“Names have power,” writes Jena Barchas-Lichtenstein in a recent popular essay, “The Violence of Naming.” We identify ourselves by names: family names, nicknames, the surnames of our partners, pseudonyms, and more. These five essays, curated by Cheri Lucas Rowlands at the Discover blog, explore the ties we have (or don’t have) to our names, and the roles that they play in our evolving identities.
The essays are:
“The Violence of Naming,” Jena Barchas-Lichtenstein
“Call You By Your Name,” Roxanne Krystalli, Stories of Conflict and Love
“Ain’t Nothing But a Family Thing,” Matt Miklic
“How I Changed My Name,” Ellen Kittle, Stickler
“The Mystery of Carl Miller,” Sarah Miller, Longreads
The website Ghana Place Names was started in 2010 as “a research project to find the meanings and origins of as many place names in Ghana as possible”. The intention of the Tropical Toponymy group is to broaden the scope and give opportunity for contributors to share their knowledge of place names anywhere on the continent of Africa. It is hoped that this will enable comparisons to be made and identify similarities and differences in naming motivations in the different cultures.
If you are interested, please request membership of the group. If you would like to contribute information about a place name, if possible please give at least the country & approximate location, and the meaning of the name. Some account of how the place got its name would also be useful. A picture of the place helps to make the name less abstract. Questions are also welcome, in the hope that other readers will be able to help. Relevant announcements and links may also be posted.
Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his May 9 column, he looks at the history of the name Candace. Candice is an alternative of Candace, Latin form of Kandake, itself the Greek form of kentake, which is Meroitic for “queen” or “royal woman.” Candace, like other biblical names, went out of style in the late 19th century. Candace peaked at 171st in 1952. The name’s fashion had ended, it seemed. Then Candice Bergen became a fashion model. Read on to find out more about famous Candaces!
The State Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages has confirmed in 2016 data that parents tend to stick with the orthodox and leave avant-garde names to the celebrities. This time, Olivia has cracked the number one spot for newborn girls, alongside the boy’s title-holder since 2014, Oliver. William and Charlotte were ranked second in their gender lists in a nod to the Royal family. Read on for more details!
Holding the line: Brian Benjamin sees the nickname SoHa as an attack on Harlem’s history. [Photo: Buck Ennis]
Arguments over what New York’s neighborhoods are called, where they start and end, and who has the right to say so are as old as the city itself. But the battles lately have become much more sophisticated. In this article in Crain’s, writer Joe Anuta reports on the conflict over what to call a section of Harlem, a delicate balancing act between the desires of developers and the need to respect the history of Harlem. This situation is also representative of naming issue in New York City in miniature.
Deficits in Action and Object Naming: Evidence from Acute Stroke and Primary Progressive Aphasia
Neurological damage can result in selective deficits of naming for both objects and actions. However, assessment of individuals with aphasia often focuses on object naming, making it insensitive for detecting certain language deficits and patterns of recovery or worsening, as well as providing an incomplete view of the neural regions involved in naming. Furthermore, although dissociations have been observed both following stroke and as a result of neurodegenerative conditions such as primary progressive aphasia (PPA), results from the different etiologies are seldom compared directly.
In this talk, I discuss recent work investigating the neural substrates of object and action naming. Individuals with PPA and acute stroke were given the same assessments: the Boston Naming Test to evaluate object naming and the Hopkins Action Naming Assessment to evaluate action naming. We compare the patterns of impairment and the association between behavioral performance and damage to neural regions of interest in these individuals in order to develop a more comprehensive picture of the brain-behavior relationships critical for naming.
Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his April 25th column, he looks at the history of the name Ella. The name Ella or Ela was brought to England in 1066 by Norman conquerors. In the late 18th century British and American authors were fascinated by medieval chivalry. Ela was one of many medieval names they revived — though they preferred spelling it with two l’s. The Ellas of today are mostly too young to be famous — though actresses Ella Peck (1990) of “Gossip Girl” and “Deception” and Ella Anderson (2005) of Nickelodeon’s “Henry Danger” are already well known. They and thousands of other young Ellas will enchant us for decades to come.
Animals feature frequently in the Floyd back-catalogue. Indeed, the 1977 album Animals includes tracks titled Dogs, Sheep, and a suite of music dedicated to pigs. Then there’s Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict from 1969’s Ummagumma. In fact, other biologists have already named a damselfly after that album: Umma gumma, in the family Calopterygidae. However, until today there have been no crustacean names known to honour the band.
