Wellington trains haven’t been accurately pronouncing Māori place names. But now the Greater Wellington Regional Council is updating the recording for the automated announcements to reflect the correct pronunciation of in te reo Māori [the Māori language].

What is harder than getting rid of an old name that irritates a LOT of people? Finding a new name that does not tick-off even more people. A group of wishful re-namers in Austin, Texas, recently learned this lesson.

In hopes of finding a new moniker for their local elementary school, “Robert E. Lee Elementary,” school officials started an internet naming contest. The result was abysmal. Not only was participation surprisingly low, but the name suggestions ranged from disappointing to downright shocking. Among the top ten names suggested was, for example, the “Adolf Hitler School for Friendship and Tolerance.”

Interested in knowing what name made the top spot among the school’s onomastic nominees? Here is a wee hint: it was not Democratic hopeful “The Hillary R. Clinton Elementary School.” “Schoolie McSchoolface” also made the list of nominees…but it was not the number one choice. Find out the top nominee.

“I renamed all my Pokemon whatever my 2 year old called them” says it all.

In an act of zoological onomastic history-making, Akron, Ohio’s famous snow leopard triplets were given the chance to pick their own names. After collecting almost 7,00 suggestions from the general public, zoo officials announced that the triplets had chosen the names “Altai”, “Asha”, and “Layan” which mean golden, hope, and gentle, respectively.

Presidential races even impact baby names. Babycenter’s recent study found that Clinton is currently influencing baby names more than Trump is.

In the pharmaceutical business, companies hoping to jump on the profit bandwagon of their competitors often release products that have no significant clinical difference to the market leaders. Makers of these “biosimilars” have long argued that their products should be allowed to carry the same generic or non-proprietary names as the name brand leaders. However, many of the major drug franchisors have fought tooth and nail against this practice, claiming territorial rights. Caught in the middle of the billion-dollar onomastic fight has been the US government. Recently, however, the FDA proposed a solution. The generic drug system would be augmented with a random set of four letters. Learn more about the proposed naming rules.

In a recent article published by “The New Indian Express”, it was announced that, for the very first time in Indian history, the electoral roll for the Kerala Assembly elections would have a third gender option.

2016 marks the first year anniversary of Ohio University’s historic decision to recognize the right of OU students to have their preferred name and pronoun used on official university listings such as class rosters, advising lists, and student ID cards.

 

Salt Lake City now has a street named after Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay politicians to run for and win public office in US history. In 1977, the social activist was elected to San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors. A year later, he was assassinated along with San Francisco Mayor, George Moscone. Although a few Utah residents fought against the proposed toponym, according to Stan Penfold, Utah’s first openly gay councilman, the majority of the community embraced the move to add “Harvey Milk Boulevard” to the state’s rich toponymic history.

Earlier this month, New York temporarily renamed 33rd Street to honor the late boxing legend Muhammad Ali. The new street sign was added to below “33rd Street” near Madison Square Garden.