Here’s your chance to contribute to onomastic research! If you have a moment, please participate in this short survey for Dr. Donna Lillian, past president of the American Name Society. Here is her announcement:
… Read MoreI have been conducting surveys on marital and family surname choices since 1985, approximately once per decade, and I have recently launched a new survey on this topic.
If you enjoy reading about names, we encourage you to join the ANS and share your name news with us!… Read More
Whether they’re called Nonni, Gammy, Tutu, Nana, Mamaw, Mimi, or Grammy, grandmothers hold a special place in our lives. Check out this great video from It’s A Southern Thing that reveals the secret of how grandmothers get their Grandma Names.
I scream, you scream, why is everybody screaming about ice cream? A Canadian ice cream company has begun to establish branches in the United States. Normally that news would make most residents of the lower 48 jump for joy. But, in this case, the name of the company has already caused quite a ruckus before most of the shop doors have even had a chance to open. The company’s name just happens to be “Sweet Jesus” and for some ice cream lovers, that onomastic choice is just too much to take. Other religiously-inspired food names are far from unusual. Aside from culinary favorites like Angel and Devil’s Food Cake, St. Lucia Buns, Hot Cross Buns, and good old fashioned Easter eggs, there are a number of companies that have taken their inspiration from Christianity when developing their business moniker.
What goes into a really good burger? Or a devastatingly delicious filet? Or how about a wonderfully spiced breakfast sausage? As far as the French government is concerned, one of the main ingredients for any of these products has to be meat. That means that vegetarian and vegan products which contain no animal products should not be allowed to carry names that have been traditionally associated with meat (e.g. sausage, burger, bacon, etc.). Supporters of the name-prohibition say this prohibition is all about product transparency. Critics say this is more about money than honesty. Click through to this article at News.com.au for more!
From the 25th to the 26th of August 2018, a Joint Workshop on Linguistic Annotation, Multiword Expressions and Constructions will be held in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is being organized as part of the LAW-MWE-CxG 2018 workshop co-located with COLING 2018. Abstracts for long and short papers are currently being invited. The deadline for abstracts is May 25, 2018. For more on the conference, visit their website.
Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his April 24th column, he looks at the history of the name Barbara.
Barbra Streisand, famed for these and many other artistic triumphs, was born Barbara Joan Streisand 76 years ago on April 23rd. First Lady Barbara Bush (1925-2018), who died a week ago at age 92, is the only other Barbara whose renown rivals Streisand’s.
When Barbara Bush was born in 1925, the name had risen to 22nd most popular. Then, in 1926, Broadway chorus girl Ruby Stevens saw a poster for Fitch’s play and renamed herself Barbara Stanwyck. She became a star the next year, when Barbara first broke into the top 10. Though Barbara would have been popular without Stanwyck, her film career pushed it to its peak when she claimed her first Oscar nomination for the tearjerker “Stella Dallas” in 1937. In 1938, more than 3.4 percent of newborn girls were named Barbara, ranking it second only to Mary. It stayed at No. 2 until 1945, and in the top 10 until 1959.
Want to know more? Read on to find out more about Barbaras in history!
The new buzzword in parenting is a mashup that will alarm even the most liberal of grammarians. A “theyby” is a baby born and raised free of the constraints of gender designation, according to an article published earlier this week by New York Magazine’s The Cut. Some new parents are adopting the childrearing practice, which includes keeping the baby’s anatomy a secret from others and referring to the child only by plural pronoun, in an effort to raise a more creative and uninhibited human. This article in AdAge discusses some of the ways that marketers are trying to appeal to parents of theybies.
Second grade classes from schools across New York City were asked to submit names for the newly launched NYC Ferries. Four Queens schools were selected as having come up with winning nautical names. In alphabetical order, some of these winning names and schools include “Rainbow Cruise” from P.S. 330 in Corona; “Starlight” from P.S. 112 in Long Island; “Spring Mallard” from P.S. 148 in East Elmhurst; and “The Ocean Queen Rockstar” from P.S. 197 in Far Rockaway, New York. For more on this innovative name contest, click here.
The latest in the Marvel movies to hit the screen, Black Panther, has been listed as the highest-grossing solo superhero firm of all times, with worldwide profits reaching over 1.2 billion dollars. Although the film had its premier in January of 2018, the native son of Wakanda has been around since in1966, when Marvel’s first Black superhero made his debut in the Fantastic 4 comic. By 1977, the popular figure had earned his very own comic. Given the obvious onomastic connections made between the real-life Afrocentric political movement lead by the Black Panthers and the fictional war waged by the fictional superhero, Marvel tried to change the character’s name to Black Leopard, but the name change was evidently rejected by fans, causing Marvel execs to concede defeat and re-adopt the name “Black Panther”. Read more in this article at History.com!
