On the 16th December, Japan’s Supreme Court announced its verdict on the constitutionality of the law banning spouses from carrying separate last names: The court ruled that the band is indeed constitutional. However, as the current Chief Justice Itsurō Terada, cautioned, this issue will also need to be deliberated by the National Diet. Hence, the debate over this controversial naming prohibition will in all likelihood continue for some time to come.

Find additional information in Japanese here.

Based on statistics kept by rover.com, a company specializing in matching dog owners with dog care providers, the following are the top 10 dog names of 2015:

Male dogs:

1. Max
2. Charlie
3. Buddy
4. Cooper
5. Jack

Female dogs:

• Bella
• Lucy
• Daisy
• Molly
• Lola

Notice that several of these names are also popular among human babies. The distinction between human names and dog names is blurring.

Just in time for the new Star Wars film, the US American English Dictionary, Merriam Webster has released an article about the film series’ influence on the English lexicon. Among the many words that the fantasy film has introduced into common parlance are several character names (characteronyms) such as Jedi and Wookie. However, as the Dictionary-makers explain, the popularity and familiarity of these names is not enough to warrant their immediate inclusion in the official word lists. After all, character names frequently go as quickly as they come.

In the meantime, less conservative lexicological repositories have already added many Star Wars characters to their collection. For example, the (in)famous e-lexicon, the Urban Dictionary, already contains many entries derived from the Star Wars enterprise…although in many cases, the original onomastic referents have undergone pretty significant shifts.

Although the official countdown marking the end of 2015 has not yet begun, names scholars have already made predictions about what will be the most popular baby names for 2016.

According to a November 2015 issues of the magazine “Good Housekeeping”, the following names will make the top ten US list in the new year:

• Hezekiah
• Kale
• Gertrude
• Eurydice
• Iker

By comparison, based on statistics kept by the Baby Center UK, the November 5th issue of The Huffington Post has placed its bets on a completely different set of personal names:

Girls

• Marni
• Eden
• Astrid
• Nora
• Emi

Boys

• Devon
• Otto
• Aspen
• Atticus
• Hector

Official name popularity statistics will be released in the new year.