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“Aleppo” Chosen 2016 Name of the Year

“Aleppo” was chosen the Name of the Year for 2016 by the American Name Society at its annual meeting in Austin, Texas on January 6, 2017.

The name of the largest city in Syria, which has endured over four years of conflict in the country’s civil war, has became a symbol for the horrors of modern warfare. It also figured in the presidential election when Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson asked an MSNBC interviewer “What is Aleppo?” in response to a question in September, showing he was not paying attention to international news.

Aleppo was also voted Place Name of the Year for 2016.

Aleppo won the vote in a close contest with Drumpf, which was chosen ANS’s Personal Name of the Year. The original German form of President-elect Donald Trump’s family name became well known when John Oliver, host of HBO’s satirical news show “Last Week Tonight,” urged viewers to refer to the candidate as “Drumpf”.  HBO created DonaldDrumpf.com, which still sells “Drumpf” merchandise. The continued use of “Drumpf” shows the power of naming and name-calling.

Hamilton was chosen as Fictional Name of the Year. The title of this hugely popular Broadway musical was in the news in 2016 both because of winning 11 Tony awards, and because of a statement by cast members to Vice-President-elect Pence when he attended a November 18 performance, stating among other things “We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us.”  Donald Trump later demanded an apology for that in a Tweet.

Brexit and Uber tied for ANS’s Trade Name of the Year.  Uber, the worldwide online transportation network company, was cited because of its influence on the language, now having become a verb. Brexit, the blend of “Britain” and “exit” which is the now universal title of the June referendum where United Kingdom voters decided to leave the European Union, was mentioned in the Presidential election when Trump called himself “Mr. Brexit.” The name Brexit was created on the analogy of the earlier Grexit, coined when Greece was deciding whether or not to leave the European Union in 2015.

The American Name Society is a scholarly organization founded in 1951 devoted to studying all aspects of names and naming. The Name of the Year vote has been held since 2004. “Caitlyn Jenner” was the 2015 Name of the Year. “Ferguson” won for 2014, “Francis” for 2013, and “Sandy” for 2012.

For further information contact Dr. Cleveland Evans, chair of the Name of the Year committee, at cevans@bellevue.edu or 402-210-7458.

Last chance to submit nominations for 2016 Name of the Year!

The Name of the Year selection for 2016 will take place tomorrow, Friday, January 6th, at 12pm (CST) at the annual ANS meeting in Austin, Texas.

Please send any last minute nominations to the American Name Society today!

 

Email any last minute nominations to info@AmericanNameSociety.org.

Tweet any last minute nominations to @AmNameSociety.

 

Guidelines

The names selected will be ones that best illustrates, through their creation and/or use during the past 12 months, important trends in the culture of the United States and Canada.

Nominations are called for in the four following categories:

Personal Names: Names or nicknames of individual real people, animals, or hurricanes.

Place Names: Names or nicknames of any real geographical location, including all natural features, political subdivisions, streets, and buildings. Names of national or ethnic groups would be included here.

Trade Names: Names of real commercial products, as well as names of both for-profit and non-profit companies and organizations, including businesses, universities, and political parties.

Fictional/Literary Names: Names of fictional persons, places, or institutions, in any written, oral, or visual medium, as well as titles of art works, books, plays, television programs, or movies.

Winners will be chosen in each category, and then a final vote will determine the overall Name of the Year for 2016. Anyone may nominate a name. All members of the American Name Society attending the annual meeting will select the winner from among the nominees at the annual ANS meeting in Austin, Texas on January 6, 2017. The winner will be announced that evening at a joint celebration with the American Dialect Society.

Scary Mommy Blog Addresses Baby Names

index6In this open letter, on scarymommy.com, Elizabeth Broadbent asks parents not to choose weird names. In it, is she outlines seven particularly offense categories on trendy names. What’s your opinion on these “weird” baby naming trends?

Linguistics Career Mixer at the LSA/ANS Conference in Austin, January 7th 2017

The Linguistics Outside Academia Special Interest Group of the Linguistics Society of America presents:

Linguistics Career Mixer
Saturday, 7 January, Meeting Room 306, 3:30 – 5:00 PM
Organizers: Laurel Sutton (Catchword Branding), Anastasia Nylund (Georgetown University)

 

What: The Linguistics Career Mixer is an annual event that brings linguists who have found professional expression of their skills and training in a variety of fields — from research and consulting to writing and education — together with people who are currently trying to learn about their next steps professionally. The idea is to create a context for having exploratory conversations about career paths. Linguists who have found employment in a range of contexts will be on hand to talk about their work as researchers, consultants, writers, editors, trainers, managers, and language and communication specialists in government, education, business and non-profit sectors
(among others). Representatives from 20+ organizations will be in attendance, including the FrameWorks Institute, Georgetown University, the Center for Applied Linguistics, and Catchword Branding just to name a few.

How: The event is designed to be informal, conversational and as a context for learning.

Why: Because the world of work needs our skills and training, but this requires learning ways of talking about skills and training in linguistics that will make sense to those who we would wish to hire us. Networking is key to learning about some of the paths available, to getting feedback on our professional self-presentation, and to meeting the people who can continue to help guide and support us along the way.

Anyone who is interested in being radically curious about career is most welcome to participate including students at all stages of their educational and professional development, professors, grads and any and all careerminded linguists.

How: Participants will draw a handful of questions from a bowl at the door to start them off on the right conversational foot with a few structured ways of talking about work with “career linguists” (those who have found careers outside of academia). Those wearing a
“Career Linguist” name tag indicate that they have come ready to be asked questions and to share their experiences.

The focus is on exploration and networking. Attendees are encouraged to bring business cards and questions for specific participants, and to keep in mind that the Mixer is not designed to be a job fair, but instead an opportunity for conversation. The organizers will also collect suggestions from attendees on what type of events and resources they would like to see from the SIG in the coming year.

Hamburg to name street after Germany’s most famous dominatrix

Alongside Karneval and Oktoberfest, there is a place in Germany where tourists from around the globe come to seek the latest in adult entertainment: the red-light district of Hamburg or the Reeperbahn. Just over 900 meters long, the infamous corner of the St. Pauli district of western Hamburg is home to night clubs, peep shows, strip bars, theater houses, restaurants, comedy clubs, and brothels designed to meet almost any taste. This past month, Hamburg officials announced that it would be naming one of the busiest streets in the red-light district after one of its most influential residents: Domenica Niehoff, a former S&M dominatrix turned activist, who campaigned tirelessly for sex workers’ rights.

Iceland government challenges retail chain Iceland over name use

The tiny, frozen, nation of Iceland has filed legal action against a British grocery chain store that has taken the name “Iceland” as its company name. “Iceland Foods” is a privately owned frozen food chain owned and operated by Malcolm Walker and the South African investment group Brait. According to a recent article in the UK Guardian, “Iceland Foods” has already “won multiple cases against Icelandic companies which use ‘Iceland’” as a part of their onomastic trademark. Whether the nation of Iceland will emerge triumphant in the battle to control the use of their country’s name will be decided at the European Union’s Intellectual Property Office.

Merriam Webster’s Name That Thing

7983928938_ba8d3c71ca_mIt is maddening and you probably will not get all of them right. And if you do, there is a very good chance you won’t be able to repeat that stellar performance. And if you do, send us an email. You should definitely join the American Name Society. Feeling lucky? Feeling knowledgeable? Want to test your wits against the folks at Merriam Webster? Check out the game: Name That Thing. You can play as often as you like. Warning: this name game can be harmful to your ego and just might be a tad addictive.