Publication Announcement — Names: A Journal of Onomastics 72, no. 2 (2024) is now available!

The latest issue of Names: A Journal of Onomastics is now available online! Click here to read the latest in onomastics scholarship in volume 72, number 2 of Names. A table of contents appears below.

Names is published as an open access journal available to all via the Journal’s home at the University of Pittsburgh. All journal content, including the content found in previous volumes, is available for free online as downloadable PDF files.

Table of Contents

Articles

Gender and the Urban Linguistic Landscape: Polish Street Naming Practices by Krzysztof Górny and Ada Górna

What’s in a Name: An Exploratory Study of Similarities and Differences Between Twins and Single-born Siblingsby Emma Otta, Gustavo Crivello Cesar, Eloísa de Souza Fernandes, Renata Defelipe, Keven Leandro dos Santos, Vinicius Frayze David, and Nancy L. Segal

The Negative Effect of Ambiguous First Names in Online Mate Selection: Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Japanby Kazuya Ogawa, Hiroki Takikawa

Young Chinese Women’s Reasons for Changing their Given Names: An Online Investigation by Yi Liu

Note

A Note on the UK Local BMD: A Full Name Onomastic Resource by Stephen J. Bush

Book Reviews

The Nameplate, by Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Attyah Flower, by Mary Ann Walter

Names and Naming in Beowulf by Philip A. Shaw, reviewed by T.K. Alphey

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ANS Member Research: “Exploring the landscape of proper names and their grammatical characteristics to understand how brand names fit in” by Deborah Ball

Recently presented at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Name Society, Deborah Ball’s work explores proper names and their grammatical characteristics. You can watch the presentation here:

Watch this video on YouTube by clicking here.

Abstract:

The category of proper names is quite varied and includes personal names, place names, company names, brand names, organisations, historical events, book and film titles, and numerous other sub-categories such as ships, swords, diseases, etc. Although the literature on the linguistics of proper names is filled with examples of personal names, as well as place names and other kinds of proper names to a lesser extent, the focus of the research and discussion leans heavily towards onomastics (history and use), semantics (meaning and/or reference) and morphology (word-formation). Much less can be found on the grammar of proper names. However, what can be found describes the importance of grammatical indicators displayed by proper names in speech and in writing, in helping us to make correct interpretations between those proper names and other kinds of words such as common nouns. It appears that proper names can range from being clearly proper names to being ambiguously so, and where there is ambiguity, there is grammar to point us in the right direction. Key grammatical indicators, at least in the English language, include the presence/absence of determiners and singularity/plurality. Although most proper names behave in a similar way grammatically, each sub-category has its own personality, and there are of course numerous exceptions. Understanding these differences will help form a better understanding of the particularities of brand names.

Biography:

Deborah Ball has been working in branding, content, marketing and communications for nearly 10 years in the UK and the US. One special focus has been brand naming. This was a source of inspiration for a part-time PhD with the University of Oxford researching the linguistics of brand names.

Find our YouTube channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/@americannamesociety5739

Watch the rest of the 2024 Annual Meeting videos here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9UPV3RkICwd7ojIQwxUtxO-0tL90SDY7

Join the American Name Society:

https://www.americannamesociety.org/membership/

Call for Papers: “Names and World-building in Fantasy & Science Fictional Universes” (ANS Panel @ LSA 2025, Philadelphia, 9-12 January 2025)

Call for Papers

Names and World-building in Fantasy & Science Fictional Universes

an organized session at the 2025 annual meeting of the

Linguistic Society of America

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

9-12 January 2025

The American Name Society is now inviting proposals for an organized session at the 2025 annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America. The theme of this session is “Names and World-building in Fantasy & Science Fictional Universes.” The organizing committee is especially interested in papers that address how names impact the creation of worlds in works of literature, music, film, and games (table-top role-playing games, board games, video games, and others). Sample topics might include, but are not limited to:

Names and their function in world-building
Naming conventions of fantasy and science fiction authors
Personal names in literary worlds: how the names of protagonists and antagonists contribute to the overall story told
Place names in created universes
Names and naming in games and gaming: whether video games, table top role-playing games, board games, or others

Abstracts in any area of onomastic research related to the fantasy or science fiction genres are welcome.

Proposals require these elements:

Name and affiliation of presenter(s)
Title of proposed paper
Up to 250-word abstract

Proposals should be submitted to the American Name Society via email at: abstracts@americannamesociety.org. For organizational purposes, place “LSA2025” in the subject of your email.

The DEADLINE for receipt of abstracts is August 15, 2024.

All proposals will be subjected to blind review. Notification of proposal acceptances will be sent by September 1, 2024. Following acceptance, authors must be current members of the ANS and register for the Linguistic Society of America annual meeting. Please contact us at the above email address if you have any questions or concerns.

Scheduling of the symposium by the LSA will be announced in October. Pre-registration for the meeting will open in late September.

We look forward to receiving your submission!

About Names: Dr. Cleveland Evans on the name “Axel”

Viennese Cellist Axel Simonsen in a photo dated to 1915 (Photo: Public Domain)

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his June 30th column, he discusses the name “Axel”.

Axel is back investigating crime in Beverly Hills on Wednesday.

“Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” premieres on Netflix on July 3. Thirty years after his last appearance, Detroit policeman Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) returns to California when conspirators threaten his daughter.

Axel’s derived from Hebrew Avshalom, “my father is peace.” Absalom in English Bibles and Absalon in Danish, it’s the name of a son of King David who leads a revolt against his father. During battle his long hair becomes entangled in a tree, allowing David’s general Joab to kill him.

Absalom was occasionally used in medieval Europe, sometimes as a nickname for a long-haired man. In Denmark, Absalon, bishop of Lund (1128-1201), was an advisor to King Valdemar I who led battles against Slavs and built a fortress where Copenhagen later developed. A famous equestrian statue of Absalon can be seen there today.

By 1400 Absalon shifted first to Axelen and then Axel in everyday Danish speech. The famous bishop himself was often called Axel. The name was popularized all over Scandinavia by Axel Pedersen Tott (c. 1375-1447), an advisor to Queen Margaret I when she’d unified Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Axel Oxenstierna (1583-1684) was Sweden’s ruling regent while Queen Christina was a child. Esaias Tegner’s romantic poem “Axel” (1822), where Swedish soldier Axel is saved by Russian girl Maria, who disguises herself as a Russian soldier to follow him and is herself killed in battle, cemented Axel’s popularity as a Swedish name.

Norwegian figure skater Axel Paulsen (1855-1938) publicized the name by inventing the “Axel jump” in 1882.

Enough Scandinavian-Americans named sons Axel for it to rank 336th in 1886. It then declined, leaving the top 1,000 in 1917. In 1982, only 25 American newborns were named Axel.

Axel had a slight rise after the first “Beverly Hills Cop” film appeared in 1984. The fame of Guns N’ Roses star Axl Rose (born William Rose Jr. in 1962) brought Axel back into the top 1,000 in 1989.

Axel grew slowly until suddenly skyrocketing 567% between 1999 and 2001. The cause? Mexican telenovela “DKDA: Sueños de juventud” (“DKDA: Dreams of youth”) which premiered in November 1999. There the teenage members of a rock band cope with sudden fame. One member, Axel Harris, (Patricio Borghetti) probably had a name inspired by Axl Rose. “DKDA” was a huge hit across Latin America, leading to the birth of thousands of Axels.

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