Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. This week’s column explores Ronald.

For many years now, the New Zealand government has made a concerted effort to replace long-outdated, highly offensive place names. Thanks to this effort, toponyms such as “Nigger Hill” and “Niggerhead” were changed into “Kanuka Hills” and “Tawhai Hill,” respectively. More on this government’s movement to replace place names featuring the N-word and other epithets can be found through Creative Spirits.

What do the names SoyJoy, Lytro, Kixx, Scribe, Spontania, and Yum! all have in common? They are all the brainchild of naming guru, Anthony Shore.

Read this New York Times Magazine article about the legendary man behind these brand names as well as the other companies that participate in this quirky (and lucrative!!) world of product naming.

Jesse James

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. This week’s column explores Jesse.

Legendary singer and actor Harry Belafonte did not always find that his name opened doors. In the 1950’s, he, like many African Americans, was routinely refused housing in segregationist America. An ardent supporter of the Civil Rights Movement, when Belafonte found his dream penthouse apartment in Manhattan’s Upper West, he did not take no for an answer. In a clever move, Belafonte sent his White publicist to pick up the rental agreement and then signed the lease in his own name. When the landlord discovered the name “Belafonte” on the agreement, he demanded the singer give up the apartment. Not only did Belafonte refuse, but he went on to buy the entire building!

According the Merriam Webster Dictionary, thingamajig is the name given to any object for which the namer “either does not know or cannot remember” the name. In other words, a thingamajig is what you call a doohickey when you forget what that infernal whatchamahoosit is called. How many names do you know for a whatsit? Test yourself against this list of than 60 different synonyms for a thingumaboobee.

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. This week’s column explores Penelope.

Actor Mehcad Brooks filmed this public service announcement to alert others about having an uncommon name. Watch the short video.

When you want to order a deep-fried, battered potato snack in Australia, what name do you prefer to use? There’s “potato cake”, “potato scallop”, “potato fritter”, “hashbrown”, and others.

Aussies interested in sharing the names you use to label your environment, should check out the “Linguistics Roadshow”, a website devoted to mapping dialectal differences found in the words used around Australia.