Fans everywhere are excited about the recently released Star Wars movie! With this long-awaited cinematic moment, names enthusiasts will be able to feast upon the ever-growing set of charactonyms. Alongside the now legendary names of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and R2-D2, there is Maz Kanata, Kylo Ren, and BB-8. For all those out there who want to test their intergalactic prowess, check out this cornucopia of Star Wars name games.
Name News
Super Victor wins name contest for UEFA Euro 2016 Mascot
In recent months, the Union of European Football Associations or UEFA has made international headlines thanks to continuing scandals about secret bank accounts, mysterious money transfers, and insider trading. While efforts continue to get to the bottom of this seemingly endless quagmire, plans are well underway for the UEFA Euro games to be held in 2016 in France.
As a part of the planned festivities, the UEFA organizational team asked names and sports enthusiasts to name the new soccer/football mascot. Voters were asked to select one of three different names for the adorable brown-eyed superhero cloaked in red, white, and blue: Driblou, Goalix, or Super Victor. After all of the votes were counted, a clear onomastic winner emerged. Out of the more than 100,000 votes received, the name Super Victor was chosen by an impressive 48% of voters.
House Beautiful: Name This Color!
The decorating magazine House Beautiful is running a naming contest: Readers are encouraged to send in their onomastic nominees for a color featured in the November/December issue of the magazine. The names will be judged on the basis of originality and creativity. The winner will receive a cash prize in addition to the honor of naming the new hue. Submit your name suggestions by the 3rd of January 2016.
Study Finds Racial Discrimination by Airbnb Hosts
The short term rental website, Airbnb, requires users to use real names in their profiles. A recent study published in Bloomberg Business found that hosts accept white renters at a higher rate than they accept black renters.
Onomastician Shout-out
Take a look at today’s New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle:
Teens pick ‘Smombie’ as hippest German word
Each year in Germany, a team of linguists, journalists, celebrities, and teenagers assemble to select the word of the year from a long list of candidates nominated by the general public. After intense deliberation, the expert German Jury finally announced the winner of the 2015 word of the year among German youth “das Jugendwort des Jahres”: Smombie
The word is the special name which German children and teens have given to a person who walks mindlessly through the world while typing on his/her mobile phone. The name “smombie” is a word-blend formed from “zombie” and “smartphone”.
The contest for the coolest, grooviest, hippest, most totally awesome and rad, youth word of year is held each year by the world famous German dictionary maker, Langenscheidt.
Cast your vote for the ANS Name of the Year!
Tajikistan Mulls Banning Islamic-Sounding Names
The Tajik parliament recently began discussing implementing restrictions on what parents can name their children, particularly focusing on banning Islamic names. Since the 1980s, the Tajik people have shifted away from Russian names towards more traditional Tajik names. In the last decade, this 90% Muslim country has shifted towards more Islamic names, which weren’t previously popular.… Read More
New Book: Names and Naming – People, Places, Perceptions and Power
A new book, Names and Naming – People, Places, Perceptions and Power is scheduled to be released in February, 2016. This book is edited by Guy Puzey and Laura Kostanski. E-onomastics provides more information about the book.
Why You Shouldn’t Freak Out About Babies Named for Instagram Filters
Parents have started naming babies after Instagram filters, but we shouldn’t be concerned about the future of baby names. In an interview with Time, Dr. Cleveland Evans explains the nature of this new onomastic trend.
At Princeton, Woodrow Wilson, a Heralded Alum, Is Recast as an Intolerant One
Woodrow Wilson is perhaps best known as the 28th President of the United States. However, at Princeton University, the name of the Nobel Peace Prize winning politician from the Southern state of Virginia has begun to take on an additional association: racial discrimination.
The university’s Black Justice League has publicized the history of Wilson’s unwavering private and public support for racial segregation in the United States. According to leaders of the Princeton activists, this legacy of intolerance is not only an affront to minority students and staff, it also calls into question the appropriateness of university institutions continuing to carry the former President’s surname. Critics of the recent calls for on-campus name-changes are quick to remind, however, that the prestige which the university currently enjoys is due in no small measure to Wilson’s past leadership as one of the university’s early presidents.
According to an article appearing recently in the New York Times, the final decision over whether the names of certain campus mainstays such as the renowned “Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs” will undergo an onomastic make-over is in the hands of the University’s Board of Trustees. Although deleting the name Wilson will not right the wrongs done during the Wilsonian period, the discussion may well help current generations to appreciate the importance of protecting the civil rights which so many gave their lives to secure.