Registration opens for the 2020 ANS Conference, New Orleans, LA, January 2-5, 2020

Registration is now open for the 2020 ANS Conference in New Orleans, LA. The ANS conference will take place in conjunction with the Linguistic Society of American (LSA) Conference from January 2-5, 2020.

To register, you must join the ANS or renew your ANS membership.

LSA Registration is now open! Go to the LSA Meeting page to register. You must be a member of the LSA (as well as the ANS) in order to attend.

You can also reserve your room at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside via the LSA. Use the LSA link to receive a special discounted room rate.

Once your membership is up to date, you can register online here, or download a PDF of the Conference Registration Form and mail it to ANS Treasurer Saundra Wright, as per the instructions on the form.

For more information about the ANS Conference and the LSA Conference, including rate and hotel information, please visit our Conference Page.

Changing Names: Tradition and Innovation in Ancient Greek Onomastics

Changing Names investigates, in relation to the ancient Greek world, the ways in which preferences in personal name-giving change: through shifts in population, cultural contact and imperialism, the popularity of new gods, celebrity status of individuals, increased openness to external influence, and shifts in local fashion.
Several major kinds of change due to cultural contact occurred: Greek names spread in regions outside Greece that were subject to Greek cultural influence (and later conquest), while conversely the Roman conquest of the Greek world led to various degrees of adoption of the Roman naming system; late in antiquity, Christianisation led to a profound but rather gradual transformation of the name stock.

The Onomastic Summer School was held in Finland

The International Council of Onomastic Sciences (ICOS) organized its first Summer School in Helsinki, Finland from 26 to 30 August 2019. The idea of an ICOS Summer School was to bring together young onomastic researchers from all over the world, to help them network and expand their onomastic knowledge.

The theme of the Summer School 2019 was Methods of Onomastics. The fast technological development – especially new tools and large datasets – are changing the nature of onomastic research. The course gave students an overview of the most crucial current methodological issues on various sub-areas of onomastics (e.g. toponomastics, anthroponomastics, literary names, commercial names, and socio-onomastics). The course was held in English. The teachers responsible for the course were Terhi Ainiala (University of Helsinki) and Paula Sjöblom (University of Turku).

How do paint companies name their hues?

Hannah Yeo, Benjamin Moore’s color and design expert, said names play an important role when people are making color selections. While color descriptions such as ‘light blue’ are helpful to narrow down colors and are quite straightforward, we also look for names that evoke positive associations, experiences and are inspiring.

Charlotte Cosby, head of creative at Farrow & Ball, said inspiration for their color names comes from all over. Cosby travels extensively for work, so she gets lots of name (and color) ideas from the places she visits, but just as important is the inspiration she finds in the landscape and dialect of England’s Dorset County, where the company is based. Farrow & Ball’s naming process is organic, Cosby said.

US state set to outlaw the name of the veggie burger

Soon, stores in Arkansas might not be able to call veggie burgers veggie burgers, or soy milk soy milk. That’s because a new law will prohibit what officials are calling misleading and confusing packaging on food items. Advocates for the law say that people might buy a veggie burger and be confused, because it is not meat-based. Although the word “veggie” does seem to offer a clue.

The law would prohibit the use of terms like “meat”, “sausage”, and “beef” on products that are not made from animals, as well as prohibit the labelling of items like cauliflower rice as “rice” or soy milk as “milk”. It would be punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 for each violation. Similar laws have passed in states throughout the country including Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, and South Dakota.

Why diet coke is considering stripping its name from some cans

Diet Coke is considering stripping its brand name off some cans sold in stores next year as part of a far-reaching diversity campaign.

The effort, called “[unlabeled],” is meant to spark a conversation about “the complexities of labels in today’s society—from the empowering and earned to the unwarranted and imposed,” according to campaign materials.

The campaign by Anomaly got a soft launch in June 2019 when the brand began distributing unlabeled Diet Coke cans at experiential marketing events and at panel discussions it sponsored. For instance, Diet Coke hosted a mixer at a recent event in Los Angeles put on by women’s empowerment group Girlboss.

Yosemite settles trademark dispute — other historical names to return

The historical names of several sites at Yosemite National Park, including the iconic Ahwahnee Hotel and Curry Village, are being restored thanks to a legal settlement in a long-running, much-watched trademark battle.

In a $12 million deal announced in July 2019, Yosemite’s former concessionaire, Delaware North, agreed to relinquish its claimed ownership of the park names and other intellectual property, which it says it acquired during nearly 25 years of running restaurants, motels and other services at Yosemite. The trademark claims, which park officials never agreed with, still prompted the park service in 2016 to rename the landmarks as well as alter slogans on T-shirts, ball caps and other souvenir merchandise.

Naming of reefs and undersea geographic features

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the Australian Hydrographic Office and the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection have an agreed process for naming reefs and other undersea geographic features within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The tripartite agreement was made in the 1980s because of the often ambiguous and overlapping roles between state and Commonwealth agencies in the naming of undersea geographic features within the Marine Park.

For example, a reef 210 kilometres east-north-east of Mackay now bears the name Joe Baker Reef in honour of the world-renowed marine scientist and one of our foundational board members. Professor Joe Baker, who passed away in 2018, was a dedicated Queensland scientist passionate about marine conservation.

How Language Keeps Evolving for the Devil’s Lettuce

Kush. Bud. Herb. Who knows what to call marijuana these days?

Born of the need for secrecy, slang has long dominated pot culture. But as entrepreneurs seek to capitalize on new laws legalizing recreational and medical marijuana, they too are grappling with what to call it. Heading to the dispensary to buy a few nugs or dabs? Marketers seeking to exploit the $10 billion market would prefer that you just called it cannabis. Shirley Halperin, an author of 2007’s “Pot Culture: The A-Z Guide to Stoner Language and Life,” has seen the shift in recent years. Keep reding here.

About Names: After French saint’s visions, Bernadette saw a rise in popularity

Actor Bernadette Peters

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his August 16th column, he looks at the history of the name Bernadette.

The most famous Bernadette is St. Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879), a miller’s daughter whose 1858 visions of a woman calling herself “The Immaculate Conception” were declared valid by the Roman Catholic church in 1862. The grotto near Lourdes in southern France where the visions occurred is one of the world’s most popular pilgrimage sites. Bernadette’s parents named her after medieval French monk St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153). After she became a novice of the Sisters of Charity, Bernadette spent hours copying texts related to St. Bernard.

When Social Security’s yearly name lists started in 1880, eight Bernadettes were born, ranking it 634th. The name rose as Lourdes became known to devout Roman Catholics. Newborn Bernadettes almost doubled in 1934 after Pope Pius XI canonized St. Bernadette on Dec. 8, 1933. Hollywood had a bigger impact. “The Song of Bernadette,” starring Jennifer Jones as the saint, premiered on Dec. 21, 1943. Jones got a Best Actress Oscar for the role. In 1942, 373 Bernadettes were born, and 1,321 arrived in 1946, when it ranked 188th, its highest ever.

Want to know more? Read on to find out more about Bernadettes in history!