Call for Papers: Onoma 62 (2027)
Theme: Names in Fiction
Guest editors: Lasse Hämäläinen & Milla Juhonen(University of Helsinki)
Names of characters, locations, and other entities often have several important functions in fictional stories. Especially characters’ proper names have been seen as an essential part of the characterization, describing for example nature, appearance, or the inner world of the characters (Cavill 2016). Toponyms in literature, on the other hand, have an important role in world-building, and the use of toponyms has been considered as an efficient way to construct a sense of place without relying on long descriptions (Ameel & Ainiala 2018).
Literary onomastics—the study of proper names in literature—has long been a
significant subfield of onomastics. It has its own section in The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming (Hough 2016), as well as in many ICOS Congresses and their Proceedings. Moreover, two of the past volumes of Onoma (vol. 40 and 53) and a few issues of Names (e.g., 16:4, 35:3, 64:2, 70:4) have been dedicated to it. There are also monographs and edited volumes on the theme (see Gibka 2019, Robbins 2023, and Nick 2026 as some of the latest examples). In addition to these, studies on literary onomastics have obviously been published in many other publications as well.
As the term suggests, literary onomastics has predominantly focused on works of
literature, mainly novels, short stories, and poetry. Meanwhile, names used in audiovisual forms of storytelling—films, tv shows, music, and video games—have remained with somewhat moderate scholarly attention (see, e.g., Martin 2011; Marshall 2014; Butler 2015; 2016; Neethling 2016; Bugheșiu 2018; 2024; Gibka 2018; Hämäläinen 2018; Kuzmenko 2019; 2023; 2024), especially considering their great role in the contemporary media and society.
With the theme Names in Fiction, onomasticians are encouraged to widen the scope
of literary onomastics to other formats of fiction. How do the audiovisual formats influence the usage of names in stories? An interesting and fruitful approach might also be to compare name usage in different formats of the same story, such as a novel and its film or TV adaptation. However, submissions focusing solely on literary works are also welcomed. The studies can be focused on all types of proper names used in fiction: names of characters, locations, brands, animals, etc.
Abstracts:
If you want to publish your article in Onoma 62, please send your abstract to the guest editors via email (lasse.j.hamalainen@helsinki.fi, milla.juhonen@helsinki.fi) by 30 September 2026. The abstracts should be written in English, and they should be no longer than 300 words (references not included). The guest editors evaluate the abstracts by their overall scientific quality and their compatibility with the volume theme. The evaluation results are communicated to the authors in October 2026.
Full articles:
Authors whose abstracts are accepted to the volume are asked to send their full-length
articles to the guest editors by 31 January 2027. The articles can be written in English, French, or German. They should be 5,000–8,000 words long (abstracts and references included) and follow all the formatting instructions provided in Onoma Style Sheet
(https://onomajournal.org/style-guidelines/). All the articles will be evaluated by two
anonymous peer reviewers. For more information about the journal and its policies (e.g., AI usage), see https://onomajournal.org/instructions-for-authors/.
Important dates:
• Deadline for abstracts: 30 September 2026
• Notifications of acceptance: October 2026
• Deadline for full-length articles: 31 January 2027
• Publishing: December 2027
References
-Ameel, Lieven & Ainiala, Terhi 2018: Toponyms as prompts for presencing place—Making oneself at home in Kjell Westö’s Helsinki. Scandinavian Studies 90(2): 195–210.
Bugheșiu, Alina 2018: Imaginative names for imaginary friends. BAS British and American Studies 24: 227–236
Bugheșiu, Alina 2024: Names of characters in animated series of the 1990s, between linguistic creativity and sociocultural critique. In: Felecan, Oliviu & Bugheșiu, Alina (eds.), Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Onomastics “Name and Naming”. (In)correctness in Onomastics, pp. 751–761. Cluj-Napoca: Editura Mega.
Butler, James O. 2015: The Psychosocial Ramifications of Videogame Naming and
Representation in the Early Years of The Simpsons. Names 63(4): 210–219.
Butler, James 2016: New Digital Worlds to Explore: The Onomastic Styling of Procedural and Open-World Videogames. In: Hough, Carole & Izdebska, Daria (eds.), Names and Their Environment: Proceedings of the 25th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences, Glasgow, 25–29 August 2014. Volume 5, pp. 22–28. Glasgow: University of Glasgow.
Cavill, Paul 2016: Language-based Approaches to Names in Literature. In: Hough, Carole (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming, pp. 355–367. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gibka, Martyna Katarzyna 2018: Functions of characters’ proper names in television series: Theoretical outline. Onoma 53: 67–80.
Gibka, Martyna 2019: Literary onomastics: A theory. Łódź: ArchaeGraph.
Hämäläinen, Lasse 2018: Level names in an online minigolf game. Onomastica Uralica 10: 317–329.
Hough, Carole (ed.) 2016: The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Kuzmenko, Oleksandra 2019: The role of pragmatonyms in the formation of a post-
apocalyptic worldview in a role-playing video game. Onoma 54: 117–135.
Kuzmenko, Oleksandra 2023: In-game Toponyms: Telling the Story and Building the Video Game World. In: Bijak, Urszula & Swoboda, Paweł & Walkowiak, Justyna B. (eds.), Proceedings of the 27th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences: Onomastics in Interaction With Other Branches of Science. Volume 3, pp. 309–326. Krákow: Jagellonian University Press.
Kuzmenko, Oleksandra 2024. Brahmin meat, Fat Man, Katzelmacher, or the cases of cultural and social (in)sensitivity in video gaming. In: Felecan, Oliviu & Bugheșiu, Alina (eds.), Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Onomastics “Name and Naming”. (In)correctness in Onomastics, pp. 875–888. Cluj-Napoca: Editura Mega.
Marshall, April D. 2014: Naming Clues to the Layers of Transgression in El crimen del Padre Amaro. Names 62(2): 100–106.
Martin, Paul 2011: Toponymy in the Videogame Grand Theft Auto IV. Onoma 46: 5–26.
Neethling, Bertie 2016: Names in Songs: A Comparative Analysis of Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire and Christopher Torr’s Hot Gates. In: Hough, Carole (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming, pp. 310–329. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Nick, I. M. (ed.) 2026 (upcoming): Names, Naming, Diversity, and Identity in Youth Literature. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Robbins, Dorothy Dodge (ed.) 2023: Literary Onomastics. Lanham: Lexington Books.