Call for Papers: Lavender Languages and Linguistics 26, Gothenburg, Sweden, May 2–4 2019

The Lavender Languages and Linguistics conference, dedicated to language and sexuality research, has run annually since 1993. In May 2019 scholars will convene in Sweden, with the conference being hosted in Gothenburg. Lavender Language 26 will retain its inclusive, supportive atmosphere and students and scholars with an interest in language and sexuality (broadly defined) will be welcome.

Confirmed keynote speakers
Erika Alm, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Mons Bissenbakker, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Rodrigo Borba, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Holly Cashman, University of New Hampshire, USA
Thabo Msibi, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Shirley-Anne Tate, Leeds Beckett University, UK

Organizers
Stina Ericsson, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Tommaso M. Milani, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Kristine Køhler Mortensen, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

They invite abstracts for presentations, which explore the linkages between language and sexuality in the broadest sense. The conference aims to illuminate the diversity in the field by welcoming varied topics demonstrating the diverse theoretical, methodological and empirical contexts for researching language and sexuality.

Deadline for individual abstracts: 30 November 2018. For more information, please visit the Lavender Languages and Linguistics website.

About Names: Evolution of Randall has spanned multiple generations

Poet Dudley Randall

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his September 24th column, he looks at the history of the name Randall.

Old Norse Rannulfr, “shield-wolf,” came to England with Norman conquerors in 1066 as Randulf. Clerks writing in Latin made Randolph the common spelling. Randall or Randell was Randolph’s nickname, adding French diminutive “el” to Rand. In 2010, 54,764 Americans had Randall as a surname, while there were 41,129 Randolphs, showing Randall was more common as the everyday medieval form.

Randall and Randolph became rare as first names after 1400, but never vanished. When Social Security’s yearly name lists started in 1880, Randolph ranked 398th and Randall 731st. For the next 55 years, Randolph ranked about the same while Randall steadily rose. Randall surpassed Randolph in 1936. Both then boomed — Randolph peaked at 154th in 1952 and Randall at 53rd in 1955, when 6,684 were born.

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

Andrew Douglas Clifford maps te reo place names

Andrew Douglas-Clifford, who is in his early twenties, used a range of resources to put together an online map and poster giving New Zealand places and natural features the te reo Māori names bestowed by the indigenous people.

He spent months creating the detailed, interactive online map that offers Māori names for towns, cities, lakes, notable mountain peaks, rivers, bays and international cities and countries. The map on his Map Kiwi website also shows marae locations around the country.

You can read more about his work, or listen to an audio version of the story at the Radio New Zealand website.

Call for Papers: 21st International Cartographic Conference (ICC2019), Tokyo, Japan, July 15-20 2019

The 29th International Cartographic Conference will take place in Tokyo, Japan, 15–20 July 2019. The Organizing Committee of ICC2019 invites all interested participants to submit full papers or abstracts for the oral or poster presentations. Join and share the latest innovations and developments in mapping techniques, technological advancements, and current research in cartography and GIScience. Conference themes and topics are listed, but not limited to, below. The event is a unique experience to exchange ideas and encourage collaboration with colleagues from academia, government and industry.

All submissions will be reviewed by the International Scientific Committee. All accepted submissions will be published as the Advances in Cartography and GIScience of the ICA, Proceedings of the ICA, or Abstracts of the ICA. Selected papers will also be published in the International Journal of Cartography.

All details and the submission form can be found on the ICC website: icc2019.org/papers.html.

The deadline for abstract submissions is 19 December 2018,

The Skinny on Meal Kit Company Names

Meal kit delivery is relatively new, but the concept has spawned fierce competition in the last six years. With a raft of similar companies vying for the same customers, the pressure is on for branding teams to make sure their company stands out from the crowd. That process starts with the company name. And for those of us outside of the meal kit industry, looking at an entire category like this provides great naming lessons for how to differentiate our brands.

Of course, in its branding and marketing, each company conveys messages beyond what’s obvious from the name. Most of those are common to the category: farm-to-table freshness, great taste, healthful eating, sustainability, ease, convenience. But focusing on the names themselves yields plenty of choice branding morsels.

At Marketing Profs, Mark Skoultchi of the naming firm Catchword dives into the meal kit naming world and provides five takeaways from the naming of meal kit brands. Click through to get some tasty naming naming lessons!

Fifth International Conference on Onomastics Name and Naming (ICONN), Baia Mare, Romania, September 3-5, 2019

Announcing the Fifth International Conference on Onomastics Name and Naming: The event will be held September 3-5, 2019, in Baia Mare, Romania. It will focus on “Multiculturalism in Onomastics”. Further information about the conference can be found on the ICONN 5 website.

Multiculturalism is a more and more prominent topic in contemporary international public space, whether one considers it in relation to politics, religion, ethnicity or culture. In what onomastics is concerned, multiculturalism appears in all its subfields. In toponymy, for instance, in multi-ethnic areas there are names with etymologies from different languages; when analysed in diachrony, these names testify to the history and geography of the places in question. In anthroponymy, the multicultural element is associated with religion, ethnic belonging and the onomastic fashion of a certain age. In ergonymy, multiculturalism mirrors the configuration of the present-day world, in which globalisation determines the existence of an increasingly diverse landscape, as regards names of companies, brands and products.

The Changing Place Names of Washington, D.C.

“View looking northwest from Anacostia: [Washington D.C.],” John L. Trout, 1901. Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress.

Kim Edwin, a library technician in the Geography and Map Division, has written about the history of place names in Washington, D.C. for the Library of Congress. She discusses the complicated array of toponyms and political geography over its history. Here’s a sample:

The Residence Act of 1790 created a national capital, known as the Federal District, from portions of Maryland and Virginia, centered on the convergence of the Potomac and the Anacostia rivers, which are names derived from the Algonquian Native American language. In 1791, President George Washington appointed Major Pierre Charles L’Enfant to develop a plan for the new city. This resulted in a map, now famously known as the L’Enfant Plan, an enhanced version of which can be seen below. L’Enfant does not name the new city in his map, but within his layout of streets, marked by circles and diagonals, he shows locations for the “President’s House” as well as the “Congress House.” It even has a “Grand Avenue” on the site of today’s National Mall.

Want to know more? Click through to read it all at the website for the Library of Congress!

About Names: Swahili names like Taraji, Sanaa see swell in popularity

Taraji P. Henson

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his September 10th column, he looks at Swahili names.

Actress Taraji P. Henson turned 48 recently. Bernice and Boris Henson named their daughter Taraji Penda. In Swahili, taraji means “hope” and penda means “love”. Both taraji and penda are verbs in Swahili. “Penda maadui wako” is Swahili for “Love your enemies.”

The English verb “hope” is more often translated by the Swahili word “tumaini” than “taraji.” Swahili speakers use “tumaini” when they trust what’s hoped for will really happen. “Taraji” is a bit more tentative, closer to English “wish.”

Swahili was first spoken in Zanzibar and coastal Tanzania and Kenya. It became the trade language of all East Africa. Today, it has around 75 million speakers in Uganda, Mozambique, Rwanda and the Congo, as well as Kenya and Tanzania.

Since the 1960s, African-American parents have turned Swahili words into names. Many of them aren’t actually used as names in East Africa. Of course, they aren’t the only foreign words turned into American names — Irish “colleen” (girl) and French “chérie” (darling) weren’t names in Ireland or France.

In East Africa, the huge majority of Swahili speakers are Muslim, and most of the names they use are Islamic. Swahili variations of Muslim Arabic names are also used by African-Americans. One of the most common is Omari, Swahili form of the Arabic “Umar,” “long life” or “flourishing,” name of the second caliph after Muhammad’s death. Actor Omari Hardwick (1974), since 2014 starring as the nightclub owner “Ghost” St. Patrick on the crime drama “Power,” has helped this name boom in the African-American community. Omari ranked 512th for American boys in 2017.

Want to know more? Read on to find out more about Swahili names in American history!