According to some historians, the Sydney, Australia suburb of Blacktown earned its name from Black Town Road, the route leading to an institute where Aboriginal children were forcibly sent to so-called “Native Institute” for “education”. For this reason, many feel that the name is a painful reminder of Australian segregationist past and should therefore be changed.… Read More
Help Map America’s Best/Worst Pun Business Names
Digg and Atlas Obscura are crowd-sourcing a map of best and worst business pun names… Submit your nominations here! Nominations close September 7th.
Ashley Madison hackers publish list of names
This month users of the Dark Web were given the personal names (and intimate details) of millions of people who availed themselves of the net services provided by Ashley Madison (AM), a website devoted to help husbands and wives find that special someone else for an illicit affair. According to AM executives, the roster of customer names was stolen and released by an expert group of hackers who named themselves, the “Impact Team”.… Read More
Global WordNet Conference, Bucharest, Romania, January 27-30 2016
From the 27th to the 30th of January 2016, the 8th annual Global WordNet Conference (GWC) will be held in Bucharest, Romania. Organized by the Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence “Mihai Drăgănescu” of the Romanian Academy and the Global WordNet Association, this conference offers an international forum for discussing the latest research on wordnets.
Researchers and developers who are interested in presenting a paper are invited to visit the GWC website. The deadline for submission is September 6th, 2015.
Couple with the last name Avatar banned from Facebook
Facebook recently deleted the pages of Balizar Orion Avatar and his wife Audry Avatar because their last name is a word Facebook has flagged as being a likely suspicious or fake account. See this article for more on this modern onomastic controversy.
ANS conference acceptance notification by September 30th.
The ANS Abstract Review Committee is encouraged by the quality of work submitted this year. Stay tuned for notification of acceptance by September 30th.
Ghanian seeking asylum in Germany names her child ‘Angela Merkel’
In recent months, the European leaders have been struggling to cope with the tens of thousands of asylum seekers who continue to seek refuge within the European Union. According to a recent report released by EUROSTAT, the statistical office of the European Union, “the number of first time asylum applicants increased by 86% in the first quarter of 2015 compared with the same quarter of the previous year.”
According to many international human rights organizations, the EU’s policies for dealing with this humanitarian emergency have been dismal. Within Germany, the Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has been particularly sharply criticized for failing to respond quickly and effectively enough to this crisis.
In the midst of all this criticism, the Chancellor has received an unusual vote of confidence from an unexpected source. As a sign of her gratitude, 26 year old Ophelya Adé, an asylum-seeker from Ghana, named her newborn baby daughter Angela Merkel Adé. When asked by the naming authorities in Hanover why she had chosen that name, Adé replied that she liked Merkel. Whether the new Fraulein Merkel will be allowed to remain in Germany along with the other 750 foreigners who have applied for asylum in Hannover remains to be seen.
Click these links for more information in English and in German.
Name that Thing by Merriam Webster
Want 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.
Symposium on Linguistic Landscapes and Superdiversity in the City, Landau Germany, April 4-6 2016
From the 4th to the 6th of April 2016, an international symposium on Linguistic Landscapes and Superdiversity in the City will be held in Landau, Germany.
Conference organizers are now accepting abstracts that deal with the intersection between lexicography and landscapes. The deadline for abstract submission is the 15th of October 2015.
This annual symposium is sponsored by three German universities: Trier, Duisburg, and Landau. Together, this academia triad forms LAUD.
Click here for additional information on the symposium.
About Names: Shelley goes from surname to starlet
Shelley Winters
Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. This week’s column explores Shelley.