A Supermoon behind Cerro Armazones mountain in Chile (Photo by G.Hüdepohl (atacamaphoto.com)/ESO, CC-BY-4.0)

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal reviews the phenomenon called “perigee syzygy”, better known as the “Supermoon”. Jo Craven McGinty discusses the origins of the popular term supermoon: “Richard Nolle invented the neologism for an article published in Dell Horoscope magazine in 1979. It captured the imagination of the public and—perhaps adding insult to injury—eclipsed the technical term for the event.”

Read more about the phenomenon and when to see it at The Wall Street Journal.

An online dictionary explaining the meanings and origins of more than 45,000 British and Irish surnames is being made accessible to all in the hope that it might help bring families separated by Covid-19 closer together.

For the next week – until May 21 2020 – people will be able to tap into the Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland for free and find out where their surnames – and thus perhaps their ancestors – came from. The dictionary was compiled by a team of researchers from UWE Bristol. It includes every surname that currently has more than 100 bearers, and all those that had more than 20 bearers in the 1881 census.

ANS member Richard Coates, a professor emeritus of onomastics at UWE Bristol, who led the research, said he thought it was a “splendid” idea to open it up. “There seems to be perpetual interest in where surnames come from. It can be an excellent way of helping people begin to trace their family histories.”

The dictionary suggests nearly 40,000 family names are native to Britain and Ireland, while the remainder reflect the diverse languages and cultures of immigrants who have settled since the 16th century.

The dictionary can be accessed here. Families are being invited to post a photo or image that sums up what their name means to them with the hashtag #familynames202.

A report heading to Winnipeg’s city council shows low support for changing street or park names or removing historical markers despite the sometimes problematic history of people they’re named after.

Community consultations for Welcoming Winnipeg: Reconciling our History shows 49 per cent of respondents did not want historical markers removed, even if, from a modern perspective, the actions of the honouree was controversial. However, 23 per cent of respondents were fine with changing or removing names.

The city of Winnipeg embarked on the community consultations after Mayor Brian Bowman announced last January that the city would review how it names streets and places, acknowledging the lack of Indigenous history in the city’s naming systems.

The Port Stephens community (New South Wales, Australia) is being called on by the Geographical Names Board to have their say about a proposal to formally name a Medowie reserve after the iconic Bower bird.

Board chair Narelle Underwood said feedback was being sought on Port Stephens Council’s proposal to name a public reserve located north of Topaz Avenue, within The Bower residential estate, as Bower Reserve. “It is important that place names reflect the character and history of the local area and community,” Mrs Underwood said. They want to make sure everyone has an opportunity to provide their feedback on the proposed name. According to the submission, the name is derived from the estate name that the reserve is located in.

A market town in Somerset has topped a list of the 10 most difficult-to-pronounce place names in the UK.

Frome is the most mispronounced town in England, according to a team of linguists behind a language learning app. Ballachulish in Scotland, Beaulieu in Hampshire and Woolfardisworthy in Devon also made the top 10. The list’s makers said British English was “famous for some of the most confusing pronunciations on earth”.

‘How do you say?’: The Top 10 ‘most difficult’ place names

Frome, Somerset, England
Ballachulish, Highland, Scotland
Godmanchester, Cambridgeshire, England
Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
Woolfardisworthy, Devon, England
Beaulieu, Hampshire, England
Bicester, Oxfordshire, England
Ynysybwl, Cwm Clydach, RCT, Wales
Rampisham, Dorset, England
Quernmore, Lancashire, England