Since January 1, 2016, China has relaxed its one-child policy to allow all married couples to have two children. The result? Millions of children who need names. This article at the Shanghai Daily looks at the challenges new parents face, as they consider Chinese naming customs (names that have been used by elder people in the family cannot be used for babies), Chinese character choices (uncommon characters can be unscannable in banking or social security systems), and the influence of pop culture in China. Not surprisingly, there’s been a lot of work for naming experts!

06/06/2010 at 03 :05 UTC
Southern Kuril Islands
Satellite: Aqua
NASA/GSFC/Jeff Schmaltz/MODIS Land Rapid Response Team

Diplomatic tensions between Japan and Russia have become extremely tense over naming rights.  Japan has filed a formal protest against Russia’s decision to give names to five uninhabited islands in the Kuril chain.  Located in the Pacific Ocean, just to the North of Japan’s Hokkaido Island, the chain has been a source of contention between the two for nearly a century.  The act of naming is not the only reason for Japan’s ire, but also the onomastic inspiration for the name.  For example, one of the disputed islands has apparently been named after General Kuzma Derevyanko.  According to CNN, it was General Derevyanko “signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender with the Allies in 1945”. The Japan Times has also covered this international dispute over names and territory.

The election polls are closed. The votes have been counted. The result is indisputable. Officials from the Maryland Zoo are pleased to announce that the winning name for the newborn baby giraffe is “Willow”. Chosen by 32% of the nearly 30,000 voters, the name Willow beat out the names Dottie and Imara which each received 21% and 17% of the public vote. Click to learn more about the 6’1″ female calf.

Pabu, Pagu, Porto, Mida, Moona, Ruka: Incantation? Or buzzy restaurants that opened recently around Boston? Hint: These days, if you have no idea what a word means, go with hot restaurant. This recent article in the Boston Globe looks at the spate of “Dr. Seuss”-type restaurant names in Boston, as well as the plethora of ampersand-laden monikers. And they even talk to a baby-naming expert, Laura Wattenberg, on why naming a restaurant is like naming a child.

Did you know that Mario’s last name is also Mario? He’s not alone. Apparently, it’s an ongoing gag spanning multiple games over at Nintendo HQ, where they jokingly give characters silly full names. In a new interview at Kotaku for Game Informer, legendary game developer Shigeru Miyamoto and Breath of the Wild producer Eiji Aonuma answer 51 fun questions about life, Link, games, and names. NB: If you’re not a gamer, you’ll still enjoy it!

Georgia residents participating in Moral Monday March for voting rights and civil rights. Photo credit: Stephen Melkisethian / Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

How does your name affect your right to vote? Many US citizens have already lost — or could still lose — their right to vote as a result of schemes put in place by Republican lawmakers in states they control. But following a lawsuit filed by the NAACP, Georgia recently agreed to correct its voter registration verification system, restoring the registration of over 42,000 purged voters in the process. It is a major victory for voter access. However, the case also illustrates that states that put in place voter suppression laws are not reversing them without a fight. Read about the intersection of names, IDs, and voting records, and how it’s more important than ever to protect voting rights.

At some point in its history, Covent Garden lost an ‘n’ (Credit: Alamy)

London’s Underground has some unusual station names. They names are curiously, even bizarrely, whimsical. Some seem suited better to a medieval fantasy (Knightsbridge, Queensway) or a children’s book (Piccadilly Circus, Elephant & Castle) – and others still make Londoners giggle (Shepherd’s Bush, Cockfosters). But these names weren’t chosen simply to give city-dwellers an alternate world to imagine as they hurtle beneath the capital. Some of their origins, in fact, date back millennia. The BBC looks at 10 of their favorites to find out where the names really come from.

Credit: Olivia Howitt

Forget choosing the correct password – what if you can’t even enter your name into a computer system? This BBC report from 2016 shows how difficult life can be for people with names like Jennifer Null and Janice Keihanaikukauakahihulihe’ekahaunaele. Forms often can’t deal with people who only have one name, or a single-letter surname, or names that are longer than expected. Find out how technology is slow to catch up with these “edge cases” – that is, unexpected and problematic cases for which the system was not designed.