Member News

Award for Best Article in Names: A Journal of Onomastics 2015

The 2015 Award Winner is:

Michael Adams, “The Course of a Particular’: Names and Narrative in the Works of Joseph Mitchell” Names: A Journal of Onomastics 63(1): 3-15.

Awardee Biography
Michael Adams is a Professor in the Department of English at Indiana University, Bloomington. He has also served as Editor of American Speech, the publication of the American Dialect Society for ten years. His term ended in November 2015. Most recently, he is co-editor of Studies in the History of the English Language VI: Evidence and Method in Histories of English (De Gruyter Mouton). In addition to being a highly valued, long-time member of the ANS, Professor Adams is also an editorial board member of the Journal of Literary Onomastics, the only scholarly periodical devoted to the study of names in literary texts.

Committee: Michael McGoff, Dr. John Algeo, Kemp Williams.

2016 Emerging Scholar Award Winner

Maryann Parada (University of Illinois at Chicago)
Ethnolinguistic emblems in Latino Chicago: Attitudes of the second generation toward names and naming

lico_photo_maryannThe 2015 Emerging Scholar Award Committee is pleased to announce this year’s winner: Maryann Parada from the University of Illinois at Chicago. The title of her submission is “Ethnolinguistic emblems in Latino Chicago: Attitudes of the second generation toward names and naming.”

 

Abstract:

This study explores the name-language interface in the identity stances and attitudes of Latinos raised in the U.S. It follows Thompson’s (2006) approach in considering the name-identity-language connections for bilinguals, and also responds to Joseph’s (2004) call for work on how individuals perceive and negotiate ethnolinguistic identity through their names. Complementing previous research into the naming decisions of Hispanic immigrant parents, I examine the name-based perspectives of the named themselves. Survey data provided by 54 Latino young adults from the Chicago area are analyzed to investigate the relationship between the ethnic character of the participants’ personal names and their responses on topics such as name suitability and satisfaction, name pronunciation preferences, name changes, and the importance of names as ethnolinguistic identity markers. While clear patterns emerged, the data also highlight the complex, and often contradictive, relationships between self, language, and name.

Biography:

Maryann Parada is a doctoral candidate in Hispanic Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her interests lie in the sociolinguistics of minority Spanish, including issues in the areas of names and identity, language attitudes, family language policy, and heritage language pedagogy. Her recent publication in the Journal of Language, Identity and Education examines the role of birth order in the names of second generation Latinos in Chicago.

 

Attendees of the upcoming ANS annual conference in January will have a chance to hear her present her research in person.

As the ESA award-winner, Maryann will receive a cash award as well as a mentor who will assist her in preparing her research manuscript for possible publication in a future issue of NAMES. Click here for more information about the award.

This year’s ESA Committee was made up of Dr. Mirko Casagranda, Dr. Jan Tent, and Ms. Lisa Radding.

Sister Societies’ Meet-n-Greet

filed under ANS Conference 2016, Member News

This year, the ANS has organized the Meet-n-Greet for all of the members of the LSA Sister Societies:

The event will be held from 8-10pm on Thursday, January 7th, at the City Tap House at 901 9th Street NW at I “Eye” Street.… Read More

ANS 2016 Conference Dinner Announcement

gallery1This year’s conference dinner will be held in Clyde’s of Gallery Place located at 707 7th Street, NW, Washington, D.C.. Our group reservation is for 7pm on Saturday, January 9, 2016. If you have not already made your reservation for what promises to be a fun-filled evening, please contact our Treasurer, Michael McGoff: mmcgoff[@]binghamton.edu

2016 Slate of Nominees for ANS Officers

filed under ANS Conference 2016, Featured, Member News

The American Name Society is pleased to announce the 2016 Slate of Nominees for ANS Officer positions:

  • Vice President: Dr. Dorothy Dodge Robbins, Louisiana Tech University, USA
  • Allied Conference Coordinator*: Dr. Andreas Gavrielatos, University of Edinburgh, SCOTLAND
  • Member-at-large: Dr. Jan Tent, University of Sydney, AUSTRALIA
  • Membership Officer*: Ms.
… Read More

Laura Ivanov and Sara-Joelle Clark of the Holocaust Survivors and Victims Resource Center of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum will give a keynote speech at the ANS annual meeting in January.

event-1719The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington, D.C. is one of the world’s premiere institutions for preserving the memory of the Holocaust and reminding current and future generations about the dangers of hatred and intolerance. The USHMM maintains one of the largest international research collections of historical artifacts documenting the crimes committed during the Nazi period.

The American Name Society is pleased to announce that one of the keynote speeches to take place during the annual conference in Washington, D.C. will be given by Laura Ivanov and Sara-Joelle Clark, who work in the Holocaust Survivors and Victims Resource Center of the USHMM.

Ivanov and Clark will be giving a talk entitled “Research and Preservation of Names at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum”. During the presentation the experts will discuss the types of name based collections that are available at the museum. The presentation is a must-see for researchers and private citizens interested in learning more about international efforts to uncover and preserve the names of Shoah victims for all posterity.

The keynote is scheduled for Friday, January 8th, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm in Salon 14 of the of the Marriott Marquis.

See additional information on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Website.

Jacqueline Pata, Executive Director of the National Congress of American Indians, will be a keynote speaker for the ANS annual meeting in January.

filed under ANS Conference 2016, Member News

4758464068_3b9ffaefd2_mOn the 9th of January, 2015, the Linguistic Society of America passed a landmark resolution calling for the immediate cessation of the all Native American names, nicknames, logos, and mascots in sport. The resolution is to respect and support the right of individual tribal nations to decide how to protect and celebrate their respective tribal heritages, including their right to control how their names will be used in public spaces.… Read More

Call for Nominations for the 2015 Name of the Year

The American Name Society requests nominations for the “Names of the Year for 2015”. 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 and Canada.

Nominations are called for in the four following categories:

Personal Names: Names or nicknames of individual real people, animals, or hurricanes.

Place Names: Names or nicknames of any real geographical location, including all natural features, political subdivisions, streets, and buildings. Names of national or ethnic groups would be included here.

Trade Names: Names of real commercial products, as well as names of both for-profit and non-profit companies and organizations, including businesses, universities, and political parties.

Fictional/Literary Names: Names of fictional persons, places, or institutions, in any written, oral, or visual medium, as well as titles of art works, books, plays, television programs, or movies.

Winners will be chosen in each category, and then a final vote will determine the overall Name of the Year for 2015. 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 in Washington, D. C. on January 8, 2016. The winner will be announced that evening at a joint celebration with the American Dialect Society.

Advance nominations must be received before January 5, 2016, though nominations will also be accepted from the floor at the annual meeting. Please send your nominations, along with a brief rationale, to Dr. Cleveland K. Evans at cevans[@]bellevue.edu

 

Reminder: Emerging Scholar Award Submissions DUE 11/16/15

filed under Call for Papers, Conferences, Featured, Member News

Reminder: Emerging Scholar Award Submissions are due Monday, November 16, 2015.

Presenters for the 2016 ANS Conference who are eligible for and interested in applying for the ANS Emerging Scholar Award (ESA), should have received all pertinent information.

Please send submissions to the chair of this year’s ANS-ESA Selection Committee, Lisa Radding: raddinglisa [ @ ] gmail.com.… Read More

ANS Panel on Literary Onomastics at the Modern Language Association Conference, Austin, TX, January 8, 2016

On the 8th of January 2016, the ANS will be hosting a special panel on literary onomastics during the annual conference of the Modern Language Association (MLA) in Austin, Texas. The title of this year’s panel is “Names in the Literary Workplace”.2000px-Texas_flag_map.svg

Three papers will be presented during this event:

  1. Linguistic Imperialism in Doctor Dolittle (to be presented by Jonathan Rey Lee
  2. Screen Names: Names and the Limits of the Human in Don DeLillo’s The Body Artist (Candace Caraco)
  3. Naming and the Work of Revolution: Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies (Christine De Vinne).

 

The official scientific abstracts for this event can be found here.

The panel will take place from 10:15am to 11:30am, in the Austin Convention Center.