Should you trademark a greeting?

Bula Kafe in Florida Photo: Facebook / Bula Kafe

According to this article at Radio New Zealand, Pacific leaders meeting in New Zealand are outraged by the commonly-used Fijian greeting, “bula” being trademarked by a US businessman who runs and owns three businesses spread across Florida – Bula Kafe, Bula on the Beach and Bula Coco Beach. Many people have left negative reviews of the businesses on Facebook. The “bula” logo has appeared on many of products and advertising, from signage and bottle branding, to “bula babe shorts”. It is not the first time US businesses have been accused of cultural appropriation. For example, Illinois restaurant chain “Aloha Poke Company” has recently copped criticism for sending cease and desist letters to other restaurants using the word “aloha”. The New Zealand Minister for Pacific Peoples said: “This is a disturbing revelation and will be distressful not only to Fijians in New Zealand but to all Fijians throughout the world. It is unbelievable that a company from another country can trademark what belongs to another group of people.”

Names in the Economy VI: Values, Branding and Globalization , Uppsala, Sweden, 3–5 June 2019

Together with the Department of Scandinavian Languages at Uppsala University, the Institute for Language and Folklore will host the Sixth International conference on Names in the Economy in Uppsala, Sweden, on 3–5 June 2019. This conference will focus on the economy or the economic aspects that are hidden or evident in various types of names; how names can hold different values and how names can be used or mis-used to create values, how names are used in branding and how names can be means in a global world. More details in Swedish about this event can be found here: www.sprakochfolkminnen.se/NITE6.

Call for Papers: GfN-Conference “Names in motion”, University of Münster, Germany, September 11-13 2019

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Namenforschung e.V. (German Association for Name Research eV) has announced a call for papers for their next conference, “Names in motion: Adaptation processes of person and place names in areal, diachronic, and social fields of tension”. The conference will be held at theUniversity of Münster, Germany, September 11-13, 2019.

As proper names refer directly to individual objects, they crucially depend on stable, fixed relationships between form and referent. However, such fixed references open up fields of tension when contexts change for people who bear and use the names. Changing contexts may prompt names to be formally adapted, meaning that – at least temporarily – names may lead a double life. The aim of this conference is to identify factors that motivate, condition, and constrain adaptation processes of person and place names to changing or varying circumstances.

As most of the proposed topics and questions are best addressed from a multidisciplinary perspective, contributions and approaches from social scientists, culture geographers and other disciplines are also welcome, in addition to linguistic-onomastic approaches. Talks (20 minutes + 10-minute discussion) or posters can be presented in German or English. The deadline for abstracts is 30 April 2019.

Find out more at the conference home page.

A downloadable version of the call for papers, in English, can be found here.

 

Seeking New ANS Officers for 2019

Ever thought about getting more involved with the American Name Society but did not know how?  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 January 2019, new officers will be needed to fill the positions listed below.

To apply for one or more of these positions, please fill out the application form on this page.

 

ANS Treasurer (2019-2021)

The person elected to this position will be responsible for keeping official record of all funds and securities of the Society; giving and keeping receipts for moneys due and payable to the Society; depositing all moneys in the name of the Society; responding to inquiries from annual conference attendees regarding registration payments; and informing the ANS President, the members of the ANS Executive Council, and the general membership about the financial status of the Society via an end-of-the year fiscal report. The ANS Treasurer will work closely with the ANS President, Vice President, and Membership Officer as well as Taylor & Francis, the current publisher of the ANS Journal NAMES. The person elected to this position is expected to have demonstrable accounting experience and competence in using standard spreadsheets programs (e.g., Excel). Applicants for this position must be long-term ANS members in good-standing.

 

Member-at-large (2019-2022)

The person elected to this position will serve as a voting member of the Executive Council (EC) and is expected to participate actively in the legislative decision-making involved in resolutions and motions placed before the EC.  In addition to these duties, members-at-large serve on various auxiliary sub-committees to, for example, help with the nomination of new officers, coordination of the annual conference, and organization of allied conferences.  Officers in this position can renew their term of service twice.

 

Information Officer (2019-2021)

The person elected to this position will be responsible for maintaining the ANS social media presence via our website as well as Facebook and Twitter. The main duties for this position include the following: updating the news page of the ANS website on a weekly basis; posting special alerts (e.g., conference announcements, calls for papers, ANS newsletters); responding to requests made via the Facebook and Twitter accounts; and adding books that are reviewed in NAMES to the ANS Amazon Wishlist. The person chosen for this position must not only be highly computer literate, but also an avid user of social media. Experience in using WordPress is desirable but not mandatory. Training will be provided. The new Information Officer must also have excellent writing and time-management skills as well as a high level of creativity. The Information Officer will work very closely with the ANS President and Vice President throughout the year.

Call for Papers: Lavender Languages and Linguistics 26, Gothenburg, Sweden, May 2–4 2019

The Lavender Languages and Linguistics conference, dedicated to language and sexuality research, has run annually since 1993. In May 2019 scholars will convene in Sweden, with the conference being hosted in Gothenburg. Lavender Language 26 will retain its inclusive, supportive atmosphere and students and scholars with an interest in language and sexuality (broadly defined) will be welcome.

Confirmed keynote speakers
Erika Alm, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Mons Bissenbakker, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Rodrigo Borba, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Holly Cashman, University of New Hampshire, USA
Thabo Msibi, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Shirley-Anne Tate, Leeds Beckett University, UK

Organizers
Stina Ericsson, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Tommaso M. Milani, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Kristine Køhler Mortensen, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

They invite abstracts for presentations, which explore the linkages between language and sexuality in the broadest sense. The conference aims to illuminate the diversity in the field by welcoming varied topics demonstrating the diverse theoretical, methodological and empirical contexts for researching language and sexuality.

Deadline for individual abstracts: 30 November 2018. For more information, please visit the Lavender Languages and Linguistics website.

About Names: Evolution of Randall has spanned multiple generations

Poet Dudley Randall

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his September 24th column, he looks at the history of the name Randall.

Old Norse Rannulfr, “shield-wolf,” came to England with Norman conquerors in 1066 as Randulf. Clerks writing in Latin made Randolph the common spelling. Randall or Randell was Randolph’s nickname, adding French diminutive “el” to Rand. In 2010, 54,764 Americans had Randall as a surname, while there were 41,129 Randolphs, showing Randall was more common as the everyday medieval form.

Randall and Randolph became rare as first names after 1400, but never vanished. When Social Security’s yearly name lists started in 1880, Randolph ranked 398th and Randall 731st. For the next 55 years, Randolph ranked about the same while Randall steadily rose. Randall surpassed Randolph in 1936. Both then boomed — Randolph peaked at 154th in 1952 and Randall at 53rd in 1955, when 6,684 were born.

Want to know more? Read on to find out more about Randalls in American history!

Andrew Douglas Clifford maps te reo place names

Andrew Douglas-Clifford, who is in his early twenties, used a range of resources to put together an online map and poster giving New Zealand places and natural features the te reo Māori names bestowed by the indigenous people.

He spent months creating the detailed, interactive online map that offers Māori names for towns, cities, lakes, notable mountain peaks, rivers, bays and international cities and countries. The map on his Map Kiwi website also shows marae locations around the country.

You can read more about his work, or listen to an audio version of the story at the Radio New Zealand website.

Call for Papers: 21st International Cartographic Conference (ICC2019), Tokyo, Japan, July 15-20 2019

The 29th International Cartographic Conference will take place in Tokyo, Japan, 15–20 July 2019. The Organizing Committee of ICC2019 invites all interested participants to submit full papers or abstracts for the oral or poster presentations. Join and share the latest innovations and developments in mapping techniques, technological advancements, and current research in cartography and GIScience. Conference themes and topics are listed, but not limited to, below. The event is a unique experience to exchange ideas and encourage collaboration with colleagues from academia, government and industry.

All submissions will be reviewed by the International Scientific Committee. All accepted submissions will be published as the Advances in Cartography and GIScience of the ICA, Proceedings of the ICA, or Abstracts of the ICA. Selected papers will also be published in the International Journal of Cartography.

All details and the submission form can be found on the ICC website: icc2019.org/papers.html.

The deadline for abstract submissions is 19 December 2018,

The Skinny on Meal Kit Company Names

Meal kit delivery is relatively new, but the concept has spawned fierce competition in the last six years. With a raft of similar companies vying for the same customers, the pressure is on for branding teams to make sure their company stands out from the crowd. That process starts with the company name. And for those of us outside of the meal kit industry, looking at an entire category like this provides great naming lessons for how to differentiate our brands.

Of course, in its branding and marketing, each company conveys messages beyond what’s obvious from the name. Most of those are common to the category: farm-to-table freshness, great taste, healthful eating, sustainability, ease, convenience. But focusing on the names themselves yields plenty of choice branding morsels.

At Marketing Profs, Mark Skoultchi of the naming firm Catchword dives into the meal kit naming world and provides five takeaways from the naming of meal kit brands. Click through to get some tasty naming naming lessons!