Ann Xu and Vivien Chan describe the importance of registering Chinese marks, how to devise them, and how to maintain them. Issues of translation and transliteration are discussed, as well as foreign name and brand recognition in emerging and new marketplaces.
Call for Papers: ANS 2022, Online, 21-23 January 2022
The American Name Society is now inviting proposals for papers for its next annual conference. After serious deliberation of an official proposal made on the 5th of May 2021, the Executive Council of the American Name Society unanimously voted to hold the 2022 Annual Conference online. All presentation sessions will be held online during the three days of the conference. This means that our conference will NOT be held in conjunction with the LSA meeting, which is still slated to be held in person, January 2022 in Washington, DC.
Abstracts in any area of onomastic research are welcome. The DEADLINE for receipt of abstracts is July 31, 2021. To submit a proposal, simply complete the 2022 Author Information Sheet (AIS) found here:
Please email this completed form to ANS Vice President Luisa Caiazzo using the following address: <luisa.caiazzo@unibas.it>. For organizational purposes, please be sure to include the phrase “ANS 2022” in the subject line of your email.
All proposals will be subjected to blind review. Official notification of proposal acceptances will be sent on or before September 30, 2021. All authors whose papers have been accepted must be current members of the ANS. Please feel free to contact ANS Vice President, Luisa Caiazzo, <luisa.caiazzo@unibas.it>, should you have any questions or concerns.
A downloadable PDF of the Call for Papers can be found here.
We look forward to receiving your submission!
Early April Fools? Volkswagen will not rebrand Itself “Voltswagen”
A few mere days before April 1, 2021, Volkswagen of America announced that it would change its name to “Voltswagen of America” in order to promote its electric vehicles. The move brought about confusion and criticism online by many who took the announcement seriously, but it was quickly followed by a retraction and explanation. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, a spokesperson admitted that the name change was a marketing stunt and April fools joke intended to get the public talking about the new electric vehicle: the Volkswagen ID. 4.
Washington and Lee University to Consider Possible Name Change
In June, Washington and Lee University will announce whether or not it will change its name.
Named for George Washington and Robert E. Lee, Washington and Lee University was once Washington College. Following General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, he was appointed President of Washington College where he served for five years. In 1870, the University was renamed to honor him. In recent years, students have been petitioning the University to change its name once again.
Join the American Name Society!
If you enjoy reading about names, we encourage you to join the American Name Society and share your name news with us! Membership is very affordable, with yearly dues starting at $20.
Membership in the ANS allows access to a community of scholars and its communications, as well as eligibility to present your research at the ANS annual conferences and the ability to submit articles to Names: A Journal of Onomastics.
Keep apprised of the latest onomastic research by joining today!
Publication announcement: Names: A Journal of Onomastics 69, no. 2 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 69, number 2 of Names.
Volume 69 marks the first year that 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.
Publication announcement: Toponyms in the Early History of China
The latest issue of the Sino-Platonic Papers explores the theme of toponyms in China. James M. Hargett’s paper “Anchors of Stability: Place-Names in Early China” explores place names and naming during the earliest phases in the history of China.
The abstract reads:
“The use of place-names in China predates its written history, which extends back at least 3,500 years. While the basic principles of toponym formation in ancient China are similar to those in other cultures around the world, early in its history a process took place that led to a standardization of the practices by which place-names were formulated. The central argument in this essay is that the essential features of place-name nomenclature in China were already in place before the Qin unification in 221 BCE.”
The journal is open-access and available online here:
http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp312_chinese_place_names.pdf
About Names: Kara/Cara holds ‘Supergirl’ appeal
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.americannamesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/SDCC_2015_-_Cara_Delevingne_19709296275-1.jpg?resize=300%2C200)
Actress Cara Delevingne speaking at Comic Con in 2015 (photo by Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his March 28th column, he looks at the history of the name Kara / Cara.
Kara is super again on Tuesday.
“Supergirl,” the CW series starring Melissa Benoist as Kara Danvers, Superman’s younger cousin developing her Kryptonian superpowers, starts its sixth season March 30.
Kara is a respelling of Cara. In Latin “cara” is the feminine form of “carus,” meaning “dear, beloved.” The Latin word became a name around 1827 in Sweden, though Swedish onomastician Roland Otterbjörk notes it was also often a pet form of Karolina.
It’s hard to know when Cara’s use began in America. It’s difficult to distinguish from “Cora” in handwritten records. The first sure example, Cara Whiton-Stone (1831-1913), was a Boston socialite and published poet. Though she’s Cara or Carra in almost all available records, a 1909 U.S. Senate bill increasing her military widow’s pension calls her “Caroline Stone.”
Pittsburgh journalist Cara Reese (1856-1914), who famously covered the 1889 Johnstown Flood, was also born “Caroline.”
Many baby name books claim Cara is Italian or Irish. In Italian “cara” means “beloved.” In Irish Gaelic, “cara” means “friend.” With that meaning, Cara is fashionable in modern Ireland, peaking at 29th in 2018.
Cara has never been used as a name in Italy, though, and there’s scant evidence the Irish word became a name before the 20th century.
World Health Organization to Adopt Standardized Nomenclature for COVID-19 Variants
Following the sixth meeting of the Emergency Committee regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the World Health Organization announced on January 14, 2021 that it is developing a standardized nomenclature for COVID-19 variants “that does not reference a geographical location.” In a letter to Science magazine, Salim S. Abdool Karim, Tulio de Oliveira, and Glaudina Loots suggested an alternative naming convention is necessary, as the practice of applying geographical qualifiers is generally inaccurate and often harmful to the ethnic people from the region.
The authors write, “The connotation that the variants were created and spread by their respective first locations has already generated political backlash through travel bans and negative perceptions of these countries and their people. The risk of being associated with a new variant also disincentivizes country-level genomic surveillance and transparent reporting of their results.” The new naming guidelines are expected to be released soon, but the authors of the letter believe scientific and media outlets should not delay in avoiding reference to the country or region of first description when identifying variants.
Book Talk: “Names of New York: Discovering the City’s Past, Present, and Future Through its Place-Names” Joshua Jelly-Schapiro
Joshua Jelly-Schapiro will speak about his book, Names of New York: Discovering the City’s Past, Present, and Future Through its Place-Names, at a book talk sponsored by the NYU Institute for Public Knowledge on Thursday, May 13, 2021 at 6:30 pm. The announcement for the event reads:
“Exploring the power of naming to shape experience and our sense of place, Joshua Jelly-Schapiro traces the ways in which native Lenape, Dutch settlers, British invaders, and successive waves of immigrants have left their marks on the city’s map. He excavates the roots of many names, from Brooklyn to Harlem, that has gained iconic meaning worldwide. He meets the last living speakers of Lenape, visits the harbor’s forgotten islands, and lingers on street corners named for ballplayers and saints. As recent arrivals continue to find new ways to make New York’s neighborhoods their own, the names that stick to the city’s streets function not only as portals to explore the past but also as a means to reimagine what is possible now.”
Register for the event via the NY Institute for Public Knowledge website.(Advanced registration and RSVP are required.)