Click here to download the Summer 2024 ANS Bulletin.
In this issue, you will find:
Ever thought about getting more involved with the American Name Society? Here is your opportunity! The American Name Society is currently looking for a few good people who are interested in joining the Executive Council. Starting in 2025, new officers will be needed to fill the positions listed below.
To apply for one or more of these Executive Council positions, please fill out the application form on this page.
The person elected to this position is primarily responsible for co-organizing the ANS annual conference in close cooperation with the ANS President. As conference co-chair, the person in this position will issue an official call for papers, organize a team of reviewers, design the program of paper presentations, and coordinate with the Linguistic Society of America and the other linguistic affiliates or “Sister Societies”: the American Dialect Society (ADS), the Society of Pidgin and Creole Linguistics (SPCL), the Society for the Study of Indigenous Languages of the America (SSILA), The Association for Linguistic Evidence (TALE), and the North American Association for the History of Language Sciences (NAAHoLS). In addition to these duties, the VP also serves as a voting member of the Executive Council and, as such, is actively involved in the legislative process of the ANS. The person selected for this office has the option of running for the office of ANS President, at the end of his/her term. Candidates for this position are expected to have superior organizational, time-management, and communication skills.
The person elected to this position is principally responsible for organizing the ANS session at the annual conference of the Modern Language Association. This activity involves issuing a call for papers, assembling a team of abstract reviewers, selecting three authors whose work will be presented at the MLA conference, and coordinating the presentation of the three winning abstracts with the MLA administration. In addition to these duties, as a voting member of the ANS Executive Council (EC), the Allied Conference Coordinator participates in the legislative decision-making of the Society. Although the term of service for this position is for two years, the holder of this office may be re-elected pending approval by the EC. Given the fact that this position requires close communication with the MLA, candidates who have a demonstrated expertise in literary onomastics will receive preference.
The person elected to this position will serve as a voting member of the Executive Council (EC) and is expected to participate actively in the legislative decision-making involved in resolutions and motions placed before the EC. In addition to these duties, members-at-large serve on various auxiliary sub-committees to, for example, help with the nomination of new officers, coordination of the annual conference, and organization of allied conferences. Officers in this position can renew their term of service twice.
Call for Papers
an organized session at the 2025 annual meeting of the
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
9-12 January 2025
The American Name Society is now inviting proposals for an organized session at the 2025 annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America. The theme of this session is “Names and World-building in Fantasy & Science Fictional Universes.” The organizing committee is especially interested in papers that address how names impact the creation of worlds in works of literature, music, film, and games (table-top role-playing games, board games, video games, and others). Sample topics might include, but are not limited to:
Abstracts in any area of onomastic research related to the fantasy or science fiction genres are welcome.
Proposals require these elements:
Proposals should be submitted to the American Name Society via email at: abstracts@americannamesociety.org. For organizational purposes, place “LSA2025” in the subject of your email.
The DEADLINE for receipt of abstracts is August 15, 2024.
All proposals will be subjected to blind review. Notification of proposal acceptances will be sent by September 1, 2024. Following acceptance, authors must be current members of the ANS and register for the Linguistic Society of America annual meeting. Please contact us at the above email address if you have any questions or concerns.
Scheduling of the symposium by the LSA will be announced in October. Pre-registration for the meeting will open in late September.
We look forward to receiving your submission!
Recently presented at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Name Society, collaborative work by Cari Didion and Michel Nguessan explores restaurant and grocery store names in the greater Chicago metro area. You can watch the full presentation here:
Watch this video on YouTube by clicking here.
Abstract:
The paper is an analysis of restaurant and grocery store names in Greater Chicago. In the USA, the dominant culture is the Anglo-Saxon and/or European culture. Any other culture that is different from this dominant one is considered ethnic. Restaurants and food stores that are not part of the dominant culture are considered ethnic. With the increase and diversification of immigration to the USA in recent decades, new restaurants/grocery stores emerge with distinctive names that reveal cultural identities and/or national origins. The study’s purpose is to find out about cultural/national origins and identities, immigration trends and spatial distribution of these restaurants/food stores in the Greater Chicago area.
These ethnic restaurants/grocery stores come from diverse cultural and national origins including Asia, Latin America, Africa, Middle East, pacific islands, and others. Some ethnic restaurants/grocery store names are Fogo de Chão (Brazilian), Taste of Lebanon (Lebanese), Nhà Hàng Vietnam (Vietnamese), Ay Ay Picante (Peruvian), Denden Eritrean restaurant (Eritrea). The first part of the paper discusses the relationship between immigration trends and the emergence of ethnic restaurants/grocery stores. The second part of the paper presents and discusses ethnic restaurants and grocery store names. The third part of the paper discusses the relationship between immigration trends, ethnic restaurant names and diversity of cultures and national origins in Greater Chicago. The study concludes that ethnic restaurant and grocery store names reveal immigration trends, national and cultural origins and identities and point out the cultural diversity and spatial distribution of immigrant populations in Greater Chicago.
Biography:
Professor Michel Nguessan is an Associate Professor of Library and Information Science at Governors State University, in Illinois. He has academic background and research interest in linguistics/onomastics, software engineering and computer science, library and information science and port/maritime management. He graduated from universities in Côte-d’Ivoire, the USA and Canada.
Professor Cari Didion is an Associate Professor of Library and Information Science at Governors State University, in Illinois. She has an academic background in science education, library and information science, and higher education leadership. She holds master’s degrees from the University of Georgia and San Jose State University and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Interdisciplinary Leadership Studies.
Find our YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/@americannamesociety5739
Watch the rest of the 2024 Annual Meeting videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9UPV3RkICwd7ojIQwxUtxO-0tL90SDY7
Join the American Name Society:
Ever thought about getting more involved with the American Name Society? Here is your opportunity! The American Name Society is currently looking for a few good people who are interested in joining the Executive Council. Starting in 2025, new officers will be needed to fill the positions listed below.
To apply for one or more of these Executive Council positions, please fill out the application form on this page.
The person elected to this position is primarily responsible for co-organizing the ANS annual conference in close cooperation with the ANS President. As conference co-chair, the person in this position will issue an official call for papers, organize a team of reviewers, design the program of paper presentations, and coordinate with the Linguistic Society of America and the other linguistic affiliates or “Sister Societies”: the American Dialect Society (ADS), the Society of Pidgin and Creole Linguistics (SPCL), the Society for the Study of Indigenous Languages of the America (SSILA), The Association for Linguistic Evidence (TALE), and the North American Association for the History of Language Sciences (NAAHoLS). In addition to these duties, the VP also serves as a voting member of the Executive Council and, as such, is actively involved in the legislative process of the ANS. The person selected for this office has the option of running for the office of ANS President, at the end of his/her term. Candidates for this position are expected to have superior organizational, time-management, and communication skills.
The person elected to this position is principally responsible for organizing the ANS session at the annual conference of the Modern Language Association. This activity involves issuing a call for papers, assembling a team of abstract reviewers, selecting three authors whose work will be presented at the MLA conference, and coordinating the presentation of the three winning abstracts with the MLA administration. In addition to these duties, as a voting member of the ANS Executive Council (EC), the Allied Conference Coordinator participates in the legislative decision-making of the Society. Although the term of service for this position is for two years, the holder of this office may be re-elected pending approval by the EC. Given the fact that this position requires close communication with the MLA, candidates who have a demonstrated expertise in literary onomastics will receive preference.
The person elected to this position will serve as a voting member of the Executive Council (EC) and is expected to participate actively in the legislative decision-making involved in resolutions and motions placed before the EC. In addition to these duties, members-at-large serve on various auxiliary sub-committees to, for example, help with the nomination of new officers, coordination of the annual conference, and organization of allied conferences. Officers in this position can renew their term of service twice.
Recently presented at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Name Society, Jane Pilcher’s work explores surnames and surnaming in adoption. You can watch the full presentation here:
Watch this video on YouTube by clicking here.
Abstract:
In this talk, we present new data about adoptive family surnames drawn from our qualitative study in the UK which examines names in the experiences of adults who are either adoptees or adopters. Our findings suggest that adoptees and adopters can feel differently about surnames and how these link them – or otherwise – to familial lineages and to their own individual identities. Some adoptees may feel that their adoptive family surname does not link them authentically to that genealogical familial line or at least is disruptive for their sense of family identity. At marriage, some women adoptees were pleased to change their surname to that of their husband, as this meant they were able to exercise choice about their name-based familial identity and affiliation that had been denied them in the past. Yet other adoptees reported feeling happily connected to their adoptive family surname. For adoptees who had become parents themselves, sharing a surname with their child (and so across another generation) had made their adoptive surname meaningful to them in a way that it had not been previously. For participants who were adopters, sharing a surname with their child(ren) was also a key part of their family identity, including through extending the genealogical line. In examining these types of experiences of and feelings about family names amongst adult adoptees and amongst adopters, our article highlights the complexities of meanings of surnames for adoptive family life and for adoptees’ identities.
Biography:
Dr. Jane Pilcher is Associate Professor of Sociology at Nottingham Trent University in the UK. As a self-described sociological names nerd, Jane studies people’s names to analyse, understand and deconstruct identities and inequalities. Her current project examines names and naming in experiences of adoption.
Find our YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/@americannamesociety5739
Watch the rest of the 2024 Annual Meeting videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9UPV3RkICwd7ojIQwxUtxO-0tL90SDY7
Join the American Name Society:
The latest issue of Names: A Journal of Onomastics is now available online! Click here to read the latest in onomastics scholarship in volume 72, 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 home at the University of Pittsburgh. All journal content, including the content found in previous volumes, is available for free online as downloadable PDF files.
Table of Contents
Articles
Gender and the Urban Linguistic Landscape: Polish Street Naming Practices by Krzysztof Górny and Ada Górna
What’s in a Name: An Exploratory Study of Similarities and Differences Between Twins and Single-born Siblingsby Emma Otta, Gustavo Crivello Cesar, Eloísa de Souza Fernandes, Renata Defelipe, Keven Leandro dos Santos, Vinicius Frayze David, and Nancy L. Segal
The Negative Effect of Ambiguous First Names in Online Mate Selection: Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Japanby Kazuya Ogawa, Hiroki Takikawa
Young Chinese Women’s Reasons for Changing their Given Names: An Online Investigation by Yi Liu
Note
A Note on the UK Local BMD: A Full Name Onomastic Resource by Stephen J. Bush
Book Reviews
The Nameplate, by Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Attyah Flower, by Mary Ann Walter
Names and Naming in Beowulf by Philip A. Shaw, reviewed by T.K. Alphey
Recently presented at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Name Society, Deborah Ball’s work explores proper names and their grammatical characteristics. You can watch the presentation here:
Watch this video on YouTube by clicking here.
Abstract:
The category of proper names is quite varied and includes personal names, place names, company names, brand names, organisations, historical events, book and film titles, and numerous other sub-categories such as ships, swords, diseases, etc. Although the literature on the linguistics of proper names is filled with examples of personal names, as well as place names and other kinds of proper names to a lesser extent, the focus of the research and discussion leans heavily towards onomastics (history and use), semantics (meaning and/or reference) and morphology (word-formation). Much less can be found on the grammar of proper names. However, what can be found describes the importance of grammatical indicators displayed by proper names in speech and in writing, in helping us to make correct interpretations between those proper names and other kinds of words such as common nouns. It appears that proper names can range from being clearly proper names to being ambiguously so, and where there is ambiguity, there is grammar to point us in the right direction. Key grammatical indicators, at least in the English language, include the presence/absence of determiners and singularity/plurality. Although most proper names behave in a similar way grammatically, each sub-category has its own personality, and there are of course numerous exceptions. Understanding these differences will help form a better understanding of the particularities of brand names.
Biography:
Deborah Ball has been working in branding, content, marketing and communications for nearly 10 years in the UK and the US. One special focus has been brand naming. This was a source of inspiration for a part-time PhD with the University of Oxford researching the linguistics of brand names.
Find our YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/@americannamesociety5739
Watch the rest of the 2024 Annual Meeting videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9UPV3RkICwd7ojIQwxUtxO-0tL90SDY7
Join the American Name Society:
Call for Papers
an organized session at the 2025 annual meeting of the
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
9-12 January 2025
The American Name Society is now inviting proposals for an organized session at the 2025 annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America. The theme of this session is “Names and World-building in Fantasy & Science Fictional Universes.” The organizing committee is especially interested in papers that address how names impact the creation of worlds in works of literature, music, film, and games (table-top role-playing games, board games, video games, and others). Sample topics might include, but are not limited to:
Abstracts in any area of onomastic research related to the fantasy or science fiction genres are welcome.
Proposals require these elements:
Proposals should be submitted to the American Name Society via email at: abstracts@americannamesociety.org. For organizational purposes, place “LSA2025” in the subject of your email.
The DEADLINE for receipt of abstracts is August 15, 2024.
All proposals will be subjected to blind review. Notification of proposal acceptances will be sent by September 1, 2024. Following acceptance, authors must be current members of the ANS and register for the Linguistic Society of America annual meeting. Please contact us at the above email address if you have any questions or concerns.
Scheduling of the symposium by the LSA will be announced in October. Pre-registration for the meeting will open in late September.
We look forward to receiving your submission!
Recently presented at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Name Society, Sara Racca’s work explores the displacement of microtoponyms in Italy. You can watch the presentation here:
Watch this video on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DclAbiTEUDs
Abstract:
Place names are usually studied for their stability over time, that makes them ‘linguistic fossils’ informing us about previous stages of languages and people who spoke them on a certain territory. Furthermore, the study of their etymology unveils landscapes’ features that may have changed over time. However, while the relevance of the etymological study is undisputed, sometimes it can misdirect: over time, a toponym can “move” from its original place to a new location somehow related to the previous one. Thus, the semiotic relationship between toponym and referent falls apart, so that the study of etymology is no longer sufficient, and it becomes necessary to reconstruct the motivation that led to the displacement. This proposal presents the case study of some place names collected in an Italian town. Specifically, they are vernacular microtoponyms originally referring to rural areas, which, due to a process related to the role of contemporary hodonymy, have come to indicate suburbs of the town located a few hundred meters from the original place. The process is driven by the need to find new names for new urbanized areas, and can be found probably in other contexts with similar needs. The displacement, however, is in progress: inhabitants use the investigated toponyms to refer whether to the original rural areas or the new suburbs, depending on their socio-demographical characteristics. Therefore, the research captured the (perhaps transitional) time in which, in a sense, the identity of those place names is under redefinition.
Biography:
Sara Racca is a Postdoc at the priority program Language and Space, University of Zurich (Switzerland), where she is also affiliated with the Department of Geography. She obtained her PhD in Dialectology, Geolinguistics and Sociolinguistics in Turin (Italy) in 2022. In the field of onomastics, her main interests concern urban and sociotoponomastics.
Find our YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/@americannamesociety5739
Watch the rest of the 2024 Annual Meeting videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9UPV3RkICwd7ojIQwxUtxO-0tL90SDY7
Join the American Name Society:
