There are countless toponymic homographs that have different pronunciations depending on meaning and that cannot be found in traditional dictionaries (e.g. at least one Houston in each US state, not even counting street names…). To overcome the limitations of traditional dictionaries, Cofactor Ora integrates with the Google Knowledge Graph and lets everyone edit and contribute pronunciations of names: both audio recordings and IPA pronunciation respellings.

Referencing an entity in the Google Knowledge Graph, each place name in Ora is linked to a location in Google Maps, and each persons’ name is linked to the Wikipedia articles. This allows Ora to list pronunciations for any number of people, places, and things that ever existed. Go ahead and contribute to Ora now!

Each year, Time magazine announces the name of an individual, group, idea, or object that has had a profound and significant influence on the events of the past 12 months. For 2018, the news organization announced that this recognition has been given to the murdered journalist and human rights activist, Jamal Khashoggi, and other killed and imprisoned journalists.  This decision marks the first time that the news agency has named a “Person of the Year” who is deceased.  The selection of the journalist, whom the US government’s intelligence community has determined was brutally tortured before being butchered by Saudi-directed operatives, is to serve as a symbol. According to Time editor Edward Felsenthal, the slain reporter is “the most visible representative of this harrowing year for truth.”

Those named also included the journalists killed in the mass shooting at the Capital Gazette in Maryland in June, two Reuters reporters jailed in Myanmar after investigating the massacre of Rohingya Muslims and Maria Ressa, a journalist in the Philippines facing tax evasion charges that she has called “political harassment”.

Louisville International Airport is getting a name change on a recommendation by a working group that studied renaming for more than a year. After a vote on Wednesday January 16, 2019, Mayor Greg Fischer announced the airport would be re-named to Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, in honor of the heavyweight champion boxer and Louisville native.

Lonnie Ali, Muhammad’s widow, issued a statement on the city’s decision:

“I am proud that the Louisville Regional Airport Authority and the City of Louisville are supportive of changing the name of the Louisville International Airport to reflect Muhammad’s impact on the city and his love for his hometown.”

Macaulay Culkin’s middle name is currently “Carson.” But, starting in 2019, it will be “Macaulay Culkin,” as in Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin.

The Home Alone actor has been polling his fans on what his new middle name should be. The other choices were “Shark Week,” “Kieran” (his younger brother’s name), “TheMcRibisBack,” and “Publicity Stunt.” Ultimately his fans went with the meta choice of his own first and last name.

On Christmas day he made the big announcement.

Finnish names in the late 1800s. Image: Severin Falkman (1880) / Museovirasto, Musketti / Yle

Finland will update name laws at the start of 2019 to provide residents with a wider range of options for their own names as well as their children’s. The new laws will create more space for foreign-background names and families. First names will no longer have to conform to Finnish tradition. That said, many foreign-background names that have become widespread as a result of immigration already comply with Finnish naming practice.

But civil servants will still regulate name-giving in Finland to some degree. Last year, the names committee maintained by the Ministry of Justice nixed parents’ plans to name baby boys Alcapone, Enikko, Monck, Weicca, and Topelius. Officials also shut down Poon, Wolf, Fafnir, Marj-Linn, Paulii, and Tuhka (’ash’) for girls.

The association asks Jean-Paul Durand, mayor of Villers-sur-Mer, to rename the rue Saucisse the “rue Soycisse”. (© Pays d’Auge)

In Dordogne, France, the animal rights organization, PETA, has petitioned the local mayor to alter the name of a main street in the medieval village. According to PETA, the street currently known as “Rue de la Saucisse” (Sausage Street) should be changed to something less offensive to animal-lovers.  What was initially viewed by public officials as a joke has now sparked considerable controversy. Interestingly, according to some townspeople, the place name was actually inspired by the nickname given to a long-deceased villager who carried the moniker “Saucisse” with pride.

The group has officially requested that the town’s mayor steps in and renames it “Rue de la Soycisse” after soy, a common ingredient in vegan meals. Unfortunately for PETA, the request has already been poo-pooed by Mayor of Issigeac Jean-Claude Castagner. Castagner told Le Parisien that he initially thought the letter from PETA had been sent as a “gag”, but “after checking, I realized that it was an official [request].”

From 1990 to 1994, the North Korean government exhumed and returned the remains of US American soldiers who had died during the war. Those remains were placed in 208 boxes. According to Department of Defense officials, as many as 400 different soldiers may be represented in those boxes.  For decades now, military forensic scientists have been attempting to identify the names and identities of these Missing in Action/Prisoners of War.  A crucial key to unlocking this mystery has not only been the use of DNA technology, but the recovery of an incredible list of MIA/POWS who died while being held captive.  Composed in secret by a surviving POW John Johnson, this list contains the names of 496 fellow soldiers. In a project called Finding the Families, researchers are using this onomastic data to help finally put a name to soldiers who valiantly fought and died while serving their nation. To date, military officials estimate that more than 7,800 US American soldiers from the Korean War remain unaccounted for. Click here to view the names on the “Johnnie Johnson List” or to learn more about the government’s continuing efforts to locate the names of Korean War POW/MIAs.