Name News

Call for Papers: II International Onomastic Symposium on Turkic world onomastics (Online)

The Department of Kazakh Language and Turkic studies of Nazarbayev University (Republic of Kazakhstan) together with the Institute of Turkic World Studies of Ege University (Republic of Turkey) will host the II International Symposium of Onomastics May 20-22, 2022 with the support of International Turkic Academy.

The purpose of the symposium – to discuss topical issues of Turkic world onomastics, to unite scientists working in this field, to stimulate scientists to new scientific research, to resume scientific discussions and debates, to define and bring to a unified system of naming principles in the Turkic world. We urge scholars and researchers working directly with onomastics, young specialists to contribute to the symposium.

Abstracts are due by 1 May 2022. For more on themes, directions, timelines, and contact information, see the full Call for Papers for the II International Onomastic Symposium.

“When a College Becomes a University”: The Economics of an Institutional Name Change

The seal of Daemen University, formerly Daemen College (Photo by Daemen University, CC-BY-4.0)

According to a study in the journal Economics of Education Review, a “College” that takes the “University” moniker is making a good financial move. A recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education reviews the study, noting that a name change often finds institutions experiencing “a near-immediate bump in enrollment.” Institutions saw increases of an average of 5.2% in the first five years and 7.2% after six years.

Read more over at The Chronicle of Higher Education.

About Names: “Remembered as popular slang, Trey continues as a nickname, or signifying the third”

Trey Parker, co-creator of “South Park” at the 65th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon (Photo by Peabody Awards, CC-BY-2.0)

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his March 13th column, he looks at the history of the name Trey.

Just how mad will March be for Nebraskans? One Trey and his team find out today.

March 13 is Selection Sunday, when teams for 2022’s NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament are chosen. Creighton University’s basketball team, which has a Trey in its starting lineup, has a good chance to be chosen.

On March 5, Creighton’s Trey Alexander, along with teammates Ryan Nembhard and Arthur Kaluma, was named to the Big East’s all-freshman team.

(The Huskers of Nebraska also have a Trey, Trey McGowens, but the team’s win-loss record this year wouldn’t let them even sniff the tournament.)

Since the 14th century, “trey,” (from Old French “treis,” or “three”) has been the English word for a playing card or domino with three pips or spots. By 1887, it was slang for any group of three things.

Sometime in the 20th century, Trey became a nickname for a man or boy with the same name as his father and grandfather and suffix “III”. Though so far the earliest example I’ve found of this is in Texas in 1942, it probably started a couple of decades earlier. Back then, the nickname had a preppy upper-crust image.

In Social Security’s baby name data, including names given to five or more boys born in a single year, Trey first appears in 1948. Since back then a Social Security number came along with one’s first job, it’s possible some Treys on the list in the 1940s and 1950s weren’t born with the name.

Want to learn more? Read on to find out more the history of the name Trey!

About Names: “Evelyn historically popular for both men and women”

Olympic gold medalist Evelyn Ashford (Photo: public domain)

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his March 27th column, he looks at the history of the name Evelyn.

Ann Campbell of Omaha, whose granddaughter Evelyn Campbell turns 5 today, asks about the name Evelyn.

Evelyn is a rare English surname derived from the Norman French woman’s name Aveline. Aveline is from ancient Germanic Avi (perhaps “desired”) with affectionate suffixes -el and -in added.

Emmett (from Emma) and Beaton (from Beatrice) are other examples of surnames derived from women’s names. It’s likely this happened when a woman was widowed when her children were young.

Around 1656, Elizabeth Evelyn — daughter of Sir John Evelyn — married Robert Pierrepont, a nephew of the Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull. In 1665, they named their third son Evelyn, one of the first examples of a mother’s maiden name used as a first name.

After his great-uncle and older brothers died childless, Evelyn Pierrepont became Earl in 1690. A chief advisor to Queen Anne, he was made a Duke in 1715 by King George I. His fame led other upper-class British families to name sons Evelyn. One later example was novelist Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966).

However, the Duke himself turned Evelyn into a female name in 1691 when he named his third daughter Evelyn. She married the Earl Gower and bore 11 children, including Lady Evelyn Leveson-Gower (1725-1763), wife of the Earl of Upper Ossory.

In 1841, England’s first census found 42 men and 42 women named Evelyn. In 1851, there were 196 women and 88 men. The 1850 United States census found 310 female and 53 male Evelyns. The girls have been far ahead on both sides of the Atlantic ever since.

Want to learn more? Read on to find out more the history of the name Evelyn!

Call for Contributions: “Decolonizing Our Names in the 21st Century: Place, Identity, and Agency”

Dr. Lauren Beck and Dr. Grace Gomashie announce a call for contributions for a volume titled “Decolonizing Our Names in the 21st Century: Place, Identity, and Agency”. The call for papers describes the volume:

“The last three decades have resulted in broad efforts to address the coloniality of the names that designate our communities and the people who live in or come from them. Calls to consult and give greater voice to marginalized groups, whether in Australia, Canada, Latin America, or Africa (among other nations and regions that have experienced or continue to experience colonization), shine light on the need to address harmful naming practices that have impacted and shaped our identities. Names have also been used to resist the settler-colonial normativity implied by maps, toponyms, street signs, institutional names, and even individual and collective names given to people. Furthermore, tools such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People—which many countries have adopted or are considering embracing—are transforming into calls to action so that marginalized groups choose and adopt their own names, and society more broadly subscribes to decolonized names and naming practices.”

“This collection of essays will offer both case studies that demonstrate how names are (or are not) decolonized, as well as theorizations about decoloniality at its intersection with names and identity. The book will bring together scholars working in Indigenous Studies, Critical Race Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, Postcolonialism, Onomastics, among other fields interested in decolonizing names. The book will attempt to offer tools to marginalized groups around the world so that they can pursue the decolonization of their names while challenging the so-called authorities who claim to govern naming conventions and practices.”

Abstract and submission instructions can be found on the call for papers here. Proposals are due by April 15, 2022. Completed chapters (8,000 words) are due in October 2022 for a 2023 publication.

On Kyiv/Kiev, Zelenskyy/Zelensky, and the Spelling of Ukrainian Names

In an opinion piece in The Washington Post, Benjamin Dreyer writes about the various spellings of Ukrainian place names and personal names. “Kyiv” and “Zelenskyy” are transliterations of Ukrainian spellings, whereas “Kiev” and “Zelensky” represent Russian spellings. Adding the definite article before “Ukraine” evokes a colonial past, when the now-sovereign state was a territory. Dreyer writes, “Those of us who follow publishers’ usages and standards at least as much as we set them out will continue to watch the Zelensky(y) matter with interest — and will be reminded that words, even “the” small ones, even their smallest components, can carry a big meaning.”

Read more in The Washington Post.

US Interior Department to Remove Derogatory Term from Federal Lands

In November 2021, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland moved to declare the word “squaw” derogatory. Now, the Department of the Interior is seeking public comment on how to rename over 660 geographic features that contain the derogatory word. Secretary Haaland commented, “Words matter, particularly in our work to make our nation’s public lands and waters accessible and welcoming to people of all backgrounds … Consideration of these replacements is a big step forward in our efforts to remove derogatory terms whose expiration dates are long overdue.” Read more over at NPR.

University of Alabama to Remove Klan Leader’s Name from Building

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.

Stolichnaya Vodka to be Rebranded “Stoli”

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.

Read more over at CNN.