different but not too different’ shift from the previously popular Donald, another D- name with Scottish roots.” (Trump, since you’re now wondering, was born in 1946.)”

Read more over at Politico.com.

About Names: Dr. Evans on the name “Brandon”

An engraving from an early copy of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility: Marianne greets Colonel Brandon on his arrival (Public Domain)

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his October 8th column, he discusses the name “Brandon”.

Are you reading Brandon’s “Nightmare” yet?

“Yumi and the Nightmare Painter,” latest novel by fantasy author Brandon Sanderson, was released last week. Sanderson, born in 1975 in Lincoln and a graduate of Lincoln East High School, in March 2022 revealed he’d written four “secret” novels during the pandemic, promoting them to fans in a Kickstarter campaign which raised a record $41 million. “Yumi” is the third of these to get a standard publishing release.

Brandon’s an English surname from a place name meaning “hill with broom shrubs.” In County Kerry, Ireland, it’s also from “Mac Breandáin,” “son of Brendan.”

Charles Brandon (1484-1545), Henry VIII’s best childhood friend, was created Duke of Suffolk in 1514. In 1515 he married Mary Tudor, Henry’s sister. Their daughter Frances Brandon (1517-1559) was mother of tragic Lady Jane Grey (1537-1554), briefly proclaimed Queen after Edward VI’s 1553 death until his sister Mary successfully claimed the throne.

Despite the royal connection, Brandon remained rare as a first name. Even in 1950, the United States census found only 760 men named Brandon, though 14,005 Americans had Brandon as a last name.

The first three celebrities whose fame affected Brandon’s use were all born with Brandon as a middle name. In 1914, the first year more than five American boys were named Brandon, songs by lyricist J. Brandon Walsh (1882-1935) sold well as sheet music. The chorus of his “Harmony Bay” (1914) proclaims “While the moon shines above, we can spoon and make love, on Harmony Bay.”

Want to learn more? Read on to learn more about the name “Brandon”!