The former Graves Hall at the University of Alabama (Photo by DXR, CC-BY-4.0)
The Trustees of the University of Alabama have voted to remove the name of former Governor and Ku Klux Klan Leader Bibb Graves from an academic building. The building will now be known as Autherine Lucy Hall, named for Autherine Lucy Foster, a student who attended the formerly all-white University for a short time in 1956. Read more about the decision over at NPR.
Luxembourg-based SPI group, makers of Stolichnaya Vodka, have announced that they will rebrand their products: Stolichnaya will now be “Stoli”. Even though the alcohol has been produced in Latvia since 2000, the Russian Vodka line has faced immense backlash following the Russian military invasion of Ukraine. American bars and liquor stores have organized a boycott of the Latvian vodka brand, bottles of which appear covered in images of a Soviet past.
Little Blue Penguins (Photo by frank wouters, CC-BY-2.0)
The Birch Aquarium in San Diego is selling naming right for its Little Blue Penguins. The cost? $50,000 per penguin. The fees will help pay for the living expenses for this group of the smallest penguin species on the planet. So far, five of ten penguins have been named. Read more in The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Prof. Metcalf in his office at MacMurray College
The American Name Society is sad to announce the passing of longtime ANS member Professor Allan Metcalf. Professor Metcalf was innovator of the American Dialect Society’s Name of the Year selection, which served as the inspiration for the ANS Name of the Year. The celebrated dialectologist served many decades as the Executive Secretary of the American Dialect Society, the sister society of the ANS. He authored numerous popular books of US American English. Two of his most recent publications are OK: The Improbable Story of America’s Greatest Word and The Life of Guy: Guy Fawkes, the Gunpowder Plot, and the Unlikely History of an Indispensable Word. The ANS expresses is sincere condolences to the Metcalf family. For more on Professor Metcalf’s impressive career, see his personal website: http://www.allanmetcalf.net
Photo by Укравтодор (State Agency of Automobile Roads of Ukraine)
In the wake of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, authorities are working to remove road signs in order to confuse the Russian military and delay their movement across the country. Ukrainians—both civilians and road service employees—are intentionally removing signs that identify names of roads and places. In their place, road service workers are installing signs that taunt the invading Russian army. One digital display reads “Putin lost, the entire world is with Ukraine.” Others display the final words of the Ukrainian border guards stationed on Snake Island before they were bombed by a Russian warship.
A report from the Raleigh News and Observer notes that North Carolina State University has removed the word “Dixie” from its Alma Mater. The Board of Trustees unanimously agreed with the change, which replaced the word “Dixie” with the word “Southern.” Chancellor Randy Woodson commented on the change, saying: “Traditions remain an important part of NC State…Those traditions must reflect who we are today and what we hope to achieve.” Read more in the Raleigh News and Observer.
Illustration by C. E. Brock for Pride and Prejudice (Public Domain)
Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his February 27th column, he looks at the history of the name Darci.
Darci will be throwing her voice in Omaha next Sunday.
Darci Lynne, born Darci Lynne Farmer in 2004, won the top prize on “America’s Got Talent” in September 2017, a month before turning 13. A ventriloquist whose puppets include sweet bunny Petunia and stuttering Motown mouse Oscar, she stars at Omaha’s Orpheum Theater March 6.
Darci’s a respelling of Darcy, a surname with two origins. Darcy came to England with William the Conqueror’s knight Norman D’Arcy. He was granted vast lands in Lincolnshire. He was from Arcy, a French village whose name meant “Bear’s place” in Gaulish.
Darcys have been English aristocrats ever since. Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy of Darcy (1467-1537), was beheaded for rebelling against Henry VIII’s seizure of monasteries.
The most famous English Darcy is fictional Fitzwilliam Darcy in Jane Austen’s 1813 novel “Pride and Prejudice.” Proud but honorable Mr. Darcy is the model for romantic heroes in countless other novels and films.
In western Ireland, Darcy’s the English form of Ó Dorchaidhe, “descendant of the dark one.” Patrick Darcy (1598-1668) was a Galway lawyer who wrote the constitution for Confederate Ireland, Catholic rebels who ruled two-thirds of Ireland between 1642 and 1649.
When the custom of turning surnames into first names began during Elizabethan times, Darcy turned up among sons of British nobles. It remained rare; in 1841, the first British census found 29 men named Darcy.
기쁨, “Joy”
A recent short essay by Christopher Hwisu Kim in The New Yorker details how he and his partner chose name for their daughter. In choosing a name for his daughter, Kim knew that he wanted to give her a Korean name and a non-Korean name. The story of her name is delightful, as are the illustrations by Suerynn Lee throughout the essay. Read it in The New Yorker!
Jazz musician Sonny Rollins (Photo by Yves Moch, CC-BY-3.0)
Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his February 13th column, he looks at the history of the name Sonny.
Omaha has a new favorite Sonny.
The male elephant born to mother Claire at Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium Jan. 30 has been named Sonny by an anonymous donor. Half-sister Eugenia was born Jan. 7 to mother Kiki and father Callee.
Sonny’s a diminutive of “son” used to address boys or men younger than oneself. Though “son” goes back millennia to ancient Indo-European, “sonny” is surprisingly recent. The earliest example is found in 1833.
It’s hard to tell when Sonny became a nickname. It looks a lot like Lonny in 19th-century handwriting, and census takers sometimes used it for an unknown name. The 1860 census of Bloomington, Illinois, includes a German immigrant family with parents Daddy and Mammy and two boys both called Sonny. The census taker probably couldn’t understand their real names.
Exactly when the nickname became an official name is also unclear. Sonny first appeared on Social Security’s yearly name lists in 1888. However, Social Security only began in 1935, and only since the 1980s has everyone gotten a Social Security card as an infant. Many born before 1970 didn’t enter the data until they were going by a nickname which wasn’t given at birth.
It’s probable boys were being officially named Sonny by 1920, though, because the name starts showing pop culture influences. The first big boom in Sonnys began in 1928, when Al Jolson’s hit song “Sonny Boy” premiered, sung by a father whose little son “made a heaven for me here on earth.” Sonny first peaked at 470th in 1935.
As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to prevent face-to-face scientific meetings, ICOS (the International Council of Onomastic Sciences) wants to support sharing onomastic ideas by introducing a new initiative: Onomastics Online. Onomastics Online is a series of lectures dealing with important timely topics related to names and naming. Given by distinguished scholars from various academic backgrounds, the lectures demonstrate the importance and the multidisciplinary nature of onomastic research. For more information, see the ICOS website.
The series start with four lectures during spring 2022, first of them given by Derek Alderman on 15 February, 3:00 PM (UTC). You can follow the lectures in real time via Zoom or watch their recordings afterwards on the ICOS YouTube channel. The schedule and the Zoom links can be found below.
The aim of the series is also to improve the visibility of ICOS and onomastic research, so please share this information to colleagues and friends who might be interested. If you have any questions or want to suggest improvements to this concept, you may contact ICOS President Katalin Reszegi (reszegi.katalin@arts.unideb.
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