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Call for Papers: XXV International O&L Conference, University of Pisa, 16-17 September 2022

 

The Society “Onomastica & Letteratura” (O&L) invites you to participate at theXXV International O&L Conference, University of Pisa (Department of Philology, Literature and Linguistics), 16-17 September 2022.

The topics it will focus on are the following:

  • Games, parodies, acknowledgments: the name to entertain and to reveal
  • Lists, sequences, lists, onomastic catalogs in literature
  • Names and identities
  • The name and the voices in the text (in literature and in particular in the theatrical genre)
  • Onomastics in some authors whose significant anniversaries occur: Hoffmann, Proust, Buzzati, Meneghello

Those who intend to participate in the Conference or who wish to submit their article to the editorial staff of the journal “il Nome nel testo” are requested to send Donatella Bremer (donatella.bremer@unipi.it) no later than 30 July 2022 an abstract, not generic, but sufficiently indicative (about one page) of their contribution.

Please also attach a short resume.

The length of the articles to be submitted to the peer review process for a possible publication in the journal “il Nome nel testo” must be around 12 pages.

For more information about this Call for Papers, please visit: https://oel.fileli.unipi.it/call-for-papers-xxv-convegno-internazionale-di-ol/

About Names: “Exotic Ian found American popularity after the 1960s”

Photo of English-Scottish actor Ian McDiarmid, best known for his role as Emperor Palpatine (Darth Sidious) in the Star Wars (Official Star Wars Blog, CC-BY-2.0)

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his June 5th column, he looks at the name Ian.

Ian will find a way to deal with dinosaurs again next Friday.

“Jurassic World: Dominion,” the sixth film in the hit “Jurassic Park” series, opens June 10. It features Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm, an expert on mathematical chaos theory whose line “Life finds a way” is iconic for fans.

Ian is a simplified spelling of Iain, a Scottish Gaelic form of John, ultimately from Hebrew “God is gracious.”

Before 1880, Ian was very rare in written records. Back then names, like other words, were translated from one language to another. A Scottish Highlander called “Ian” in Gaelic would automatically be called “John” in written or spoken English. Only one man is listed as Ian in Scotland’s 1851 census, alongside 252,476 Johns.

Educated artistic parents often start new name trends. Scottish-born John Forbes-Robertson (1822-1903) was one of the first professional art and theater critics in London. Five of his eleven children became actors, including second son Ian (1858-1936), perhaps the first example of Ian’s use as an official name in England.

In 1894, Presbyterian minister John Watson (1850-1907) published “Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush” under pen name Ian Maclaren. This collection of sentimental tales whose characters spoke in heavy Scots dialect (“Wull ye no come wi’ me for auld lang syne? … it wud dae ye gude”) was a huge bestseller in both Britain and America. “Ian Maclaren” died in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, while on an American lecture tour.

The actor and the author inspired many namesakes. By 1935, Ian was a top 50 name for baby boys in England and Scotland. That year, Ian entered the top thousand in the United States, helped by the career of character actor Ian Wolfe (1896-1992).

Want to learn more? Read on to learn more about the name Ian!

NAMES Vol 70 Issue #2 is published!

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 2 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

Translating Character Names in Fantasy Literature: A Study of the Turkish Translation of Invented Names in Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast Triology, by Naile Sarmaşık

Gendering Urban Namescapes: The Gender Politics of Street Names in an Eastern European City, by Mihai S. Rusu

Cat Naming Practices in Saudi Arabia, by Muteb Alqarni

From Bonehead to @realDonaldTrump: A Review of Studies on Online Usernames, by Lasse Hämäläinen

 

Book Reviews

Grant W. Smith, Names as Metaphors in Shakespeare’s Comedies, by Dorothy Dodge Robbins

Alexander Avram, Historical Implications of Jewish Surnames in the Old Kingdom of Romania, by Brandon Simonson

Call for Editors, Onomastica Canadiana

Onomastica Canadiana is inviting applications for a new Editor. A team of two Co-Editors will also be considered. This voluntary position will be available from August 1, 2022. The initial term will be three years, with renewal upon mutual agreement.

Onomastica Canadiana was established in 1951 and moved to an online and open-access format in 2022. It is the official, bilingual, peer-reviewed journal of the Canadian Society for the Study of Names. Its principal objectives are to promote the study of names in Canada and abroad, as well as to exchange ideas among onomatologists, toponymists, and scholars in the related fields of literary onomastics and linguistic aspects of names. Onomastica Canadiana welcomes submissions such as research articles, review articles, opinion articles and commentaries, academic interviews, and book reviews in both English and French on all topics in the field of onomastics or name studies. For further information on the journal, please see https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/oc/index.

The responsibilities of the Editor include:
– Day-to-day management of journal activities
– Identifying and communicating with appropriate reviewers
– Making decisions on manuscripts
– Evaluating special issue proposals
– Liaising with authors and reviewers
– Working with the Editorial Team / Editorial Board and the Executive Committee of the
Canadian Society for the Study of Names

Selection Criteria
Essential skills
– Experience and knowledge in the field of Onomastics
– An understanding of the focus and scope of the journal
– Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
– Excellent organizational and time management skills
– Advanced proficiency in English or French

Desired skills
– Bilingual in English and French
– Experience with journal management
– Prior experience of editing a journal

Application Process
Interested candidates should send their abbreviated CV (2 pages) and a statement of interest in the position and vision for the journal (1 page) to Grace Gomashie (ggomashi@uwo.ca) by July 15, 2022. Please use ‘Application Editor Onomastica Canadiana’ as your email subject line. Applications will be evaluated by the Editorial Board, which will make its recommendation to the Executive Committee of the Canadian Society for the Study of Names, and all applicants will be notified of the results.

A downloadable PDF of the call can be downloaded here.

Call for Papers: ANS Emerging Scholar Award

In 2007, the American Name Society established the ANS Emerging Scholar Award (ANSESA) to recognize the outstanding scholarship of an early career onomastics researcher. This special distinction is given to a new scholar whose work is judged by a panel of onomastic researchers to be of superior academic quality. This year’s selection committee is made up of Dr. Jan Tent, the 2022 ANSESA Committee Chair; Dr. Dorothy Dodge Robbins; and Dr. Andreas Gavrielatos.

Recipients of this prestigious award receive the following:

  • a cash prize of $250 US dollars
  • one year of membership in the ANS
  • public announcements on the NAMES and ANS websites
  • a profile in the ANS newsletter, to be written by the Chair of the ANSESA Committee

Award recipients are encouraged to submit their manuscripts for publication in NAMES. The Selection Committee reserves the right to refrain from giving this award in those years in which no submission is deemed to have met the above-mentioned requirements.

Application Guidelines

To be considered for this award, applicants must submit the full text of their paper by midnight (E.S.T.), the 15th of October 2022, to this year’s ANSESA Chair, Dr. Jan Tent (<jan.tent@mq.edu.au>). Submissions must be sent as an email attachment in either a .doc or .docx format. For ease of processing, please be sure to include the keyword “ESA2022” in the subject line of your email.

Submission Requirements

All submissions must be prepared according to the guidelines provided at <https://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/guidelines>. Authors must use the formatting rules listed in the official Style Sheet of Names, the journal of the American Name Society. The Style Sheet is available at the journal website: <https://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/StyleSheet>. Submissions will not only be judged upon the quality of the writing and the scientific merit of the submission presented, but also on their adherence to these formatting regulations. NOTE: The main text should be no more than 5,000 words, excluding the endnotes, bibliography, graphics, and any supplementary material.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for the ANSESA, applicants must be an entry-level professional, an untenured academic, or a student. Applicants must have had their single-authored abstract accepted for presentation at the ANS annual conference and be a member of the ANS. Previously published papers are not eligible for consideration. However, papers based on unpublished theses or dissertations are eligible. The ANSESA Selection Committee will judge all submissions for their methodological soundness, innovation, and potential contribution to the field of onomastics. Although past recipients of the ANSESA are eligible to re-apply for an entirely new piece of scholarship, preference may be given to first-time applicants. Please direct questions to this year’s ANSESA Committee Chair, ANS Vice President, Dr. Jan Tent (<jan.tent@mq.edu.au>).

 

A PDF download of this call can be found here.

The Second Battle for the Name “Josh”

Pool Noodles (Photo by Emma Craig, CC-BY-2.0)

Last year, hundreds of people with the name “Josh” gathered in a park in Nebraska. They battled one another with pool noodles for the right to the name “Josh”. This year the Joshes returned with their pool noodles to the park for another battle. This time the Joshes raised over $21,000 for the Children’s Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha. The winner was 5-year-old Josh Vinson Jr., who held his “No. 1 Josh” title from last year.

Congressional Commission Reveals Nine Proposals for New Base Names

The proposed name “Fort Liberty” will replace the name “Fort Bragg” (Public domain image of the entry to the Fort)

The congressional naming commission revealed proposals to rename nine military bases this Tuesday. CNN outlines all nine possible name change proposals. The writers share, “The proposed names include women, African-American, Native American and Latino service members, a nod to the diverse ranks the US military has benefited from over the years. The commission, however, also recommended renaming a few of the bases after White men.”

Read more about each of the name changes and their respective rationales over at CNN.

Italian Constitutional Court: Children Should Receive Mother’s and Father’s Surnames

Italy’s Constitutional Court in Rome (Public Domain)

The Italian Constitutional Court recently ruled that all children should be given both their mother’s and their father’s surname. The court argued that to be given the father’s surname name alone was “discriminatory and harmful to the identity” of the child. As a result of the ruling, both parents’ surnames will be included on the child’s birth certificate. Read more over at USAToday.

About Names: “Liam and Sophia are the Top Baby Names of 2021”

Van Gogh’s “Madame Roulin and Her Baby” (1888)

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his May 22nd column, he looks at the top baby names in the United States in 2021.

Liam’s finally No. 1 no matter how you spell it.

May 6 the Social Security Administration released the United States’ top baby names of 2021.

On SSA’s lists, Liam and Olivia rank first, as they did in 2019 and 2020.

SSA counts every spelling separately. I prefer to add together spellings pronounced the same, creating lists I believe more accurately indicate popularity.

From 2013 through 2020, when alternative spellings like Jaxon and Lyam were added in, Jackson ranked first. In 2021, Liam grew 3.14% to finally beat Jackson for No. 1.

Liam, an Irish short form of William, wasn’t even used as an official name in Ireland itself until around 1890. A top 10 name in England in 1995, Liam’s since spread around the world. It now ranks No. 1 in Quebec, No. 2 in Switzerland, No. 3 in Sweden, No. 5 in Belgium, No. 6 in Australia, Ireland, and the Netherlands, and No. 7 in Slovenia.

After Jackson, the rest my 2021 male top 10 were Noah, Oliver, Aiden, Elijah, Lucas, Grayson, James and William — the same names as 2020, with Oliver, now No. 1 in England, Australia and New Zealand, moving up a spot.

Luca was the top 100 boy’s name with the biggest leap, soaring 37% from 37th to 15th. Luca is the Italian and Romanian form of Luke, with Luka the same in Balkan Slavic languages.

The huge popularity of Noah and Elijah made parents used to boys’ names ending with Luca’s final vowel. Since 2000 it’s risen as a “different but not too different” alternative for Lucas and Luke.

In 2021 Pixar’s animated “Luca,” about an Italian sea monster boy who leaves the ocean to win a Vespa scooter, became the most-watched streaming film. This surely caused Luca to skyrocket. Luca joins Ariel and Elsa as animated characters inspiring baby names. In total there were 55% more boys named Lucas, Luca or Luke in 2021 than Liams.

Want to learn more? Read on to learn more about the top baby names in the United States in 2021!