This is an interesting piece about how Facebook alienates transgender individuals by requiring real names. It also touches on the influence and power social media exerts over names.

Ariadne Diaz

In recent years, many of the names that increased the most in popularity are of Latino origin. Is this just the popularly trending culture for names or is it indicative of changing US demographics? Click here for the full article.

After his flight to Ibiza was booked under the wrong name, a student from Manchester, England, legally changed his name to match that on the booking instead of paying the alteration fee. Adam Armstrong had set his name on Facebook as Adam West, the stage name of the U.S. American actor who played the comic character in the now iconic ABC television Batman series. This backfired when his girlfriend’s stepfather, believing Adam’s surname to be West, booked their flights. After doing a bit of researching, Adam discovered that the fee for changing the name on the airplane ticket would have cost him whopping £220 (ca. $350), whereas officially changing his surname from “Armstrong” to “West” would cost less than half that amount. In one fell swoop, the resourceful Manchester student legally changed his surname to “West”, obtained a new passport, navigated around Ryanair’s booking alteration fees, and claimed his plane ticket for a well-deserved trip to sunny Ibiza. ZOOOIEEE!

In a historic election, the citizens of tiny village located in the Northern Spain voted to change the name of their town from the controversial anti-Semitic toponym Castrillo Matajudíos or “Fort Kill the Jews’” to Castrillo Mota de Judíos or “Fort Hill of Jews”.

Although the exact origin and motivation for the original moniker are still a matter of historical speculation, over its 1,000 year existence, the Jewish culture has long been part of the town’s heritage. In fact, the village coat of arms and flag both feature the Star of David.

According to the town major, Lorenzo Rodríguez Pérez, it was high time the town change its name. In an interview with the UK Guardian, he was quoted as saying that the villagers could no longer “carry a name that suggests we kill Jewish people when we’re completely the opposite; this is a community that sprang from Jewish roots and its descendants are the descendants of Jewish people”.

A Canadian band with the name VietCong has sparked international controversy. The Band took its name from the name of the Viêt Công political organization and army which fought against the US during the Vietnam War from 1959 to 1975.

The controversy surrounding the Canadian Indie band’s name choice came to a head when authorities at Oberlin College in Ohio decided to cancel a scheduled show at The Dionysus Disco, a student-run night club on campus. The university cancelled the performance on the grounds that the group’s name was injurious and deeply offensive. While some defend the band’s right to name themselves as a necessary and sacred expression of artistic freedom, others feel that the teenage band is an exploitative and insensitive ploy to gain public attention.

Click here for more information.

On June 15, 2015, at 13:45 CEST, Princess Madeleine, the Duchess of Hälsindland and Gästrikland, in Sweden, gave birth to a healthy baby boy. On the 17th of June, Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf announced the official name and title of his grandson: Nicolas Paul Gustaf, Duke of Ängermanland.

Although the name Nikolas is a very common Swedish name, the spelling Nicolas is rather unusual and may reflect the heritage of the newborn’s father, the American-British financier, Chris O’Neil. The newest member of the Swedish Royal family, the little prince is the sixth in line to the Swedish crown—one step behind his older sister, Princess Leonore Lilian Maria Bernadotte, Duchess of Gotland.

It remains to be seen whether the names of the Prince and Princess will have a significant effect on personal naming patterns in Sweden.

Click here for more information.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has decided to run again for his old office. In an effort to reignite voters’ interest, Sarkozy announced that the opposition party would be changing its name from “Union for a Popular Movement” (UMP) to Les Républicains.

The name change has created quite a bit of controversy. Supporters have praised the move as a savvy and elegant way to attract voters who have moved far left of center while shedding the Party of old, unwanted political baggage. Critics worry that the move may help to strengthen and/or legitimate right extremism.

It remains to be seen how the onomastic make-over will affect the 2017 Presidential race.

As economists and politicians argue whether or not Greece should exit the European Union, onomastic experts have watched the birth and spreading popularity of a new political name.

A clever blending of the place name “Greece” and the verb “to exit”, the name Grexit has become a part of the everyday vocabulary throughout the EU and beyond. The onomastic antonym to Grexit, namely Grecovery (a blend of the words Greece and recovery) does not seem to have made as much headway.

The difference in frequency and recognizability between the two names would seem to be a telling barometer of Europeans’ predictions for the future of Greece within the EU.