U.S. Capitol at Dusk
The American Name Society has received a record number of abstracts for this year’s annual meeting.
Join us January 7-10, 2016, in Washington, D.C to hear these papers presented and contribute to an onomastic dialogue.
Each year, the famous German dictionary publisher, Langenscheidt, crowns “the Youth Word of the Year” from amongst hundreds of linguistic innovations making up German youth-speak. For the year 2015, several German names have already made their way onto the top ten list of potential winners. For example, according to Langenscheidt, the surname of the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has been used to generate the new German verb “to merkel” which is German youth slang for “to do nothing or refusing to make a clear decision.”
This sardonic nameplay is not the first time that controversial political policies have inspired German teens. Last year, after reports began to surface that the CIA and NSA had spied on several of European leaders, not one but two new verbs were derived from the surnames of US Americans caught up in the scandal. The first was President Obama, whose last name was used to form the new predicate “to obama,” a new synonym for the verb “to spy” or “abhören.” The second surname which was used to create a new word was Snowden. In that same year, German teens borrowed this last name to generate the predicate “entsnowden” meaning “to bring to light” or “to uncover.”
For additional information in German, see this article, this article, and this article.
Click here to cast your vote for name of the year for the United States.
According to medical experts, addiction to the synthetic methamphetamine nicknamed “ice” can cause severe mood swings, violent hallucinations, paranoia, psychosis, and unpredictable bouts of aggression as well as kidney disease, liver failure, brain damage, stroke and death. Despite these dangers, cities and towns around the world are reporting that the addiction rates to this drug have reached epidemic portions. In New Zealand, the town of Wellington has been so decimated by ice that residents and visitors have nicknamed the tiny town “The South Pole”.
Wellington is not the first city to be bestowed a nickname inspired by residents’ drug consumption. US American rap artist, Big Moe, named the city of Houston, Texas the “City of Syrup” to draw attention to the rising rate of residents addicted to codeine-infused cough syrup. The progressive marijuana policies of Canada’s Pacific Northwest metropolis of Vancouver has inspired some insiders to nickname the green city Vansterdam, a blend of the place names Vancouver and Amsterdam, another city known for its liberal marijuana laws.
For more information about this phenomenon, see this article and this article.
Finnian Galbraith, a teenager from New Zealand is doing his best to protect one of his country’s most precious treasures, the Māori language. In an instructional YouTube video, Finnian warns that the growing tendency of New Zealanders to mispronounce Maori names is not simply irritating, it is potentially damaging to the nation’s precious cultural heritage. “Now, I’m no expert,” the young man concedes, “but I’m willing to learn and that is what counts.” With more than 100,000 clicks in less than two days, Finnian’s cinematic plea for the preservation of indigenous words and names is a resounding internet hit.
Click here for more information.
Lüderitz, a small Namibian harbor town located off the coast of Africa, was founded in 1883 and named after a well-to-do tobacco trader, Adolf Lüderitz, from Bremen, Germany. Originally a trading post and fishing town, Lüderitz achieved sudden global notoriety at the turn of the century when a small pocket of diamonds were found. After the mines closed, the name of the former German colony was all but forgotten…until this year when the current Mayor, Suzan Ndjaleka, publicly called for an official name change.
According to Ndjaleka, the name is offensive to the Nama people who were decimated during the European occupation. In just a few decades, some 80% of the Nama’s original population had perished in the colonial genocide. In recognition of this town’s original African ancestry, Ndjaleka and her supporters have lobbied to change the harbor town’s name from Lüderitz to !Nam’Nus.
Critics of the proposal have charged that such a name change would endanger the critical yearly income that the town receives from droves of curious European tourists. The opponents also charge that the proposed name is alienating to town residents who do not speak the local indigenous click language.
At the moment, the town is sharply divided.
Click here for more information.
Researchers have confirmed the importance of naming a new baby right away. A new baby needs a distinctive name on his/her medical bracelet to ensure he/she receives the right medical treatment. The study devised a new system that generates unique identifier names for, as of yet, unnamed newborns. The research team hopes this new method will lower the rate of medical errors.
Click here for more information.
The New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs has just released its official listing of banned baby names for 2014. Among this year’s onomastic rejects are the names: Christ, Lucifer, Juztice, Anal, and 09. Other onomastic creations which the NZ officials blocked tackled in years past include: Mafia No Fear, 4Real, D, M, 89, Mr., II, III, T V8.
According to officials, the primary motivation for banning a baby name is if it is felt to be offensive. However, names which are judged to be “unreasonably” long can also get the hatchet. For example, in 2008, a NZ couple was given court orders to change the phrasal name they had chosen for their baby girl: Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii. On the other end of the spectrum, NZ authorities have also put a stop to names which were deemed impossibly short. For example, parents who wanted to give their children the symbols “.” and “*” were also stopped.
MyHeritage.com, a website for discovering, preserving and sharing family history, recently launched Global Name Translation™, a new technology that translates historical records and family trees between languages. This will allow matches between names in different languages, and enable users to access more search results than ever before. The technology covers first names and surnames, and can work with names it has never encountered before.
Click here for more information on this new technology.
Film Director Spike Lee is certainly no stranger to controversy. However, with his latest film project, the cinematic maverick sparked anger, even before the cameras begun to roll. At the very center of this debate is the name which Lee has selected for his newest work: Chiraq, a toponymic word blend between the city name Chicago and the country name Iraq.
While critics worry that Lee’s name choice heralds a film which will glorify the violence in Chicago’s streets, supporters state that the movie name Chiraq brilliantly brings attention to the grim reality facing Urban America.
As the controversy over the appropriateness of the name continues to rage, the name itself has already entered public, contemporary discourse. According to the Urban Dictionary, an online lexicon with more than 6 million entries uploaded by the internet community, the name chiraq currently has more than three times as many likes than dislikes.
For more information, see this article or this article.
In light of the recent release of a 2005 court testimony in which US American comedian Bill Cosby admitted to having drugged young women with the intent of having sexual relations with them, Central State University (CSU), a historically black university in Ohio, has announced that it may well change the name of the Cosby Mass Communications Center.
According to an email which CSU President, Cynthia Jackson-Hammond sent to USA Today, “although the Cosby name on the campus radio station is representative of the Cosby family, we are extremely sensitive of the effect that it may have on student, alums and the community”. Until an official decision has been reached, the CSU administration has agreed to cover up the surname Cosby with pictures of the University logo. Administrators anticipate making a final decision in this onomastic controversy this Autumn.
Other prominent organizations are also discussing the possible removal of the comedian’s surname from their honor roll. For example, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has also received multiple petitions to remove the Cosby name from the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Chamber Officials have announced that despite significant public pressure, they will not remove Cosby’s name.
At present, Cosby has been accused of sexually assaulting or abusing over 20 women.
For more information on this onomastic controversy, see this article or this article or this article or this article.
