King Charles II (Public Domain)
When Prince Charles became King Charles III last Thursday, he adopted a name with a storied history. A recent article by the Associated Press explores the history of the name “Charles” as it was used by Kings of England. The stories of seventeenth century King Charles I and King Charles II—both of which were defined by civil war and reunion—are featured.
Registration is now open for the 2023 ANS Conference. The ANS conference will take place online, on Zoom, from January 20-22, 2023.
Detailed information for attendees, along with the book of abstracts, will be sent in January.
You can register online here, or download a PDF of the Conference Registration Form and mail it to ANS Treasurer Saundra Wright, as per the instructions on the form.
The schedule will be available as soon as possible.
For more information about the ANS Conference, please visit our Conference Page.
Agatha Christie in 1910 (Public Domain)
Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his September 11th column, he looks at the name Agatha.
Forty-six years after her death, Agatha still inspires books.
British author Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is the best-selling novelist of all time. Her 72 novels and 14 short-story collections have sold over two billion copies. “Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman,” a biography by historian Lucy Worsley, was released Sept. 8. Next week “Marple: Twelve New Mysteries,” where contemporary writers including Leigh Bardugo, Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware present stories about Christie’s sleuth Miss Marple, goes on sale.
Agatha’s the Latin form of Greek Agathe, from “agathos” (“good”). The original St. Agatha was a Christian martyred in Catania, Sicily, in the third century. A later legend claimed virgin Agatha was imprisoned in a brothel after refusing a Roman official’s advances. There her breasts were cut off, making her patron saint of breast cancer patients.The first Agatha in England was wife of Edward the Exile (1016-1057). When Danish conqueror Cnut defeated King Edmund Ironside in 1016, Edmund’s infant son Edward was banished, first to Sweden and later to Ukraine. He helped another exile, Andrew of Hungary, regain his throne in 1046.
Edward married Agatha in Hungary. Her origin’s unclear. She might have been a German, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Polish or Bulgarian princess. When Edward was recalled in 1056 by King Edward the Confessor, Agatha brought her name to England.
Agatha’s husband died in 1057, leading to 1066’s Norman conquest. Agatha’s granddaughter Matilda married King Henry I in 1100, joining Norman and Anglo-Saxon royal lines.
Though her medieval namesakes were “Agatha” in official records, in everyday English they were called Agace. Agace disappeared in the 1500s. When the Victorian love of medieval names revived Agatha, the Latin form came into use.
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (Public Domain)
Last Thursday the U.S. Board on Geographic Names released a list of replacement names for 650 features across the United States, removing the word “sq – – -” from Federal use. An article in the Reno Gazette Journal discusses the 34 changes in Nevada alone. The press release includes a map marking the locations of the changed names and quotes from Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, who said,
“I feel a deep obligation to use my platform to ensure that our public lands and waters are accessible and welcoming. That starts with removing racist and derogatory names that have graced federal locations for far too long… I am grateful to the members of the Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force and the Board on Geographic Names for their efforts to prioritize this important work. Together, we are showing why representation matters and charting a path for an inclusive America.”
Pope Sylvester I, who lived from 285 – 335 CE (Public Domain)
Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his August 28th column, he looks at the name Sylvester.
Sylvester’s once again a hero on movie screens.
Sylvester Stallone, who turned 76 in July, became famous writing and starring in 1976’s hit “Rocky”, about a heroic heavyweight boxer. Today, he’s the title character in “Samaritan,” released Aug. 26. There, young Sam (Javon Walton) discovers superhero Samaritan, who disappeared 25 years ago, is secretly living as “Joe Smith.”
Sylvester’s a Latin name meaning “of the forest.” St. Sylvester I (285-335) was Pope from 314 through 335. During his reign, Constantine became Rome’s first Christian emperor.
Not much is known about St. Sylvester. However, about two centuries after his death, the legend developed that Sylvester cured Constantine of leprosy. The grateful emperor then was baptized and gave the Pope temporal power over Rome and the Western empire.
Modern historians know Constantine was baptized on his deathbed in 337, two years after Sylvester died. The legend was used to promote Papal authority.
In 999, French bishop Gerbert, a mathematician who popularized the abacus, became Pope Sylvester II. His fame, along with St. Sylvester legend’s, spread the name throughout Europe. Though never common in medieval England, it was used enough to spawn surnames Silvester, Sylvester and Siveter.
The latest issue of Names: A Journal of Onomastics is now available online! Click here to read the latest in onomastics scholarship in volume 70, number 3 of Names. A table of contents appears below.
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.
Articles
Place Names in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye: A Literary Landscape
of Racism by Christine DeVinne
“Missouree Was Always Out of Step with Missourah”: Sociolinguistic Variants as Moral Toponyms by Daniel Duncan
Using Onomastics to Inform Diversity Initiatives: Race, Gender, and Names in Academic Radiology in Canada by Sohrab Towfighi, Adrian Marcuzzi, Salman Masood, Mohsin Yakub, Jessica B. Robbins, and Faisal Khosa
Book Reviews
Claire Cock-Starkey, The Real McCoy and 149 Other Eponyms by Beth DiNatale Johnson
Obituary
In Memoriam: Wolfgang Peter Ahrens (1940-2022) by I. M. Nick
Announcement
Invitation to Apply for the American Name Society’s Emerging Scholar Award
A change of responsibility ceremony held at Fort Polk, one of the military complexes that will soon have a new name (Public Domain)
A recent opinion piece in The New York Times explores the relatively recent origins of Confederate names, symbols, and monuments in the United States and the work of the commission established to rename them. Of especial interest to those studying names are the stories behind the new names of military bases and complexes in the US. One, for example, is the new possible namesake of Fort Polk:
“The World War I hero William Henry Johnson, who served in the era of Wilson, received the Medal of Honor he richly deserved nearly a century after his service. By proposing that Fort Polk in Louisiana take Johnson’s name, the commission highlights the extremes to which the Jim Crow-era United States sometimes went to deny even the possibility of African American heroism.”
Read more about William Henry Johnson and other new namesakes over at The New York Times.
Stained Glass showcasing the “Battle of Hastings” at UC College of the Law (Public Domain)
University of California Hastings College of Law will be known as the “UC College of the Law, San Francisco” until a new name is chosen, potentially by January 2023. The Board of Directors voted for the change after it was revealed that Serranus Clinton Hastings was involved in the mass killings of the indigenous populations in Mendocino County in the 1850’s. The local tribal council has supported efforts to rename the law school.
Photo by Coastal Elite, Halifax, NS (CC-BY-SA-2.0)
In a recent installment of Life Kit on NPR, Tuck Woodstock explores the process of changing one’s name—a process that they have undertaken numerous times over their life. While the process can be arduous for trans people as they adjust to a new public identity, the article and accompanying audio recording outlines important considerations and the steps involved in changing a name. One tip: test drive your potential name at a coffee shop.
“Hello my name is…” badge (Public Domain)
From Dr. Laura Coffey-Glover:
“People’s Names: Identities and Inequalities
On behalf of the People’s Names Research Network, Associate Professor of Sociology Dr Jane Pilcher of Nottingham Trent University is pleased to present this free online globally available symposium on names, identities and inequalities.
From: Wednesday 14th September 2022, 1.30 pm (GMT)
To: Wednesday 14th September 2022, 5pm (GMT).
Where: online, with booking via Eventbrite
Event details
Personal names are core components of identities – and therefore are also inherently linked to issues of equality and social justice. This free online symposium features a range of international social scientists at different stages of their careers. Their work showcases the opportunities the study of names presents for our understanding of people’s identities and experiences, and how the social science of personal names can help promote social and democratic inclusion and transformation at global, national and local levels. Contact: Dr. Jane Pilcher, Associate Professor of Sociology (jane.pilcher@ntu.ac.uk)
Keynote speaker – Dr Karen Pennesi, Western University, Canada: (Don’t) Say Their Names: Indexing Social Injustice through (Re-)Naming
Karen Pennesi is Associate Professor of Linguistic and Sociocultural Anthropology. Karen’s research explores how language plays an integral part in the processes of constructing individual and group identities. Her current focus is on personal names, and their importance in relation to immigration, social integration and belonging. Karen is particularly interested in the experiences of people whose names do not fit into the legal, institutional and conventional frameworks for the structure, spelling and pronunciation of names in Canada. Her research aims to promote understanding and respect for everyone in linguistically and culturally diverse societies.”
Programme
| 13.30 – 13.35 | Welcome | Jane Pilcher, Nottingham Trent University, UK | The People’s Names Research Network |
| 13.35 – 13.55 | Paper 1 | Emilia Aldrin, Halmstad University, Sweden
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Naming Diversity: Textbook name choice as a mirror of evolving cultural & gender constructions in Sweden from the 1920’s to the 2010’s |
| 13.55 – 14.15 | Paper 2 | Julia Sinclair-Palm & Westley Partington, Carleton University, Canada | Finding Joy in a Name: Trans youths’ experiences of names & naming practices
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| 14.15 – 14.35 | Paper 3 | Hannah Deakin-Smith*, Jane Bryan^ & Jane Pilcher* (*Nottingham Trent University & ^Warwick University, UK | The (Mis)Pronunciation of Names: experiences of university students in England & Wales |
| 14.35 – 14.45 | 10 min Q & A | Chaired by TBA | |
| 14.45 – 14.50 | 5 mins break | 5 mins break | 5 mins break |
| 14.50 – 15.10 | Paper 4 | Francesco Cerchiaro, University of Leuven, Belgium | “What About a Muslim Name?”: religion, ethnicity & family kinship in naming practices among mixed couples with a Muslim partner (in Italy, France and Belgium). |
| 15.10 – 15.30 | Paper 5 | Federica Guccini, Western University, Canada | Conceptualizing a Decolonial Framework for Language & Naming Practices: A translanguaging approach to names
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| 15.30 – 15.50 | Paper 6 | Ayokunmi Ojebode, University of Nottingham, UK
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Connecting Worlds, Performing Identities: Peeking Through Lens of British-Nigerian Actors’ Names in Hollywood
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| 15.50 – 16.00 | 10 min Q & A | Chaired by TBA | |
| 16.00 – 16.10 | 10 mins break | 10 mins break | 10 mins break |
| 16.10 – 16.45 | Keynote address | Karen Pennesi, Western University, Canada | (Don’t) Say Their Names: Indexing social injustice through (re-)naming
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| 16.45 – 16.55 | 10 min Q & A | Chaired by Jane Pilcher | |
| 16.55 – 17.00 | Closing remarks | Jane Pilcher |
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