The American Name Society Call for Papers for the ANS virtual panel at the Modern Language Association (MLA) Convention #mla27 7-10 January 2027, Los Angeles, California Names That Reveal; Names That Conceal Onomastic Sleight of Hand in Global Literature Espionage novels and allegories often use names to conceal motives or plot twists or to reveal character or caricature. How have authors, poets, playwrights, screenwriters, lyricists and other wordsmiths used names of characters, places, corporations, institutions, movements, etc., to effect onomastic sleight of hand?

The American Dialect Society, in its 36th annual words-of-the-year vote, selected slop as the Word of the Year for 2025. More than three hundred attendees took part in the deliberations and voting, in an event hosted in conjunction with the Linguistic Society of America’s annual meeting. The word slop was recognized for its widespread use for low-quality, high-quantity content, most typically produced by generative AI.

“No Kings” was chosen as the winner of the Name of the Year for 2025 by the American Name Society at its annual Name of the Year discussion and vote on January 8, 2026. This political demonstration name was selected for its direct communicative power, its linguistic brevity, and its extensions during the protests, in forms such as “no thrones” and “no crowns”.

The American Name Society is requesting nominations for the “Names of the Year for 2025”. The names selected will be ones that best illustrate, through their creation and/or use during the past 12 months, important trends in the culture of the United States. It is not necessary, however, for a nominated name to have originated in the US. Any name can be nominated as long as it has been prominent in North American cultural discourse during the past year. 

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his December 28th column, he discusses the name "Marlon". Marlon brings in Omaha’s new year with laughs next weekend. Marlon Wayans, first featured on older brother Keenen Ivory Wayans’ sketch comedy show, “In Living Color” (1992-1993), became a star with brother Shawn on “The Wayans Bros.” (1995-1999). He headlines at Omaha’s Funny Bone Comedy Club Jan.

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his December 14th column, he discusses the name "Ebenezer". Ebenezer learns to love Christmas in Omaha for another week. “A Christmas Carol,” based on Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella where skinflint, Christmas-hating Ebenezer Scrooge transforms into a generous Christmas-lover after visits from four ghosts, concludes its 50th anniversary run at Omaha Community Playhouse on Dec.

The general theme of the Canadian Society for the Study of Names (CSSN) for its 2026 annual meeting (virtual) is “Onomastics and Toponymy as Reflections of Our World’’. The 2026 CSSN conference will not be held in conjunction with the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (FHSS) of Canada and will take place entirely online. Papers on any onomastic or toponymic topic are welcome, from any discipline, perspective, or field of study, including but not limited to linguistics, geography, history, economics, literature, archaeology, ethnology, politics, genealogy, administration, taxonomy, and related areas.

ANS Name of the Year 2025 Discussion and Vote Thursday, January 8, 2026 on Zoom, 12 - 2pm PST REGISTRATION is now open! Click here to register for the discussion and vote. Join us for our annual Name of the Year discussion! We will be nominating, discussing, and voting on eligible names in the following categories: Personal Names: Names of groups or individuals, including nicknames, given names, surnames, or a combination of these.

ANS Name of the Year 2025 Discussion and Vote Thursday, January 8, 2026 on Zoom, 12 - 2pm PST REGISTRATION is now open! Click here to register for the discussion and vote. Join us for our annual Name of the Year discussion! We will be nominating, discussing, and voting on eligible names in the following categories: Personal Names: Names of groups or individuals, including nicknames, given names, surnames, or a combination of these.

The editorial board of Onomastica Canadiana, the bilingual peer-reviewed journal of the Canadian Society for the Study of Names (CSSN) / Société canadienne d’onomastique (SCO), invites submissions of scholarly manuscripts for publication in its new online series in open access. Onomastica Canadiana publishes original research articles, review essays, and critical notes, written in English or French, on all aspects of onomastics — the study of names and naming practices or trends in all languages, cultures, periods, and areas.

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his October 5th column, he discusses the name "Chester". Chester A. Arthur became president in 1881 after James Garfield’s assassination. Chester A. Arthur (1829-1886) was born 196 years ago today. Elected vice president in 1884, he became president on Sept. 19, 1881 after James Garfield’s assassination. Chester Arthur was a protégé of Roscoe Conkling’s corrupt New York Republican machine.

The American Name Society (ANS) is now issuing its first call for abstracts for an upcoming Special issue of the Society’s journal, NAMES: A Journal of Onomastics. One of the most fascinating areas of interdisciplinary research involving onomastics,  criminology, and the law is forensic onomastics. The current call for paper proposals for original pieces of research for an upcoming Special Issue of NAMES devoted to this branch of onomastic investigation.   

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his June 1st column, he discusses the name "June". “June is bustin’ out all over,” and rising as a baby name, too. June’s derived from Latin Junius, originally the fourth and later the sixth month on the Roman calendar. It’s named after Juno, Rome’s patron goddess. Juno probably meant “young one,” related to the word “junior.” Rare English surname June is from French “jeune (young).”

A recent poll of almost 10,000 people has ranked the names of NHL teams (that's ice-hockey, for those of you who, like me, are not North American!). Leading the poll were the San Jose Sharks and trailing behind, in 32nd place, were Minnesota Wild. Read more about this story, and the full ranking, here.

Each calendar year, the members of the NAMES Editorial Board review the articles that appeared in the previous volume to determine the winners of the Best Article of the Year. All article publications are judged across the following three criteria: (1) creativity and originality; (2) potential scholarly contribution to onomastics; and (3) writing style and organization. The article that was selected as the top publication for 2024 was contributed by a scientific team of three researchers: Siyue Li (Zhejiang University, CHINA), Chunyu Kit (City University of Hong Kong, HONG KONG), and Le Cheng (Zhejiang University, CHINA). 

The countdown to Congress 2025 is on! We’re just 19 days away from kicking offtheannual conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Names (CSSN). CSSN has accepted 17 engaging presentations covering a wide range of onomastics topics over the two conference days (see programme attached). Join us on May 31 and June 1 online or at George Brown College, Toronto.

From the organizers: Names, whether they refer to people, places, businesses, languages etc., are not mere labels disconnected from a social fabric, they are “a repository of accumulated meanings, practices, and beliefs, a powerful linguistic means of asserting identity (or defining someone else) and inhabiting a social world” (Rymes 1999: 165). Through their referential function and multiple connotations, they “identify, categorize, tell stories and provide social tools for interactions” (Bramwell 2016: 276).

A recent Vox article explores why so many US true crime shows include 'American' in their title. Our very own Laurel Sutton suggests its both an attempt to emphasise the distinctively American nature of the crimes under discussion, but also to draw on the deliberatly large audience for whom  'American' means different things. You can read more on this story here.

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his March 9th column, he discusses the name "Lionel". Lionel Richie, born 1949, has been a judge on “American Idol” since 2018, which begins its 23rd season on March 9. Richie became famous singing with funk/soul group Commodores in the 1970s. His duet of “Endless Love” with Diana Ross in 1980 is a top 20 bestselling single of all time.

Date: 26-Nov-2025 - 29-Nov-2025 Location: Clarens, South Africa Contact Person: Chrismi Loth Meeting Email: kongresETFB@ufs.ac.za Linguistic Field(s): Sociolinguistics 2nd Call for Papers: Join our LinkedIn group:  Submit your abstract (250 words) by 4 April to kongresETFB@ufs.ac.za The Department of South African Sign Language and Deaf Studies at the University of the Free State (RSA), in partnership with the Joint ICA/IGU Commission on Toponymy as well as the ICOS Working Group on Toponymy, is pleased to announce the next biennial international symposium on place names – ISPN 2025.

According to a new article in the NYT, 'a British investment firm restored most of the vowels to its name after a widely ridiculed revamp that showed the pitfalls of trying to look cool in the digital age'. 'Aberdeen Group' has chosen to undo its 2021 decision to rebrand as 'abrdn', re-instating its vowels to return to a more traditional spelling. Read more on this story here.

Registration is open for ANS 2025, which will be held on February 22, 2025. You can register online via Eventbrite by clicking here or the following link: You can also download this form and mail in a check. The American Name Society Annual Meeting for 2025 will be held online using the Zoom platform. It is accessible via Mac or PC.