Conference Panel: “Names and World-building in Fantasy & Science Fictional Universes” at LSA 2025, Philadelphia, PA (10 January 2025)

The ANS will host a panel at the LSA 2025 conference, which will be held 9 to 12 January 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Names and World-building in Fantasy & Science Fictional Universes

an organized session at the 2025 annual meeting of the

Linguistic Society of America

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

9-12 January 2025

The American Name Society (ANS) is pleased to announce a panel that will be convened at the 2025 annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA), which will take place on 9-12 January 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a long-time sister society of the LSA, the ANS frequently held its annual meeting in conjunction with the annual meeting of the LSA. This panel will celebrate the relationship between the two organizations with three papers on the theme of names and world-building.

The panel is titled “Names and World-building in Fantasy & Science Fictional Universes,” and it features three papers on names and the fantasy genre of literature and Role Playing Games. The panel will be held on 10 January 2025 from 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm in Franklin Hall 1 of the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown. The papers in this session are:

Richard Janda (IU – Bloomington), “Tolkien’s vs. Rowling’s Names: Historical vs. Modern Reality; Elvish vs. Humorous Inventions”

Brandon Simonson (Boston University), “The Linguistic Function of Religious Names in the Creative World of Dungeons & Dragons”

Jean-Louis Vaxelaire (Université de Namur) and Marine Verriest (Université de Namur), “Theirastra and Gérard: Onomastic differences between two tabletop role-playing games (RPG)”

Registration for the 2025 LSA annual meeting is now open:

https://web.cvent.com/event/40d9411e-b965-4659-b9c3-63046eeed3d4/

For more information about the Linguistic Society of America, click here:

https://www.lsadc.org/

The Call for Papers described the session as such:

This session explores names and naming conventions in popular culture, especially personal names and place names that appear in works of literature, music, film, and games. Names convey meaning, but they also serve greater purposes of world-building in popular culture and its reception. Whether the names are of competing houses in A Game of Thrones, the lawless outer rim worlds in the Star Wars universe, or the vault-dwelling protagonists in the Fallout series, each name adds substance and meaning to the world for which it was created. Papers in this session organized by the American Name Society (a long-time sister society of the LSA) address the complex intersection between names and the worlds that they inhabit.

Download a PDF copy of the Call for Papers by clicking here.

For more information about the LSA 2025 conference, visit the LSA conference page here.

CFP: 59th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for the Study of Names

Call for Papers:

Canadian Society for the Study of Names (CSSN)

59th Annual Meeting, held virtually and in-person in conjunction with the Congress of the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (FHSS) of Canada George Brown College, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

May 31stto June 2nd, 2025

 

The general theme of the 2025 FHSS Congress is: “Reframing togetherness”, and CSSN’s related theme is: “Renaming in our changing World”. Papers on any onomastic or toponymic topic will be welcome, from any discipline or field of research. Authors are encouraged to present their subject matter with clear research methods and outcomes. Presentations are allotted 20 minutes, with 10 minutes added for questions and discussion.

Please submit by January 31st an abstract of 150-250 words, in French or English (language of the presentation, which may even be bilingual), including the title of your paper, the full name and affiliation of each author (first one will present), along with a current email address for each. You may also indicate a preferred day or time period, a general theme under which to group your communication in the programme, or if you wish to present online.

Presenters need not be a current CSSN member to submit an abstract. After acceptance of their paper, in French or in English, they must become a member by paying fees for registering for the Congress. Those from abroad who cannot attend in person have opportunity to present online, under condition of sending their presentation file in advance by the middle of May (details to come in March, after registration to Congress 2025). More information about membership is available on the CSSN membership webpage.

Invite your graduate students enrolled in Canadian postsecondary institution to submit an abstract if their research involves an onomastic theme. The Federation offers the Society the opportunity to award a $500 merit prize for one graduate student presenting in-person at Congress 2025. If you also plan to present your research topic to another association participating in Congress 2025, please mention this as it would be possible to arrange a joint presentation or session and to register for more than one association at once.

For further information about the range of topics you might present on, please see the full-length call for papers on the webpage of the 2025 CSSN annual meeting. Please email your abstract, written in English or in French, to the Programme Committee
members Yaïves Ferland, M.Sc., at yaives.ferland@scg.ulaval.ca, and Marie (Aurélie)
Thériault, Ph.D., at marie.theriault@umontreal.ca, by January 31st, 2025, 11:59pm ET.

REMINDER: Register for the ANS Annual Meeting 2025 (via Zoom, February 22, 2025)

Registration is open for ANS 2025, which will be held on February 22, 2025. You can register online via Eventbrite by clicking here or the following link:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/american-name-society-annual-meeting-2025-tickets-1071828831889

You can also download this form and mail in a check.

The American Name Society Annual Meeting for 2025 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 21st.

We are 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 Book of Abstracts will be available before the conference.

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

Last Chance for Nominations! ANS Name of the Year Discussion and Vote (Virtual, 9 January 2025)

ANS Name of the Year Discussion and Vote

Thursday, January 9, 2025 on Zoom, 12 – 2pm PST

 

REGISTRATION is now open! Click here to register for the discussion and vote.

Join us for our annual Name of the Year discussion! We will be nominating, discussing, and voting on eligible names in 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 discussion will be conducted by Laurel Sutton, ANS President and Name of the Year Coordinator.

If you have not done so already, you can nominate names via this form

Advance nominations must be received no later than December 31st, 2024, at midnight Pacific.

Tickets to this event are free!

The URL to our Zoom room will be sent to everyone who registers for this event.

Please review previous Name of the Year reports, to better understand the type of names that will be accepted:

Name of the Year Report 2023 (PDF)

Name of the Year Report 2022 (PDF)

Name of the Year Report 2021 (PDF)

About Names: Dr. Cleveland Evans on the name “Dexter”

An ad for the television show Dexter at Comicon 2009 (Photo by Kristin Dos Santos, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his December 15th column, he discusses the name “Dexter”.

“Dexter: Original Sin,” a prequel to Showtime’s hit series “Dexter” (2006-2013), about a serial killer who murders other murderers, premiered on Paramount+ with Showtime on Dec. 13. Patrick Gibson stars as young Dexter Morgan, with Michael C. Hall, star of “Dexter,” providing his “inner voice.”

Dexter is an English surname from Old English “deagestre.” This originally meant a woman who dyed cloth, but by 1200 was used for both men and women dyers.

By pure coincidence, “dexter” is also Latin for “right-handed” or “skillful.” Occasionally parents who knew Latin may have chosen Dexter because of that.

However, it’s clear the surname was the main source. Britain’s 1851 census included only 22 men with Dexter as a first name, while 1850’s United States census had 1,903, when total populations were about equal. Of those American Dexters, 564 were born in Massachusetts, 637 in the rest of New England, and 387 in New York, whose upstate was mostly settled by New Englanders.

Samuel Dexter (1761-1816) served as a representative and senator from Massachusetts before being named Secretary of War in 1800 and Secretary of the Treasury in 1801. Several of his relatives were prominent in Massachusetts or New York.

Timothy Dexter (1747-1806) of Newburyport, Massachusetts, was an uneducated man who married a rich widow and became extremely wealthy when Revolutionary War currency he bought when most thought it completely worthless was unexpectedly redeemed by the government at 1% of its face value. He faked his own death to see who’d show up to his funeral. His 1802 book “A Pickle for the Knowing Ones,” touting his unlikely success, was a bestseller despite having almost no punctuation. In the second edition, he included two pages printed with only punctuation marks, telling readers to insert them wherever they wanted.

The politician and the rich eccentric together made Dexter a well-used first name in New England. In 1880, when Social Security’s name lists start, Dexter ranked 809th.

Want to learn more? Read on to learn more about the name “Dexter”!

REMINDER: Registration Opens: ANS Name of the Year Discussion and Vote (Virtual, 9 January 2025)

ANS Name of the Year Discussion and Vote

Thursday, January 9, 2025 on Zoom, 12 – 2pm PST

 

REGISTRATION is now open! Click here to register for the discussion and vote.

Join us for our annual Name of the Year discussion! We will be nominating, discussing, and voting on eligible names in 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 discussion will be conducted by Laurel Sutton, ANS President and Name of the Year Coordinator.

If you have not done so already, you can nominate names via this form

Advance nominations must be received no later than December 31st, 2024, at midnight Pacific.

Tickets to this event are free!

The URL to our Zoom room will be sent to everyone who registers for this event.

Please review previous Name of the Year reports, to better understand the type of names that will be accepted:

Name of the Year Report 2023 (PDF)

Name of the Year Report 2022 (PDF)

Name of the Year Report 2021 (PDF)

REMINDER: Register for the ANS Annual Meeting 2025 (via Zoom, February 22, 2025)

Registration is open for ANS 2025, which will be held on February 22, 2025. You can register online via Eventbrite by clicking here or the following link:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/american-name-society-annual-meeting-2025-tickets-1071828831889

You can also download this form and mail in a check.

The American Name Society Annual Meeting for 2025 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 21st.

We are 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 Book of Abstracts will be available before the conference.

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

Register for the ANS Annual Meeting 2025 (via Zoom, February 22, 2025)

Registration is open for ANS 2025, which will be held on February 22, 2025. You can register online via Eventbrite by clicking here or the following link:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/american-name-society-annual-meeting-2025-tickets-1071828831889

You can also download this form and mail in a check.

The American Name Society Annual Meeting for 2025 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 21st.

We are 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 Book of Abstracts will be available before the conference.

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