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The most popular baby name in Israel in 2015 was Muhammad, given to some 2,730 newborn boys, according to a report released by the Central Bureau of Statistics of Israel. And for the second year in a row, the most popular Jewish name for a boy was Noam, with some 1,414 boys given this name, while the most popular Jewish name for a girl was Noa, which has remained one of the most popular names for a girl for the past 16 years. Keep reading this article in the Jerusalem Post to find out more about 2015’s most popular names!

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Lorne Grabher, a Canadian resident of Nova Scotia, has a personalized license place with his surname on it. He says the plate, which he has had for decades, was suddenly refused when it came up for renewal this year. Nova Scotia’s license plate regulations allow the province to refuse names deemed to be offensive or in poor taste. The province currently bans about 3,100 names. What do you think about the decision? And what would you do if your name was banned from a license plate?

Here is an exercise: Think of a piece of music that you love or hate.  Got it?  Can you hear that wonderful (or annoying) rhythm in your head?  But here is the million dollar question — Were you able to recall that tune without remembering the title of that music?  If you were (or even if you weren’t), there may be a very good reason why and it has very little to do with the number of records sold and everything to do with brain physiology.  Interested in learning more?  Read what researchers have recently discovered about the connection between music and naming in this article at Scientific American. They conducted a scientific study to find out which parts of the brain are important for naming a famous song.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is an internationally recognized leader in the international fight against deadly diseases. What few people know, however, is that the WHO is also involved in the bestowing names to illnesses. As any scientist can tell you, naming a disease is no easy task. The moniker chosen must not only be unique, descriptive, and accurate. Ideally, it will also avoid causing any unnecessary offense to people, places, and animals. To help the disease name-givers in their task, the WHO has a whole set of official guidelines for the naming of newly discovered human infectious diseases, as reported in Science magazine. However, not everyone is pleased about the rules and recommendations.

Among the existing monikers that its new guidelines “for the Naming of New Human Infectious Diseases” would discourage: Ebola, swine flu, Rift Valley Fever, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and monkey pox. Instead, WHO says researchers, health officials, and journalists should use more neutral, generic terms, such as severe respiratory disease or novel neurologic syndrome.

While the controversy continues in Washington, D.C., the state of California has introduced a new law (AB-30) prohibiting all public schools from using the name “redskins” for sports teams and mascots. American Indians regard the term as offensive. Calaveras High School, in Calaveras County, chose to drop the name it used for decades and decided that it would no longer have a mascot at all.

The new law is called the “California Racial Mascots Act“.  To read the exact text of this landmark piece of legislation, click through to the California Legislative Information website.

Pluto has not been having an easy time of it.  There was all that nasty controversy over whether it could retain the name “planet”. The year 2017 seems to be looking up for Pluto though; the International Astronomical Union has recently announced that Pluto’s lovely heart-shaped region will finally be receiving an official name of its own.  And if that wasn’t exciting enough, several other topographical features of this heavenly body are up for naming.  Interested in learning more? Click through to this Scientific American article to catch up on Pluto news!