Journalist Perry Garfinkel recently interviewed ANS Information Officer Lisa Spira (Ethnic Technologies) for Vocations, a New York Times feature in which he asks people about their jobs. Read Lisa’s interview about her interest in onomastics and work at Ethnic Technologies.

The Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences has just announced that volume 13, Issue 1 of the academic journal, “Problems of Onomastics” (aka Voprosy onomastiki) has just been released. Covering a broad cross-section of onomastic topics, this latest volume contains English-language articles on anthroponyms of Arabic origin in Bashkir ‘Shejere’, commercial names and naming, and naming trends in contemporary Turkey.

Jeff Bezos, the Founder, Chair, and CEO of amazon.com, has announced the name of his latest venture. “The New Glenn” is a rocket-powered vehicle being designed to launch satellites and people into the great unknown from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rocket was named after John Glenn, the first US American to orbit the big blue planet. If all goes according to plan, the first launch will take place before 2020.

In January 1993, the former European country Czechoslovakia was divided in two separate nations. One is called “Slovakia.” What is the name of the other nation? The answer to that question will depend on who you ask. While some people prefer the name “The Czech Republic,” others prefer “Czechland,” “Bohemia,” or the snappy short version, “Czech.” Recently, government officials have tossed yet another onomastic contender into the ring: “Czechia.” Follow this toponymic debate.

For sci-fy gamers who dream of naming what no one has named before, “No Man’s Sky”, an online space exploration game that was released this August, offers the opportunity to discover and name a seemingly endless supply of virtual planets. Just how many planets are up for grabs? Eighteen quintillion. For those name enthusiasts who also love numbers that would be, more specifically, 18,446,744,073,709,551,616. Ironically, the highly anticipated release of the space exploration had to be delayed several times thanks to an unanticipated legal brawl over who owns the right to the product name “Sky”.

In commemoration of one of the bloodiest battles waged during World War II between German and Russian forces, veterans living in the city of Volgograd have begun campaigning to change the city’s moniker back to Stalingrad. The toponym “Stalingrad” met its demise in 1961 under the former Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev. Now, some 80 years after the legendary battle, Russia’s current leaders have expressed their favor with the onomastic back-step in an effort to celebrate the “Great Patriotic War”.

First-time travelers to Tasmania will discover not only new and unusual flora and fauna. They can also expect to find an unexpected tapestry of relatively unexpected place names. While many of these toponyms are a source of pleasure and pride for native Tasmanians (e.g. Milkshake Hills, Bob’s Knobs, and Nowhere Else), there are a few names that have become the center of considerable pubic controversy. An excellent case in point is the name “Eggs and Bacon Bay.” According to animal rights activists and a few hopeful food nutritionists, it is high time that a more vegan-friendly alternative be found.

What would YOU call an 8 centimeter (okay, 4 inch), blue-n-orange multi-tentacled sea slug that eats stinging jellyfish found along Western Australia’s ocean waters? That was the question recently posed by the Western Australia Museum and ABC News in a public competition to name the curious creature. After reviewing thousands of onomastic suggestions, the winner of the competition was finally announced. The animal is now called “Mordilla fifo” in honor of the state’s mine workers. Learn more about this underwater species and the onomastic runner-ups.

Known by aficionados as “the champagne of honeys,” Manuka honey, or rather the name for the bewitching elixir, has become the center of an increasingly nasty onomastic battle Down Under.

On the one side of the wrangle is New Zealand, who claim that the name “Manuka” by rights is theirs because the one and only plant used by bees to produce this exclusive honey, the Leptospermum scoparium, is native to New Zealand and the name “Manuka” comes from the Maori language. According to John Rawcliffe, head of New Zealand’s Unique Manuka Factor Honey Association, this is reason enough for his country to own the trademark on this name.

Trevor White, however, from the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council, told ABC news in an interview this past August that this campaign is ridiculous because the plant also grows in Australia and ”the name has been used in Australia for many years going back into the 1800’s.”

While some observers might dismiss both arguments as petty, there is more at stake here than onomastic bragging rights. Thanks in part to the reputed anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-mircrobial benefits of the natural sweetener, the combined Manuka market in Australia and New Zealand is worth ca. three hundred million dollars.