About Names

Name that Thing by Merriam Webster

3429417174_13269ef0a1_mWant to test your knowledge of names?

Try Name that Thing by the world-famous English Dictionary, Merriam Webster.

Name-lovers can test the breadth and depth of their onomastic prowess in the timed10-question challenge.

Ring Names: Onomastics and Boxing

filed under About Names

Bonecrusher. The Motor City Cobra. Boom Boom. The Golden Boy. Smoking Joe.

If these names sound familiar to you, then chances are you have spent at least some time in or around one of the world’s most controversial professional sports: Boxing.

Whether you love it or hate it, boxing is one of the most prolific arenas in the sporting world for the genesis of creative personal names.… Read More

There’s a NICE name for it in Sweden

3707792202_071996f1b3_mAbout twenty years ago, Anna Kosztovics, a Swedish social worker and ardent feminist, found herself pregnant and irritated. In a recent interview with The Guardian, she revealed thinking “if this is a girl, I have to have a word for her genitals.” According to Kosztovics, the names that Swedes typically used were either too negative, too medical, or far too adult. Confronted with this onomastic dilemma, Kosztovics decided to search for a girl-friendly name herself. After polling her girlfriends about what names they used, she happened upon one she really liked: snippa. Not satisfied with keeping her discovery to herself, the social worker began to energetically promote the adoption of the name amongst nurses. The name was a hit. In 2006, it was officially added to the Swedish language and is now an entry in the Svenska Akademiens Ordlista.

For more on the evolution of the name snippa, click here.