Featured

Call for Papers: Names That Reveal; Names That Conceal: Onomastic Sleight of Hand in Global Literature (MLA 2027)

The American Name Society

Call for Papers

for the ANS virtual panel at the

Modern Language Association (MLA) Convention #mla27

7-10 January 2027, Los Angeles, California

Names That Reveal; Names That Conceal

Onomastic Sleight of Hand in Global Literature

Espionage novels and allegories often use names to conceal motives or plot twists or to reveal character or caricature. How have authors, poets, playwrights, screenwriters, lyricists and other wordsmiths used names of characters, places, corporations, institutions, movements, etc., to effect onomastic sleight of hand? And why? In this panel, we will consider names that reveal and names that conceal people groups (anthroponyms), characters (charactonyms), places (toponyms), theonyms (divine beings), events, and more in the real world and/or in imagined worlds from any era, from any place, as recorded or found in any media. Useful resources include, the archives of NAMES: A Journal of Onomastics (https://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/issue/archive), the ANS list of terminology (https://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/keywords), Dorothy Dodge Robbins’ edited collection Literary Onomastics (2023), Star Medzerian Vanguri’s edited collection Rhetorics of Names and Naming (2016), and the Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming(2018).

Proposal Submission Process:

  1. Email Dr. Anne W. Anderson (editing@gmail.com) as follows:
    1. Email Subject Line: Use “MLA 2027 proposal” in the subject line of the email.
    2. Email Body: In the email body include the title and first line of the abstract, the full name(s) of the author(s), their affiliation(s), and their email address(es).
    3. Proposal: Attach a PDF file that includes the proposal title, an abstract of up to 350-500 words, and a list of works cited. Do NOT include author identification in the PDF.
  2. DEADLINE: Proposals must be received by 11:59 pm EST on Monday, 16 March 2026. Authors will be notified about the results of the blind review on or by 27 March 2026.
  3. Contributors selected for the thematic panel must be members of both MLA and ANS in order to present their papers; both memberships must be obtained by 7 April 2026.
  4. Questions? Please contact Dr. Anne W. Anderson (editing@gmail.com).

“No Kings” is the ANS Name of the Year for 2025

filed under Featured, Name News, Name of the Year

“No Kings” was chosen as the winner of the Name of the Year for 2025 by the American Name Society at its annual Name of the Year discussion and vote on January 8, 2026. This political demonstration name was selected for its direct communicative power, its linguistic brevity, and its extensions during the protests, in forms such as “no thrones” and “no crowns”.… Read More

Nominations Wanted for Names of the Year 2025

The American Name Society is requesting nominations for the “Names of the Year for 2025”. The names selected will be ones that best illustrate, through their creation and/or use during the past 12 months, important trends in the culture of the United States. It is not necessary, however, for a nominated name to have originated in the US. Any name can be nominated as long as it has been prominent in North American cultural discourse during the past year.  Nominations are called for in the following categories:

  • Personal Names: Names or nicknames of individual real people or individual animals.
  • Place Names: Names or nicknames of any real geographical location, including all natural features, political subdivisions, streets, and buildings. Names of national or ethnic groups based on place names could be included here.
  • Trade Names: Names of real commercial products, as well as names of both for-profit and non-profit incorporated companies and organizations, including businesses and universities.
  • Artistic & Literary Names: Names of fictional persons, places, or institutions, in any written, oral, or visual medium, as well as titles of art works, books, plays, television programs, or movies. Such names are deliberately given by the creator of the work.
  • E-Names: Names of persons, figures, places, products, businesses, institutions, operations, organizations, platforms, and movements that exist in the virtual world.
  • Miscellaneous Names: Any name which does not fit in the above five categories, such as names created by linguistic errors, names of particular inanimate objects, names of unorganized political movements, names of languages, etc. In most cases, such items would be capitalized in everyday English orthography.

Winners will be chosen in each category, and then a final vote will determine the overall Name of the Year. Anyone may nominate a name. The discussion will be conducted by Laurel Sutton, ANS Past President and Name of the Year Coordinator.

You can nominate names via this form: https://nick662.typeform.com/to/qiS2bXas?typeform-source=www.americannamesociety.org

Advance nominations must be received no later than January 6, 2026, at midnight Pacific.

The winning names will be selected on Thursday, January 8, 2026  on Zoom from 12-2pm PST . Tickets are free and can be ordered here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ans-name-of-the-year-2025-discussion-and-vote-tickets-1967205383257

The URL to our Zoom room will be sent to everyone who registers for this event.

Registration Opens: ANS Name of the Year 2025 Discussion and Vote (Virtual, 8 January 2026)

ANS Name of the Year 2025 Discussion and Vote

Thursday, January 8, 2026 on Zoom, 12 – 2pm PST

REGISTRATION is now open! Click here to register for the discussion and vote.

Join us for our annual Name of the Year discussion! We will be nominating, discussing, and voting on eligible names in the following categories:

  • Personal Names: Names of groups or individuals, including nicknames, given names, surnames, or a combination of these.
  • Place Names: Names or nicknames of any real geographical locations (e.g., rivers, lakes, mountains, streets, buildings, regions, countries, etc.).
  • Brand Names: Names of commercial products, companies, organizations, and businesses (both for-profit and non-profit). This category includes personal names used as brands for commerce.
  • Artistic/Literary Names: Names of fictional persons, places, or institutions, in any written, oral, or visual medium (e.g., titles of art or musical works, books, plays, tv programs, movies, games, etc.).
  • E-Names: Names of online platforms, websites, and movements, as well as hashtags, usernames, etc.
  • Miscellaneous Names: Names that do not fit in any of the above five categories.

The discussion will be conducted by Laurel Sutton, Name of the Year Coordinator.

You can nominate names via this form

Advance nominations must be received no later than December 31st, 2025, at midnight Pacific.

Tickets to this event are free!

The URL to our Zoom room will be sent to everyone who registers for this event.

Please review previous Name of the Year reports, to better understand the type of names that will be accepted:

Name of the Year Report 2024 (PDF)

Name of the Year Report 2023 (PDF)

Name of the Year Report 2022 (PDF)

Registration Opens: ANS Name of the Year 2025 Discussion and Vote (Virtual, 8 January 2026)

ANS Name of the Year 2025 Discussion and Vote

Thursday, January 8, 2026 on Zoom, 12 – 2pm PST

REGISTRATION is now open! Click here to register for the discussion and vote.

Join us for our annual Name of the Year discussion! We will be nominating, discussing, and voting on eligible names in the following categories:

  • Personal Names: Names of groups or individuals, including nicknames, given names, surnames, or a combination of these.
  • Place Names: Names or nicknames of any real geographical locations (e.g., rivers, lakes, mountains, streets, buildings, regions, countries, etc.).
  • Brand Names: Names of commercial products, companies, organizations, and businesses (both for-profit and non-profit). This category includes personal names used as brands for commerce.
  • Artistic/Literary Names: Names of fictional persons, places, or institutions, in any written, oral, or visual medium (e.g., titles of art or musical works, books, plays, tv programs, movies, games, etc.).
  • E-Names: Names of online platforms, websites, and movements, as well as hashtags, usernames, etc.
  • Miscellaneous Names: Names that do not fit in any of the above five categories.

The discussion will be conducted by Laurel Sutton, Name of the Year Coordinator.

You can nominate names via this form

Advance nominations must be received no later than December 31st, 2025, at midnight Pacific.

Tickets to this event are free!

The URL to our Zoom room will be sent to everyone who registers for this event.

Please review previous Name of the Year reports, to better understand the type of names that will be accepted:

Name of the Year Report 2024 (PDF)

Name of the Year Report 2023 (PDF)

Name of the Year Report 2022 (PDF)

Call for Papers: ANS 2026

 

Call for Papers

The 2026 Annual Meeting of the

American Name Society

ONLINE (via Zoom)

21 February 2026

 

The American Name Society is now inviting proposals for papers for its next annual conference. The one-day event will be held virtually via Zoom, allowing for the attendance of onomastics scholars from around the world. The 2026 ANS conference will not be held in conjunction with the Linguistics Society of America conference.

Abstracts in any area of onomastic research are welcome: personal names, place names, business and institutional names, names theory, names in literature, among others.

Proposals require these elements:

  • Title of proposed paper
  • 250-word abstract
  • Shorter 100-word abstract suitable for inclusion in conference program
  • 50-word biography suitable for inclusion in conference program

To submit a proposal, complete the 2026 Author Information Form found here:

            http://bit.ly/4lvsHCk

Email completed forms to the ANS at: abstracts@americannamesociety.org

For organizational purposes, place “ANS2026” in the subject of your email.

The DEADLINE for receipt of abstracts is September 30, 2025.

All proposals will be subjected to blind review. Notification of proposal acceptances will be sent by October 31, 2025. Authors whose papers have been accepted must be current members of ANS and must register for the annual meeting. Please contact us at info@americannamesociety.org if you have any questions or concerns.

We look forward to receiving your submission!

ANS Annual Meeting 2025 Schedule

The American Name Society Annual Meeting for 2025 will be held online using the Zoom platform. It is accessible via Mac or PC. The meeting will require a passcode, which will be sent via email to all registrants and presenters by 21 February 2025.

We have been working hard to set up a schedule that will work globally, and this means that some presenters will be scheduled at times outside of normal working hours. The schedule below is subject to change depending on speaker availability.

Keep apprised of any changes to the annual meeting schedule here on our website.

Register for the conference here!

.

 

Saturday, February 22, 2025

ALL TIMES ARE UTC -8:00, PACIFIC STANDARD TIME

Conference Opening Address

5:15 AM Brandon Simonson (Boston University, MA, USA), Welcome and Opening Remarks

First Session

5:30 AM Nihan Ketrez (Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey), Anthropomorphism in puppy and kitten names in Holly Webb’s children’s books and their translations

6:00 AM Anna Tsepkova (Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University, Russia): A Cross-cultural Analysis of Terms Applied to Unconventional Anthroponyms in American and Russian Onomastic Practices [Withdrawn]

6:30 AM Veronika Robustova (Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia): Proper Names As Means of Cultural and Historic Information Transfer [Withdrawn]

Second Session

7:00 AM Ayokunmi Ojebode (University of Nottingham, UK), Abimbola Alao (Independent Scholar, UK), and Victoria Tischler (University of Surrey, UK): Cross-cultural Names and Identities as Dementia Behaviours in Abimbola Alao’s ‘My Name is Beatrice’ and Trevor Smith’s ‘An Evening with Dementia’ [Withdrawn]

7:30 AM Maria Kopf (Universität Hamburg, Germany): Name Changes and Name Co-existence in Deaf Signing Communities in Germany

8:00 AM Thomas Ditye (Sigmund Freud University, Austria): The fear of saying personal names

8:30 AM I.M. Nick (Germanic Society for Forensic Linguistics, Germany): Names: A Journal of Onomastics Editor’s Report

9:00 AM Break

9:30 AM ANS Committees Meeting

Third Session

10:00 AM Lennart Chevallier (Kiel University, Germany) and Sören Wichmann (Kiel University, Germany): Mapping place names

10:30 AM Jarmo Jantunen (University of Jyväskylä, Finland), Tehri Ainiala University of Helsinki, Finland), Salla Jokela (Tampere University, Finland), and Jenny Tarvainen (University of Jyväskylä, Finland): Mapping Digital Discourses of the Capital Region of Finland: Combining Onomastics, CADS, and GIS

11:00 AM Russell Fielding (Coastal Carolina University, SC, USA): “A Change of Name during Sickness”: Surveying the Widespread Practice of Renaming in Response to Physical Illness

Fourth Session

11:30 AM Anuoluwapọ Adéwùnmí ADÉTỌ̀MÍWÁ (University of Lagos, Nigeria): Anthroponymy and cultural identity: the significance of akan and yorùbá personal names

12:00 PM Hanna Virranpää (University of Helsinki, Finland): Place names used by the first-generation Finnish Americans: examining migration letters

12:30 PM Mary Ann Walter (University of the Virgin Islands, USA): Femininity and Phonetics in Drag Names

1:00 PM Michael Akinpelu (University of Regina, SK, Canada), Dr. Hasiyatu Abubakari (University of Ghana Accra, Ghana), and Dr. Michel Nguessan (Governors State University, IL, USA): A Comparative Study of Divine Names Across African Languages and Cultures

1:30 PM ANS Annual Business Meeting

Fifth Session

2:30 PM Kenneth Price (Texas A&M University, TX, USA): Promoting Onomastics in Travel Writing: Multimodal Travel Toponymies 

3:00 PM U-ri Go (Kangwon National University, Korea) and Jong-mi Kim (Kangwon National University, Korea): From Masculine to Feminine Naming Evolution: A Comparative Phonological Analysis of 18 Regions across Four Continents (1880-2023)

3:30 PM Cari Didion (Governors State University, IL, USA) and Dr. Michel Nguessan (Governors State University, IL, USA): Names and Brand Identity of Ethnic Businesses in Greater Chicago

Sixth Session

4:00 PM David Wade (Wade Research Foundation, USA): Name Peptides @ The University

4:30 PM Alexander Kilpatrick (Nagoya University of Commerce and Business, Japan): Machine Learning vs. Linear Regression: A Case Study on Gender Sound Symbolism in Japanese Given Names

5:00 PM Jinawat Kaenmuang (Chulalongkorn University, Thailand): Flavorful labels and elegant expressions: The role of culinary elements and rhetorical devices in Thai food shops’ nomenclature [Withdrawn]

5:00 PM (New Time) 5:30 PM Sarah Bunin Benor (Hebrew Union College, CA, USA): Shaina, Bamba, and Ruth Betta Finsberg: Trends in American Jews’ Naming of Pets

Closing

 

“Ozempic” is the ANS Name of the Year for 2024

filed under Featured, Name News, Name of the Year

“Ozempic” was chosen as the winner of the Name of the Year for 2024 by the American Name Society at its annual Name of the Year discussion and vote on January 9, 2025. This pharmaceutical brand name was selected for its significant linguistic features and spin-offs like “Ozempic face”, “Ozempic Olympics”, “oat-zempic”, “faux-zempic”.… Read More

Conference Panel: “Names and World-building in Fantasy & Science Fictional Universes” at LSA 2025, Philadelphia, PA (10 January 2025)

The ANS will host a panel at the LSA 2025 conference, which will be held 9 to 12 January 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Names and World-building in Fantasy & Science Fictional Universes

an organized session at the 2025 annual meeting of the

Linguistic Society of America

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

9-12 January 2025

The American Name Society (ANS) is pleased to announce a panel that will be convened at the 2025 annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA), which will take place on 9-12 January 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a long-time sister society of the LSA, the ANS frequently held its annual meeting in conjunction with the annual meeting of the LSA. This panel will celebrate the relationship between the two organizations with three papers on the theme of names and world-building.

The panel is titled “Names and World-building in Fantasy & Science Fictional Universes,” and it features three papers on names and the fantasy genre of literature and Role Playing Games. The panel will be held on 10 January 2025 from 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm in Franklin Hall 1 of the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown. The papers in this session are:

Richard Janda (IU – Bloomington), “Tolkien’s vs. Rowling’s Names: Historical vs. Modern Reality; Elvish vs. Humorous Inventions”

Brandon Simonson (Boston University), “The Linguistic Function of Religious Names in the Creative World of Dungeons & Dragons”

Jean-Louis Vaxelaire (Université de Namur) and Marine Verriest (Université de Namur), “Theirastra and Gérard: Onomastic differences between two tabletop role-playing games (RPG)”

Registration for the 2025 LSA annual meeting is now open:

https://web.cvent.com/event/40d9411e-b965-4659-b9c3-63046eeed3d4/

For more information about the Linguistic Society of America, click here:

https://www.lsadc.org/

The Call for Papers described the session as such:

This session explores names and naming conventions in popular culture, especially personal names and place names that appear in works of literature, music, film, and games. Names convey meaning, but they also serve greater purposes of world-building in popular culture and its reception. Whether the names are of competing houses in A Game of Thrones, the lawless outer rim worlds in the Star Wars universe, or the vault-dwelling protagonists in the Fallout series, each name adds substance and meaning to the world for which it was created. Papers in this session organized by the American Name Society (a long-time sister society of the LSA) address the complex intersection between names and the worlds that they inhabit.

Download a PDF copy of the Call for Papers by clicking here.

For more information about the LSA 2025 conference, visit the LSA conference page here.