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About Names: Trevor was a grand slam in the 1990s, thanks to baseball’s all-stars

Trevor Noah speaking at BookExpo 2018 (photo by Terry Ballard, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons)

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his March 14th column, he looks at the history of the name Trevor.

Trevor may not sing tonight, but he’ll surely joke about singers. Tonight, South-African born comedian Trevor Noah, star of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” hosts the 63rd Grammy Awards.

Trevor is a Welsh surname, indicating one’s ancestors lived in one of several medieval hamlets in Wales whose name meant “large homestead.”

Though Trevor is an uncommon last name it’s well-known in Britain because of Edward Trevor (1580-1642), a Welsh soldier sent to Ireland who married Rose Ussher, daughter of the Anglican Archbishop of Armagh, in 1612. He acquired a large estate in County Down and was knighted in 1617.

Sir Edward’s grandson Sir John Trevor (1637-1717) was Speaker of the House of Commons from 1689 to 1695. Though Sir John lost his speakership because of taking bribes, by then his daughter Anne had married Michael Hill, Governor of County Down. Their elder son Trevor Hill (1693-1742), perhaps the earliest person with Trevor as a first name, became Viscount Hillsborough. Younger son Arthur (1694-1771), created Viscount Dungannon in 1766, is a five-greats-grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II.

Trevor’s aristocratic associations led to its use as a surname for many characters in British novels and plays. After 1925 it became fashionable as a first name in England. This was reinforced when Trevor Howard (1913-1988) became one of Britain’s biggest movie stars in “Brief Encounter” (1945). Trevor peaked in 1955 at around 27th on England’s baby name chart.

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

FDA to Study Link between Drug Names and Perceived Efficacy

The FDA will study the link between users’ perceptions of drug efficacy and the name of the drug itself. Zachary Brennan writes, “The study will compare five target names that may just suggest a medical condition or vary in terms of how the name portrays a drug’s efficacy, with one name that explicitly suggests strong efficacy (CuresFlux) and one that is more neutral (Zerpexin). Participants will answer questions about the names, before and after they have been told what each drug’s indication is.”

Read more about this study and the role of names in drug perception on Endpoints News.

Ten Formerly Popular First Names in America

Take a moment to check your calendar. Tea time with Ethel this Tuesday? Meeting Merle for a matinee on Monday? Neither of the above? It’s not surprising, as both “Ethel” and “Merle” have fallen out of use in recent decades. Using a database from the Social Security Administration, Rose Heichelbech compiled a list of “10 Names you don’t hear anymore”. There are no rigid criteria behind her list, but the ten names featured in her article certainly prove its title accurate.

Call for Papers: ANS 2022, Online, 21-23 January 2022

The American Name Society is now inviting proposals for papers for its next annual conference. After serious deliberation of an official proposal made on the 5th of May 2021, the Executive Council of the American Name Society unanimously voted to hold the 2022 Annual Conference online. All presentation sessions will be held online during the three days of the conference. This means that our conference will NOT be held in conjunction with the LSA meeting, which is still slated to be held in person, January 2022 in Washington, DC.

Abstracts in any area of onomastic research are welcome. The DEADLINE for receipt of abstracts is July 31, 2021. To submit a proposal, simply complete the 2022 Author Information Sheet (AIS) found here:

https://wp.me/a6e07Q-29o

Please email this completed form to ANS Vice President Luisa Caiazzo using the following address: <luisa.caiazzo@unibas.it>. For organizational purposes, please be sure to include the phrase “ANS 2022” in the subject line of your email.
All proposals will be subjected to blind review. Official notification of proposal acceptances will be sent on or before September 30, 2021. All authors whose papers have been accepted must be current members of the ANS. Please feel free to contact ANS Vice President, Luisa Caiazzo, <luisa.caiazzo@unibas.it>, should you have any questions or concerns.

A downloadable PDF of the Call for Papers can be found here.

We look forward to receiving your submission!

Early April Fools? Volkswagen will not rebrand Itself “Voltswagen”

A few mere days before April 1, 2021, Volkswagen of America announced that it would change its name to “Voltswagen of America” in order to promote its electric vehicles. The move brought about confusion and criticism online by many who took the announcement seriously, but it was quickly followed by a retraction and explanation. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, a spokesperson admitted that the name change was a marketing stunt and April fools joke intended to get the public talking about the new electric vehicle: the Volkswagen ID. 4.

Washington and Lee University to Consider Possible Name Change

In June, Washington and Lee University will announce whether or not it will change its name.

Named for George Washington and Robert E. Lee, Washington and Lee University was once Washington College. Following General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, he was appointed President of Washington College where he served for five years. In 1870, the University was renamed to honor him. In recent years, students have been petitioning the University to change its name once again.

Lilah Burke’s article in Inside Higher Education details the circumstances behind the possible name change.

Join the American Name Society!

If you enjoy reading about names, we encourage you to join the American Name Society and share your name news with us! Membership is very affordable, with yearly dues starting at $20.

Membership in the ANS allows access to a community of scholars and its communications, as well as eligibility to present your research at the ANS annual conferences and the ability to submit articles to Names: A Journal of Onomastics.

Keep apprised of the latest onomastic research by joining today!

Publication announcement: Names: A Journal of Onomastics 69, no. 2 is now available

The latest issue of Names: A Journal of Onomastics is now available online! Click here to read the latest in onomastics scholarship in volume 69, number 2 of Names.

Volume 69 marks the first year that Names is published as an open access journal available to all via the Journal’s new home at the University of Pittsburgh. All journal content, including the content found in previous volumes, is now available for free online as downloadable PDF files.

Subscribers to the print version of the journal will receive their copies within the next few weeks.

 

Publication announcement: Toponyms in the Early History of China

The latest issue of the Sino-Platonic Papers explores the theme of toponyms in China. James M. Hargett’s paper “Anchors of Stability: Place-Names in Early China” explores place names and naming during the earliest phases in the history of China.

The abstract reads:

“The use of place-names in China predates its written history, which extends back at least 3,500 years. While the basic principles of toponym formation in ancient China are similar to those in other cultures around the world, early in its history a process took place that led to a standardization of the practices by which place-names were formulated. The central argument in this essay is that the essential features of place-name nomenclature in China were already in place before the Qin unification in 221 BCE.”

The journal is open-access and available online here:

http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp312_chinese_place_names.pdf