Publication Announcement — Names: A Journal of Onomastics 72, no. 1 (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 1 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

Uniqueness and agency in English Naming Practices of Mainland Chinese Students by Robert Weekly, Shih-Ching (Susan) Picucci-Huang

Chinese Onomasticons of Posthumous Names: Between Ritual Practice and Historical Exegesis by Yegor Grebnev

Actant Models of Kazakh Anthroponyms-Composites with Substantive and Verb Components by Zifa Temirgazina, Gulnara Abisheva, and Rumaniyat Aselderova

Navigating Linguistic Similarities Among Countries Using Fuzzy Sets of Proper Names by Davor Lauc

Book Reviews

The Names of the Wyandot by Rebekah R. Ingram

Place Names: Approaches and Perspectives in Toponymy and Toponomastics by Daniel Duncan

Report

2023 Award for Best Article in NAMES: A Journal of Onomastics by I.M. Nick

Name of the Year Report 2023 by I.M. Nick

View All Issues

ANS Annual Meeting 2024 Schedule

The American Name Society Annual Meeting for 2024 will be held online using the Zoom platform. It is accessible via Mac or PC. The meeting will require a passcode, which will be sent via email to all registrants and presenters by February 16th.

We have been working hard to set up a schedule that will work globally, and this means that some presenters will be scheduled at times outside of normal working hours. The schedule below is subject to change depending on speaker availability.

The Book of Abstracts will be available before the conference.

Keep apprised of any changes to the annual meeting schedule here.

Saturday, February 17, 2024

ALL TIMES ARE UTC -8:00, PACIFIC STANDARD TIME

Conference Opening Address

5:45 AM Laurel Sutton (Catchword Branding, USA), Welcome and Opening Remarks

First Session

6:00 AM Anna Tsepkova (Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University, Russia): American and Russian Nicknames of Persons, Motivated by a Combination of Linguistic and Extralinguistic Factors

6:30 AM Olga Chesnokova (RUDN University, Moscow, Russia): Ludic Representation of Toponyms in Riddles

7:00 AM Zhazira Agabekova (Nazarabayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan): The Concept of “UL” (son, child) in Kazakh Anthroponomy

Second Session

7:30 AM Halyna Matsyuk (Ivan Franko National University in Lviv, Ukraine): The linguistic landscape of Ukraine: Decolonization of geographical names associated with Russia

8:00 AM Reima Al-Jarf (King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia): To Translate or not to Translate: The Case of Arabic and Foreign Shop Names

8:30 AM Sara Racca (University of Zurich, Switzerland): From the Countryside to the Urban Outskirts: The Displacement of Old Microtoponyms in Contemporary Urbanization. An Italian Case-Study

9:00 AM Break

9:30 AM ANS Committees Meeting

Third Session

10:00 AM Deborah Ball (University of Oxford, UK): Exploring the landscape of proper names and their grammatical characteristics to understand how brand names fit in

10:30 AM Tristan Alphey (St Cross College at the University of Oxford, UK): Nicknames Maketh Man? Performing Masculinity in the Gesta Herewardi

11:00 AM Jane Pilcher (Nottingham Trent University, UK): Surnames and surnaming in families formed though adoption

Fourth Session

11:30 AM Cari Didion and Michel Nguessan (Governors State University, USA): Names, Immigration Trends and Cultural Identity: A Study Ethnic Restaurant and Grocery Store Names in Greater Chicago

12:00 PM Star Medzerian Vanguri (Nova Southeastern University, FL, USA) and Maggie M. Werner (Hobart and William Smith Colleges, NY, USA): Portmanteau Names as Ideographs

12:30 Mary Ann Walter (University of the Virgin Islands, USVI): The Persistence of Morphou: Diachronic Awareness and Usage of Toponyms in Northern Cyprus

1:00 PM Michael Akinpelu (University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada), Hasiyatu Abubakari (University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana) and Michel Nguessan (Governors State University, USA): Names of God and Divinities in African Languages and the Myth of Polytheism

1:30 PM ANS Annual Business Meeting and Awards Presentation

Fifth Session

2:30 Evangeline Nwokah (Our Lady of the Lake University, USA): Clowning around with names: A linguistic comparison of hospital clown and entertainment clown names

3:00 Thomas Wickenden (Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, retired): Reverse Reinterpretation in Dictionaries of English Place-Names: Why the origin and identity of the Hwicce remain so obscure

3:30 Sarah Bunin Benor (Hebrew Union College, USA) and Alicia B. Chandler (Wayne State University, USA): Perceptual onomastics: Survey data on Americans’ Jewishness ratings of personal names

“Gaza” and “Barbie” Chosen as Joint 2023 Names of the Year

“GAZA” AND “BARBIE” CHOSEN AS JOINT 2023 NAMES OF THE YEAR

“Gaza” and “Barbie” were chosen as the joint winners of the Name of the Year for 2023 by the American Name Society at its annual Name of the Year discussion and vote on January 4, 2024. The pairing of these names neatly captures the dichotomy of 2023: the reality of Gaza, the tragedy of another war in the Middle East, and the escapism of Barbie, a comedy movie about a classic toy that imagines a doll embracing feminism. Despite runoff votes, ANS members could not choose a winner, a rare event in the Name of the Year vote; these two names perfectly represent the zeitgeist of 2023, as well as two different types of contested spaces.

“Swiftie” was chosen as Personal Name of the Year. “Swiftie” is the self-identifying term for fans of Taylor Swift, a neologism that is a modification of Swift’s name. The term was quickly picked up and used by the media. Linguistically, it employs the diminutive ending “-ie”, which is a particularly productive pattern in pop culture (e.g., Trekkie for Star Trek fans, Durannie for Duran Duran fans); unlike many new words in pop culture, it has shown impressive longevity, being first attested in 2010. In 2017, Taylor Swift even trademarked the name for commercial usage, making it an interesting brand name as well. Other candidates in this category included Taylor Swift, Vivek Ramaswamy, George Santos, and Sheynnis Alondra Palacios Cornejo.

“Gaza” was voted Place Name of the Year. Gaza is the name for the stretch of land between Egypt and Israel, and has become shorthand for the ongoing Israel/Hamas War. Its Hebrew name is “Azzah”, meaning “strength” and its Arabic name is “Ghazzah”. It refers not only to the geographic region, but is now regularly used to refer to the current humanitarian disaster happening there. Other candidates in this category included Maui, Palestine, and Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

“ChatGPT” won the title Brand Name of the Year. The name of OpenAI’s artificial intelligence tool is a compound of the word “chat”, referring to the chatbot, and the initialism “GPT”, for “Generative Pre-trained Transformer”. It promises an interaction with AI as simple and casual as having a chat with a friend, while retaining the mystery of technical jargon that most people do not understand. Other candidates in this category included Discord, Ozempic, and OceanGate.

“Barbenheimer” was chosen Artistic Name of the Year. It is portmanteau of the movie titles Barbie and Oppenheimer, which opened on the same weekend in 2023. The name arose organically and captured the trend of people going to see both movies sequentially, and inspired Halloween costumes, memes, and fake movie trailers. It became a cultural phenomenon because of the huge success of both films, along with their wildly contrasting images of a fantasy comedy built on the Barbie doll vs. a very serious Oppenheimer biopic dealing with nuclear holocaust. Other candidates in this category included The Eras Tour, Barbie, and Renaissance (Beyoncé’s tour and movie).

“X” was voted E-Name of the Year. The attempted—and mostly failed—rebranding/debranding of Twitter by new owner Elon Musk illustrates the extreme difficulty of using a single letter as a brand. It was also a case study in the sacrifice of a tremendously valuable brand (the name Twitter, the verb “tweet”, the blue bird iconography) for the sake of a purportedly “edgy” and “disruptive” brand. Other candidates in this category included the hashtag #freepalestine, OpenAI, and Lu Do Magalu (a popular Brazilian virtual influencer).

The American Name Society is a scholarly organization founded in 1951 devoted to studying all aspects of names and naming. The Name of the Year vote has been held since 2004.

The 2022 Name of the Year was “Ukraine”, and “Great Resignation” won for 2021.

The 2020 Name of the Year was jointly held by “Kamala” and “COVID-19.” “Brexit” was Name of the Decade and “Arrokoth” was the 2019 Name of the Year. “Jamal Khashoggi” won for 2018, “Rohingya” for 2017, “Aleppo“ for 2016 , “Caitlyn Jenner” for 2015, “Ferguson” for 2014, “Francis” for 2013, and “Sandy” for 2012.

For further information contact Laurel Sutton, ANS President and Chair of the Name of the Year committee, at laurel@suttonstrategy.com, 510-501-2580.

A downloadable PDF of this press release is available here.

American Name Society Fall 2023 Newsletter

The American Name Society is pleased to share the ANS Fall 2023 Newsletter.

Please consider becoming a member to receive more news updates.

Publication Announcement: Names: A Journal of Onomastics 71, no. 4 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 71, number 4 of Names. A table of contents for this special issue on Ukrainian Names and Naming appears below.

Special Issue: Ukrainian Names and Naming

Table of Contents

Editorial

Editorial by I. M. Nick

Articles

Romanian-Ukrainian Anthroponymic Contact on the Interstate Border along the Tisza River by Oliviu Felecan and Adelina Emilia Mihali

Homeland on Foreign Maps: Toponymy of Western Ukraine on Austrian, Interwar-Polish, and Soviet Topographic Maps with Special Focus on Toponymy of the Carpathian Mountains by Wojciech Włoskowicz

A Case Study of De-Russification of Ukrainian Hodonyms: Rigged Trial or Justice Restored? by Oleksiy Gnatiuk and Anatoliy Melnychuk

Вільні Люди ‘Free People’ and Надійний тил ‘Reliable Rear’: Names of Ukrainian Resistance and Support by Olena Kadochnikova

Ukrainian Onomastic Identity Across 15 Years (2006–2021) by Olena Karpenko and Valeriia Neklesova

Book Reviews

Empty Signs, Historical Imaginaries: The Entangles Nationalization of Names and Naming in a Late Habsburg Borderland by I.M. Nick

Naming and Othering in Africa: Imagining Supremacy and Inferiority through Language by Michel Nguessan

View All Issues

Registration opens for the 2024 ANS Conference, Online, February 17, 2024

The first ANS 2024 Annual Conference will be held online, using Zoom, Saturday February 17, 2024. This one-day event will feature presentations from 16 scholars, as well as updates on the ANS and a report on the Name of the Year Discussion.

The meeting is open to anyone who wishes to attend! Each attendee must fill out this form and pay separately.

Detailed information for attendees, along with the book of abstracts, will be sent in January.

You can register online here, or download a PDF of the Conference Registration Form and mail it to ANS Treasurer Saundra Wright, as per the instructions on the form.

The schedule will be available as soon as possible.

For more information about the ANS Conference, please visit our Conference Page.

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 4^th 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.

Registration opens for the 2024 ANS Conference, Online, February 17, 2024

The meeting is open to anyone who wishes to attend! Each attendee must fill out this form and pay separately.

Detailed information for attendees, along with the book of abstracts, will be sent in January.

You can register online here, or download a PDF of the Conference Registration Form and mail it to ANS Treasurer Saundra Wright, as per the instructions on the form.

The schedule will be available as soon as possible.

For more information about the ANS Conference, please visit our Conference Page.

Registration opens for the 2024 ANS Conference, Online, February 17, 2024

The meeting is open to anyone who wishes to attend! Each attendee must fill out this form and pay separately.

Detailed information for attendees, along with the book of abstracts, will be sent in January.

You can register online here, or download a PDF of the Conference Registration Form and mail it to ANS Treasurer Saundra Wright, as per the instructions on the form.

The schedule will be available as soon as possible.

For more information about the ANS Conference, please visit our Conference Page.

Call for Papers: 2023 ANS Emerging Scholar Award

In 2007, the American Name Society established the ANS Emerging Scholar Award (ANSESA) to recognize the outstanding scholarship of an early career onomastics researcher. This special distinction is given to a new scholar whose work is judged by a panel of onomastic researchers to be of superior academic quality. This year’s selection committee is made up of Dr. Jan Tent, the 2023 ANSESA Committee Chair; Dr. Dorothy Dodge Robbins; and Dr. Andreas Gavrielatos.

Recipients of this prestigious award receive the following:

a cash prize of $250 US dollars
one year of membership in the ANS
public announcements on the NAMES and ANS websites
a profile in the ANS newsletter, to be written by the Chair of the ANSESA Committee

Award recipients are encouraged to submit their manuscripts for publication in NAMES. The Selection Committee reserves the right to refrain from giving this award in those years in which no submission is deemed to have met the above-mentioned requirements.

Application Guidelines

To be considered for this award, applicants must submit the full text of their paper by midnight (E.S.T.), the 15th of December 2023, to this year’s ANSESA Chair, Dr. Jan Tent (<jan.tent@mq.edu.au>). Submissions must be sent as an email attachment in either a .doc or .docx format. For ease of processing, please be sure to include the keyword “ESA2023” in the subject line of your email.

Submission Requirements

All submissions must be prepared according to the guidelines provided at <https://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/guidelines>. Authors must use the formatting rules listed in the official Style Sheet of Names, the journal of the American Name Society. The Style Sheet is available at the journal website: <https://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/StyleSheet>. Submissions will not only be judged upon the quality of the writing and the scientific merit of the submission presented, but also on their adherence to these formatting regulations. NOTE: The main text should be no more than 5,000 words, excluding the endnotes, bibliography, graphics, and any supplementary material.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for the ANSESA, applicants must be an entry-level professional, an untenured academic, or a student. Applicants must have had their single-authored abstract accepted for presentation at the ANS annual conference and be a member of the ANS. Previously published papers are not eligible for consideration. However, papers based on unpublished theses or dissertations are eligible. The ANSESA Selection Committee will judge all submissions for their methodological soundness, innovation, and potential contribution to the field of onomastics. Although past recipients of the ANSESA are eligible to re-apply for an entirely new piece of scholarship, preference may be given to first-time applicants. Please direct questions to this year’s ANSESA Committee Chair, ANS Vice President, Dr. Jan Tent (<jan.tent@mq.edu.au>).

A PDF download of this call can be found here.