The American Name Society is pleased to share the ANS Summer 2023 Newsletter.
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 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.
Articles
Practicing and Managing Foreign Toponyms in China: Cultural Politics and Ideologies by Guowen Shang and Lili Yang
Argument-Structure Constructions in Organization Names in the English Eurolect: The Case of [ORG + V + that + SC] by Fernando Sánchez Rodas and Gloria Corpas Pastor
Adopting French Names as Identity Markers among Second Foreign Language (L3) Learners in China by Ying Qi Wu and Shan Shan Li
Monosyllabic Affective Hypocoristics of Korean Names: Formation and Segmental Alternation by Hayeun Tang
Book Reviews
Gregory Bochner, Naming and Identity by Emilia Di Martino
John Moss, A History of English Placenames and Where They Came From by T. K. Alphey
Announcements
“Children’s Literature” (Photo by Shambhavi Karapurkar, CC-BY-4.0)
Call for Book Chapter Proposals
Chosen, Bestowed, Acquired, Assigned: Names and Naming in Youth Literature
Edited by I. M. Nick and Anne W. Anderson
Just as names are among the first and most basic means by which we order and make sense of our world, so too do names in works of literature help readers order and make sense of created worlds. Moreover, names in literature often connote more than they denote. This edited collection will consider how names, depictions of naming practices, and explorations of name theory in youth literature can enrich our understanding of created worlds and, by implication, of our real world. For the purposes of this collection, we draw on the Children’s Literature Association’s conception of literature as “books, films, and other media created for, or adopted by, children and young adults around the world, past, present, and future” (https://www.childlitassn.org).
Chapters proposed for this volume might address names, naming, and name theory in youth literature of any media and/or modality, from any perspective, and using the analytical tools of any discipline. From the names of places, people, animals, and plants to the monikers of fairies and goblins, cyborgs and droids, any type of name from any time period or from any language is welcome. Please see the American Name Society’s glossary of naming terminology (https://www.americannamesociety.org/names/). The primary works examined may be fiction or non-fiction. The only subject-matter stipulation for submission is that the primary intended reading audience of the piece(s) of literature investigated must be youth (i.e., children, adolescents, and/or early adults).
The following is a partial list of possible topics, but we also welcome being surprised by other pertinent suggestions.
For further information about this call, please feel free to contact Dr. Anne W. Anderson (YouthLit2023@gmail.com). We look forward to receiving your proposals!
The American Name Society is issuing its Call for Papers for the ANS panel at the Modern Language Association (MLA) Convention, which will take place 4-7 January 2024 in Philadelphia, PA, USA.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION: NAMES AND NAMING IN LITERATURE
Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. Individually, each word has been used in multiple contexts with varying connotations. Narrative works can create scenes that make space for us to consider deeply the essence of the ideas encased in the labels. In this panel, we ask how literary components of narrative fiction and non-fiction works address DEI concepts through names of characters (charactonyms), places (toponyms), institutions, and events as well as through depictions of socio-cultural, religious, ideological, personal, and political practices of naming, renaming, and unnaming. We welcome explorations of these themes through literature from around the world, from any era, from any narrative genre, and for readers of any age. Useful resources might include the ANS list of terminology (https://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/keywords), the ANS archives (https://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/issue/archive), Luisa Caiazzo and I.M. Nick’s edited collection Shifting Toponymies: (Re)naming Places, (Re)shaping Identities (2020), Guy Puzey and Laura Kostanski’s edited collection Names and Naming: People, Places, Perceptions and Power (2016), and the Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming (2018).
Proposal Submission Process:
For further information, please contact Dr. Anne W. Anderson (awanderson@usf.edu).
The American Name Society requests nominations for the “Names of the Year for 2022”. The names selected will be ones that best reflect important trends in US American society and demonstrate significant linguistic features through their formation and/or application. It is not necessary, however, for a nominated name to have originated in the US. Any name can be nominated as long as it has been prominent in US American cultural discourse during the past year.
Nominations are called for the following categories:
Winners will be chosen in each category, and then a final vote will determine the overall Name of the Year for 2021. Anyone may nominate a name. All ANS members attending the annual meeting on January 20-22 2023 will select the winner from among the nominees.
Advance nominations must be received before January 15, 2023. Nominations will be accepted from the floor at the annual meeting. You can also send your nominations, along with a brief rationale, by email to Deborah Walker: debwalk@gmail.com.
Thank you for your nominations!
The American Name Society is pleased to share the ANS Winter 2022 Newsletter. 
The schedule is now available for the 2023 ANS Conference!
Registration is now open. The ANS conference will take place online, on Zoom, from January 20-22, 2023. The meeting will require a passcode, which will be sent via email to all registrants and presenters by January 16th.
The book of abstracts will be available as soon as possible.
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.
For more information about the ANS Conference, please visit our Conference Page.
The latest issue of Names: A Journal of Onomastics is now available online! Click here to read the latest in onomastics scholarship in volume 70, number 4 of Names. A table of contents appears below. This is a special issue on Names in Children’s Literature.
Names is published as an open access journal available to all via the Journal’s new home at the University of Pittsburgh. All journal content, including the content found in previous volumes, is now available for free online as downloadable PDF files.
Subscribers to the print version of the journal will receive their copies within the next few weeks.
Editorial by I. M. Nick
Articles
Planting Seeds in Literary Narrative: Onomastic Concepts and Questions in Yangsook Choi’s The Name Jar by Anne W. Anderson
“My Name Is…”: Picturebooks Exploring Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Names by Carrie Anne Thomas and Blessy Samjose
The Psammead or It: The Re-naming/Re-gendering of E. Nesbit’s Mythical Creature in French Translation by Mary Bardet
Book Reviews
Mayflies by Susan Behrens
Great British Family Names and Their History by T. K. Alphey
Announcement
American Name Society Conference Call by I. M. Nick
The American Name Society requests nominations for the “Names of the Year for 2022”. The names selected will be ones that best illustrate, through their creation and/or use during the past 12 months, important trends in the culture of the United States. It is not necessary, however, for a nominated name to have originated in the US. Any name can be nominated as long as it has been prominent in North American cultural discourse during the past year.
Nominations are called for in the following categories:
Winners will be chosen in each category, and then a final vote will determine the overall Name of the Year for 2022. Anyone may nominate a name. All members of the American Name Society attending the annual meeting will select the winner from among the nominees at the annual ANS meeting on January 20-22 2023.
Advance nominations must be received before January 13, 2022. Nominations will be accepted from the floor at the annual meeting. You can also send your nominations, along with a brief rationale, by email to Deborah Walker: debwalk@gmail.com.
Thank you for your nominations!
Ever thought about getting more involved with the American Name Society? Here is your opportunity! The American Name Society is currently looking for a few good people who are interested in joining the Executive Council. Starting in 2023, new officers will be needed to fill the positions listed below.
To apply for one or more of these Executive Council positions, please fill out the application form on this page.
The person elected to this position is primarily responsible for co-organizing the ANS annual conference in close cooperation with the ANS President. As conference co-chair, the person in this position will issue an official call for papers, organize a team of reviewers, design the program of paper presentations, and coordinate with the Linguistic Society of America and the other linguistic affiliates or “Sister Societies”: the American Dialect Society (ADS), the Society of Pidgin and Creole Linguistics (SPCL), the Society for the Study of Indigenous Languages of the America (SSILA), The Association for Linguistic Evidence (TALE), and the North American Association for the History of Language Sciences (NAAHoLS). In addition to these duties, the VP also serves as a voting member of the Executive Council and, as such, is actively involved in the legislative process of the ANS. The person selected for this office has the option of running for the office of ANS President, at the end of his/her term. Candidates for this position are expected to have superior organizational, time-management, and communication skills.
The person elected to this position is principally responsible for organizing the ANS session at the annual conference of the Modern Language Association. This activity involves issuing a call for papers, assembling a team of abstract reviewers, selecting three authors whose work will be presented at the MLA conference, and coordinating the presentation of the three winning abstracts with the MLA administration. In addition to these duties, as a voting member of the ANS Executive Council (EC), the Allied Conference Coordinator participates in the legislative decision-making of the Society. Although the term of service for this position is for two years, the holder of this office may be re-elected pending approval by the EC. Given the fact that this position requires close communication with the MLA, candidates who have a demonstrated expertise in literary onomastics will receive preference.
