Our members (M–Z)

Francis T. McAndrew, Knox College, USA

I am an evolutionary social psychologist who studies “namesaking,” which is the naming of a child after a parent or other relative. I am specifically interested in how namesaking is employed as a strategy for advertising personal and group identity, for optimally positioning a child within the historical and political framework of the kinship group, and for bonding fathers more strongly to their children. I am also interested in how namesaking and birth order interact in the formation of stereotypes about the personalities of namesaked individuals.

E-Mail: fmcandre@knox.edu

• Publications:

  Johnson, J.L., McAndrew, F.T., & Harris, P.B. (1991).  Sociobiology and the naming of adopted and natural children.  Ethology and Sociobiology, 12, 365-375.

  McAndrew, F.T., King, J.C., & Honoroff, L.R. (2002).  A Sociobiological Analysis of Namesaking Patterns in 322 American Families.  Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 32, 851-864.

  Bird, A. E., & McAndrew, F. T. (2019). Does namesaking a child influence attachment style? North American Journal of Psychology, 21, 39-44.

  McAndrew, F. T. (2022). The namesaking of children as a strategy for managing kin relations and bonding fathers to their children. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences 16(3), 220-228.

  McAndrew, F. T., & Sbai, Z. (2023). Perceptions of the personalities of namesaked children as a function of their gender and birth order. Psychological Reports, 126 (5), (available online November 8, 2023)

  McAndrew, F.T. (2021, January 14). How do we name adopted children? In Out of the Ooze: Navigating the 21st century with a Stone-Age Mind.  Psychology Today Magazine Blog.

  McAndrew, F.T. (2020, October 5). Why the choice of your child's name matters so much. In Out of the Ooze: Navigating the 21st century with a Stone-Age Mind.  Psychology Today Magazine Blog.

  McAndrew, F.T. (2015, August). Mama's baby, Papa's, MAYBE: Baby names and fathers' anxieties. In Out of the Ooze: Navigating the 21st century with a Stone-Age Mind.  Psychology Today Magazine Blog.

  McAndrew, F.T., and King, J.C. (1995, June). Birth Order and the Naming of Children: An Examination of Naming as a Strategy of Parental Investment. Paper presented at the meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Santa Barbara, CA.

Eyo Mensah, University of Calabar, Nigeria

I am an anthropological linguist who has undertaken to study the intersection of personal naming practices with the environment, gender, religion, politics and emotion basically from the West African context. My research has clearly expanded an understanding of personal names as essential linguistic resources for the development of the individual, family and society. I study names as sources of human history that can store important information that is vital to human development. I have also shown from my various empirical studies that the field of anthroponymy is a multifaceted area of knowledge that intersects with every domain of human activity particularly in the African context. My latest project as an Individual fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS), Amsterdam was to investigate how some small societies in Nigeria use personal names to create awareness about environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation.

• publications:

  Mensah, Eyo. 2024. Name this child: Religious identity and ideology in Tiv personal names. Names: A Journal of Onomastics 72(4), 12-23 https://doi.org/10.5195/names.2024.2716

  Mensah, Eyo, Kirsty Rowan & Mfon Ekpe. 2024. The representation of people in the Ibibio anthroponymic system: A socio-onomastic investigation. Languages 9(6), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9060188

  Mensah, Eyo. 2024. Death is the cause of my predicament: A cross-cultural study of death-related personal names in Nigeria. Death Studies 48(7), 641–651. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2023.2254728

  Mensah, Eyo. 2023. Husband is a priority: Gender roles, patriarchy and the naming of female children in Nigeria. Gender Issues 40(1): 44 -64. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-022-09303-z

  Mensah, Eyo and Josephine Alexander & Queen Ayeni. 2022. The ethnopragmatic functions of Owe and Tiv personal names. Language Sciences 91, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2022.101474

  Mensah, Eyo. 2022. The Englishisation of personal names in Nigeria. English Today 37(3), 152-164. https://doi.org/10.1017/S026607842100016X

  Mensah, Eyo & Queendaline Iloh. 2021. Wealth is king: The conceptualization of wealth in Igbo personal naming practices. Anthropological Quarterly 94(4), 699-723.10.1353/anq.2021.0043

  Mensah, Eyo, Vivian Dzokoto & Kirsty Rowan. 2021. The functions of emotion-referencing names in Ibibio. International Journal of Language and Culture 8(2), 218-244. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.19009.men

  Mensah, Eyo & Jighjigh Ishima. 2020. Sentential names in Tiv. Studia Linguistica 74(3), 645-664. https://doi.org/10.1111/stul.12137

  Mensah, Eyo & Kirsty Rowan. 2019. African anthroponyms: Sociolinguistic currents and anthropological reflections. Sociolinguistic Studies 13(2-4), 157-170. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.37819

  Mensah, Eyo, Kirsty Rowan, Akase Tiav & Jighjigh Ishima. 2019. Aspects of traditional Tiv naming practices: A sociocultural account. Sociolinguistic Studies 13(2-4), 209-231. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.37820

  Mensah, Eyo. 2017. Proverbial nicknames among rural youth in Nigeria. Anthropological Linguistics 59(4), 414-439. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26559037

  Mensah, Eyo. 2015. Frog, where are you?: The ethnopragmatics of Ibibio death-prevention names. Journal of African Cultural Studies 27(2), 115-132. https://doi.org/10.1080/13696815.2014.976545

Jean-François Mignot, CNRS / Sorbonne Université, France

I am a demographer who is interested in the first names of immigrants and their descendants in the West, but also more generally in the increase in the diversity of first names as an indicator of individualization, and in the phonosemantics (buba-kiki effect) of first names.

E-Mail: jean-francois.mignot@cnrs.fr

 

 

 

• Publications:

  First names in Europe and in the Maghreb: A historical overview. Onoma 2022, 57, 247–266. https://doi.org/10.34158/ONOMA.57/2022/16

  First names given in France, 1800–2019: a window into the process of individualization. Population and Economics 2022, 6(2): 108-119. https://doi.org/10.3897/popecon.6.e81580

Rexhina Ndoci, Ohio State University, USA

As a sociolinguist I focus on the relationship between language and ethnic identity. More recently I have become interested in names with a goal of exploring the indexical meaning of ethnically marked names, name adaptations, and name changes among minoritized groups such as migrants. Moreover, I am interested in questions pertaining to the adaptation of ethnic names into majority-passing names and how those adaptations, or lack thereof, affect candidates’ chances in the job market.

Damaris Nübling, University of Mainz, Germany

I am a historical linguist at Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany. I am very interested in and working on various onomastic topics, e.g. the language-specific grammar of names (mostly to protect the identity of the name body), the gender assignment of names (e.g. the neuter gender assignment to female first names in German dialects and in Luxembourgish),  gender-onomastics, i.e. the interdependence of gender and personal names, the history of given names as well as family names, on nicknames and their remarkable irrelevance to gender, names of animals, the proprialisation of common nouns to proper names, and – last but not least – about the reason when and why people change their names and why we sometimes avoid to pronounce the name of the counterpart. I am currently leading the project “Digitales Familiennamenwörterbuch Deutschlands (DFD)” (2012–2036; Mainzer Akademie der Wissenschaften).

• Publications:

  2015     Tiernamen – Zoonyme. Vol. 1: Haustiere, Vol. 2 Nutztiere. BNF-Jubiläumsband. Heidelberg. (mit Antje Dammel und Mirjam Schmuck)

  2017    The growing distance between proper names and common nouns in German. On the way to onymic schema constancy. In: Ackermann, Tanja/Schlücker, Barbara (eds.): The Morphosyntax of Proper Names. Special issue. Folia Linguistica 51/2, 341–367.

  2017    Beziehung überschreibt Geschlecht. Zu einem Genderindex von Ruf- und von Kosenamen. In: Linke, Angelika/Schröter, Juliane (eds.): Sprache und Beziehung. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 99–118.

  2018    Neue Ansätze in der Namenforschung: Plädoyer für eine Gender-Onomastik. In: Engelberg, Stefan/Kämper, Heidrun/Storjohann, Petra (eds.): Wortschatz: Theorie, Empirie, Dokumentation. Germanistische Sprachwissenschaft um 2020, Band 2. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 127–150.

  2020    Die Capital – der Astra – das Adler. The emergence of a classifier system for proper names in German. In: Szczepaniak, Renata/Flick, Johanna (eds.): Walking on the Grammati­calization Path of the Definite Article. Functional Main and Side Roads. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 228–249.

  2021    (mit Simone Busley): Referring to women using feminine and neuter gender: Sociopragmatic gender assignment in German dialects. In: NoSo (Nordisk tidskrift för socioonomastik / Nordic Journal of Socio-Onomastics) 1, 33–59.

  2021    Bewegte und bewegende Namen. Lebensabschnittsnamen als Marker biografischer Transition. In: Dammel, Antje/Roolfs, Friedel/Casemir, Kirstin (eds.): Namen in Bewegung. Beiträge zur Namenforschung 56 (1/2), 17–40.

  2022    Von Heidel- nach Bamberg, von Eng- nach Irland? ‚From Heidel- to Bamberg, from Eng- to Ireland?’ On the delimitation of appellative proper names and genuine proper names. In: Caro Reina, Javier/Helmbrecht, Johannes (eds.): Proper names versus common nouns: morphosyntactic contrasts in the languages of the world. In: Language Typology and Universals (STUF), Vol. 29, 175–204.

  2023    Verweigerte Referenz? Was es bedeutet, Namen nicht in den Mund zu nehmen. In: Dammel, Antje/Schweden, Theresa (eds.): Personenreferenz. Beiträge zur Namenforschung 2023 (1/2), 229–254.

  2023     Kleiner deutscher Familiennamenatlas. Entstehung, Gebrauch, Verbreitung und Bedeutung der Familiennamen. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter. (mit Konrad Kunze)

  2023    Mailand, Seeland, Hiddensee und Küssnacht. Asemantische Transparenz als Ziel onymischer Volksetymologie. In: Trost, Igor (ed.): Remotivierung – Von der Morphologie bis zur Pragmatik. De Gruyter, 99–122.

Sharon Obasi, University of Nebraska Kearney, USA

My onomastic scholarship examines the influence of family on how we self-identify, how we are identified by others and the connections between identity, the articulation of policy and the development of programs to help minoritized and/or marginalized communities.

 

 

 

 

• Publications: 

  • Kim, J.-m., Go, U., Obasi, S. (2024). Phonology of Gendered Names in Linguistically Comparable Countries: Korea, Bangladesh, Britain, and the U.S.A. The Linguistic Association of Korea Journal, 32 (1), 93-112.
  • Kim, J.-m., Obasi, S. (2023). Phonological Trends of Gendered Names in Korea and the U.S.A. Names: A Journal of Onomastics, 71(3), 36-46. https://ansnames.pitt.edu/ans/article/view/2485
  • Obasi, S.N., Mocarski, R., Holt, N., Hope, D., and Woodruff, N. (2019). Renaming Myself: Gender Identity and Name Selection. Names: Journal of Onomastics. 67(4), 199 211. https://doi.org/10.1080/00277738.2018.1536188 
    American Name Society 2019 Best Article of the Year.
  • Obasi, S. (2016). Naming Patterns in Rural South Central Nebraska. Names: A Journal of Onomastics, 64(3), 158-165. dx.doi.org/10.1080/00277738.2016.1197644

Idowu Odebode, Redeemer’s University, Nigeria

I am a Professor of Onomastics, Sociolinguistics and Pragmatics in the Department of English, Redeemer’s University, Nigeria. My interest has been in the different aspects of names/naming in Africa, particularly among the Yoruba, where the socio-cultural context(s)/circumstances (of the name-givers and, or bearers) are considered before naming a child. I have worked on multicultural aspects of names and naming in Nigeria, literary onomastics (of selected African writers like Wole Soyinka), anthroponyms on Facebook, socio-pragmatics of names, African zoonyms (in polygamous homes), names and identities among others. I am the founding president of the Society for the Study of Names in Nigeria (SSNN), the first winner of the prestigious American Name Society Emerging Scholar Award, and a Professional Commonwealth Scholar (onomastics) mentored at the University of Glasgow.

Ayokunmi Ojebode, University of Nottingham, UK

I am an expert in African literature, Cultural studies and Literary Onomastics at the Institute for Name Studies (INS), University of Nottingham. I have dedicated most of my studies to unearthing the postcolonial significance of personal names in popular Nigerian literature underpinned by the literary and sociocultural contexts. I seek to connect personal names to processes within Nigerian and diasporic societies, cultures, and literature. My current projects border on naming, ecology, identities, and religion, exploring naming practices in different contexts and settings.

 

 

 

• Publications:

  2019     Ojebode, A. & Odebode, I. Onomastics, Medicine and Politics in Femi Osofisan’s The Engagement
  in Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 9(5): 494-499, UK. 
  2019     Ojebode, A. African Onomastics: Animal Psychology and Zoonyms in the Cognomen of Alaafin of Oyo. 
  Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Studies (JHSSS), 1(5): 22-27, Jordan. 
  2019     Ojebode, A. African Onomastics and Politics: A Demystification of Abiku Names in Femi Osofisan’s Who’s 
  Afraid of Solarin? Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Studies (JHSSS), 1(5): 15-21, Jordan. 
  2019     Ojebode, A. (2019). African Onomastics: Animal Psychology and Zoonyms in the Cognomen of Alaafin of 
  Oyo. Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Studies (JHSSS), 1(5): 22-27, Jordan. 
  2018     Ojebode, A. African Onomastics and Gender Semiotization in Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and 
  Kunle Afolayan’s ‘The Figurine.’ Onomastica Uralica 24(14): 231-243, Hungary.          
  
  Non-Refereed Journal Articles
  2019     Ojebode, A., Odebode, I & Odesanya, A. Onomastics and Nicknames of Selected Cars in Nigeria: A 
               Sociolinguistic Study. The Journal of Communicative English, (21): 16-28, Makurdi, Nigeria. 
  2019     Ojebode A. & Adeyeye, M. What’s in a Name: Political Onomastics as Historical Monikers and the Restructuring in Femi Osofisan’s Such is Life.                  
               Contemporary Journal of Politics and Administration (CJPA), 1(1): 161-173, Ede, Nigeria. 
  2017     Ojebode, A. Ojebode, A. Africaness of African Music: A Literary Analysis of Ten Ethnotheonymic Names in Erujeje’s Songs. Madonna Journal of    
               English and Literary Studies (MAJELS), Okija, Nigeria.
  
  Book Chapters
  2023      All Animals Are Equal: Rethinking ‘Animalistic’ Names and Yorùbá Epistemology in Femi Osofisan’s Kolera Kolej.’ Onomastics in Interaction
                With Other Branches of Science. Ed. Urszula Bijak, Paweł Swoboda and Justyna B. Walkowiak. Jagiellonian University Press, Vol. 3.

  2021     Ojebode, A., & S. Ayodabo. “Name as National Archive: Capturing of Masculine Names in Tunde Kelani’s Saworoide.” In The Other Nollywood: The Cinema of Tunde Kelani, Cambridge Scholars.
  
  
  Conference Proceedings
  2022     Angry River Goddesses Speak: River Names, Memory and National Identity in Tess Onwueme’s Then She Said It! Proceedings of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (Romano-Hellenic Division), Venice: Italy.
  2019     Ojebode, A. Toponymy, History and Geographic Information System of Selected Place Names in the Cognomen of the Alaafin of Oyo in Proceedings of the International Scientific UNGEGN-RHD Toponymy Symposium, 171-184, Venice: Italy. 

Liam Ó hAisibéil, University of Galway, Ireland

I am a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Irish in the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Galway where I lecture in onomastics and medieval Irish literature at undergraduate and postgraduate level. I am currently engaged in two areas of research within onomastics, specifically an analysis of the translated forms of Irish family names in the 18th and 19th centuries, and in adopting approaches from the digital humanities to study the use of place-names for literary effect in medieval Irish literature. I am also interested in current naming trends, particularly in the adoption/translation of personal names in Ireland over time, and in the revival and restoration of Irish-language forms of personal names in official records since the turn of the 20th century. To date, I have completed significant research on the origins and development of Irish surnames and their subsequent anglicisation over time and I am co-author, with Dr Kay Muhr, of the Oxford Dictionary of Family Names of Ireland, published by Oxford University Press in 2021. 

• Publication: 

  Ó hAisibéil, L.; Muhr, K. (2021) The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names of Ireland. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

Karen Pennesi, University of Western Ontario, Canada

I began my research on names by investigating the experiences of people whose names do not fit into the legal, institutional and conventional frameworks for the structure, spelling and pronunciation of names in Canada. As symbols of identity, I explore how names influence self-perception and the unequal treatment of others. Given how names are especially important to social integration and belonging, I have published recommendations for treating names respectfully in a linguistically and culturally diverse society. I am currently developing a critical theoretical approach to public discourses in which names serve as objects for displaying stances toward immigrants, Indigenous people, and other racialized groups.

 

 

• Publications:

  Pennesi, Karen (2024) “I get asked that all the time”: Confronting Polite, White Canadians and the Politics of Belonging in Obligatory Interrogations. Journal of Belonging, Identity, Language and Diversity 8(1):35-55. https://bild-lida.ca/journal/volume-81-2024/pennesi/

   Pennesi, Karen and Federica Guccini (2020) “How to get someone’s name right if it’s unfamiliar to you.” The Conversation. Available at https://theconversation.com/how-to-get-someones-name-right-if-its-unfamiliar-to-you-149671 22 November 2020.

  Pennesi, Karen (2019) "Differential Responses to Constraints on Naming Agency among Indigenous Peoples and Immigrants in Canada." Language and Communication 64:91-103.

  Pennesi, Karen (2017) “Universal Design for Belonging: Living and Working with Diverse Personal Names.” Journal of Belonging, Identity, Language and Diversity 1(1):25-44.

  Pennesi, Karen (2016) “'They can learn to say my name': Redistributing Responsibility for Integrating Immigrants to Canada.” Anthropologica 58(1):46-59.

  Pennesi, Karen (2016) “Diversity and Names: Designing for Belonging.” Belonging, Identity, Language, Diversity (BILD) Research Group Blog. Posted 8 May 2016.

  Pennesi, Karen (2016) “NameCoach: hear the name, say it right.” Names: A Journal of Onomastics 64(1): 58-62

  Iannozzi, Michael and Karen Pennesi (2015) “Does that Name Mean Anything to You?” Canadian Language Museum Blog. Posted 6 September 2015.

  Pennesi, Karen (2014) “Reading and Righting the Names at a Convocation Ceremony: Ideological Influences on Name Usage in an Institutional Interaction. Names: A Journal of Onomastics 62(1): 37-48.

Gergana Petkova, Medical University, Plvdiv, Bulgaria

I am a linguist specializing in Bulgarian and English philology. I hold a master's degree in Classical Studies and work as a Senior Lecturer in Latin for Specialized Medical Purposes at the Department of Languages and Specialized Training, Medical University – Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

The core of my research interests lies in onomastics, particularly in its subfields related to anthroponymy, brand names of medicines, pharmaceutical products, and supplements, as well as specialized medical terms and units that contain an onym, such as different types of eponyms.

My PhD thesis presents a diachronic study of personal names of Latin origin within contemporary Slavic anthroponymic systems, exploring the influence of Christianity in their assimilation process.

E-mail: Gergana.Petkova@mu-plovdiv.bg

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7209-9765

• Publications:

  Gergana Pekova, Veronika Kelbecheva, Vanya Ivanova. 2024. (In)correctness of eponym use in the field of medicine. NAME AND NAMING. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Onomastics “Name and Naming”. (In)correctness in Onomastics. Cluj-Napoca: Mega, p. 633-643.

  Gergana Petkova. 2024. Posh Anthroponyms in Northern Bulgaria. Onomástica desde América Latina, v.5, janeiro -dezembro, 2024, p. 1–5 (ISSN 2675-2719).

  Мая Влахова-Ангелова, Гергана Петкова. 2023. Гранични явления в съвременната българска антропонимия. Onomastica LXVII, 2023, с. 73-90.

  Gergana Petkova. 2023. Foreigners in the Bulgarian anthroponymic system. Is it true that parents in Bulgaria prefer non-traditional variations of traditional given names? In: Bijak, U., Swoboda, P., Walkowiak, J. B. (eds.), Onomastics in Interaction with Other Branches of Science. Proceedings of the 27th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences. Vol. 2 Anthroponomastics, 371-387. Cracow: Jagiellonian University Press.

  Gergana Petkova. 2022. Bulgarian personal names with non-Slavic origin that denote colour. NAME AND NAMING. Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Onomastics “Name and Naming”. Multiculturalism in Onomastics, p. 267-278.

  Anna Choleva-Dimitrova, Maya Vlahova-Angelova, Nadezhda Dancheva, Gergana Petkova. 2021. Dynamics of first names in the Bulgarian anthroponymic system (according to official first names in the city of Sofia, in the years 2007 and 2014). Onoma (Journal of the Onternational Council of Onomastic Sciences), Vol. 56 (2021). Cluj-Napoca: Editura Mega, p. 58-85.

  Гергана Петкова. 2021. За чуждите лични имена с единична употреба, регистрирани в гр. София през 2014 г. Слѣдовати достоитъ. Доклади от международната ономастична конференция „Антропоними и антропонимни изследвания в началото на XXI век“, посветена на 100-годишнината от рождението на проф. д.ф.н. Йордан Заимов (1921 – 1987), 20 – 22 април 2021 г., гр. София. Анна Чолева-Димитрова, Мая Влахова-Ангелова, Надежда Данчева (отг. редактори). София: Издателство на БАН „Проф. Марин Дринов“, 2021, с. 260-269.

  Anna Choleva-Dimitrova, Nadezhda Dancheva, Maya Vlahova-Angelova, Gergana Petkova. 2020. Are contemporary Bulgarian personal names still indicative of a Bulgarian identity?. Onoma (Journal of the Onternational Council of Onomastic Sciences), Vol. 55 (2020). Cluj-Napoca: Editura Mega, p. 247-266.

  Gergana Petkova. 2018. Serbian Personal Names Derived from a Roman Cognomen. Сп. „Балканско езикознание“/ Balkan Linguistics, LVII, 2, Sofia, 2018, pp. 189-199.

  Gergana Petkova. 2018. Bulgarian Masculine Personal Names Derived from a Roman Cognomen. Onomastica Uralica 13, Debrecen University Press, Debrecen-Helsinki, 2018, p. 99-107.

Jane Pilcher, University of West of England, Bristol, UK.

I am a Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of West of England. As a sociologist, I use names to analyse, understand and deconstruct identities and inequalities. I am interested in naming practices in terms of identities and bodies, and in relation to greater diversity and flexibility in contemporary gender identities and family relationships. My recent projects include the pronunciation of names in higher education in the context of culturally diverse student identities, names and naming in adoption, and long term trends in name changing via an analysis of enrolled deed polls.

• Publications:

  Pilcher, J. and Deakin-Smith, H. (forthcoming) 'That's Not My Name'.: Identity Work by Students with Minoritised Names. Equity in Education & Society. 

  Pilcher, J. (2024). Introduction: Conventions and creativity? Names in the (re)construction of gender. Nordic Journal of Socio-Onomastics, 4(1), 5–14. https://doi.org/10.59589/noso.42024.25435

  Pilcher, J., Deakin-Smith, H., Aldrin, E., & Thi My Nguyen, H. (2024). Name changing and gender: An analysis of name changes made in the United Kingdom via enrolled deed polls, 1998–2019. Nordic Journal of Socio-Onomastics, 4(1), 101–136. https://doi.org/10.59589/noso.42024.16876

  Deakin-Smith, H., Pilcher, J., Flaherty, J., Coffey, A., & Makis, E. (2024). The research politics of (re)naming participants: A sociology of names perspective. Qualitative Research, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14687941241277729

  Pilcher, J., Deakin-Smith, H., & Roesch, C. G. (2024). The pronunciation of students’ names in higher education: identity work by academics and professional services staff. Oxford Review of Education, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054

  Pilcher, J., Flaherty, J., Deakin-Smith, H., Coffey, A., & Makis, E. (2023). Surnames in Adoption: (Re)creating Identities of Belonging. Genealogy, 7(4), 92. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy7040092985.2024.2331158

  Pilcher, J., & Coffey, A. (2024). Names in adoption law and policy: representations of family, rights and identities. Families, Relationships and Societies, 13(1), 105-120.  https://doi.org/10.1332/204674322X16651391589015

  Pilcher J, Hooley Z, Coffey A. (2020) Names and naming in adoption: Birth heritage and family-making. Child & Family Social Work.  25 568–575. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12728

  Pilcher, J. (2017) Names and “Doing Gender”: How Forenames and Surnames Contribute to Gender Identities, Difference, and Inequalities. Sex Roles 77, 812–822 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-017-0805-4

  Pilcher, J. (2016). Names, Bodies and Identities. Sociology, 50(4), 764-779. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038515582157

Guy Puzey, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

My research on names is mainly in socio-onomastics, with a focus on critical approaches to naming, in other words investigating the power relationships inherent in names and naming processes.

I have a particular interest in the use of autoethnography in personal name studies, as well as international differences between legal and regulatory frameworks related to personal names, including identity documentation and name changes. I have explored psychological aspects of personal names and naming, including concepts of onomastic incongruence, onomastic dysphoria, and the connections between names and conditions of worth.

Most of my work in onomastics thus far has concentrated on place names, including names in the linguistic landscape, provisions for place names in minority languages, renaming, place branding, and onomastic capital. My contributions have paid particular attention to the contexts of Norway, Scotland, and Italy, but I am fascinated by names wherever they are used!

• Publications:

  Forthcoming. ‘The Importance of Being Ourselves: Onomastic Incongruence and the Citizen-State Relationship in Selected European Contexts’, Onomastica Uralica.

  2024. ‘Fri rørsle for namn? Sjølvetnografiske perspektiv på namnedysfori, identitet og statsborgarskap’ [Freedom of movement for names? Autoethnographic perspectives on onomastic dysphoria, identity, and citizenship], Nordisk tidskrift för socioonomastik / Nordic Journal of Socio-Onomastics 4.2, 81–130.

  2021 (with Jani Vuolteenaho & Matthias Wolny). ‘Signals of Onomastic Capital: From Transhistorical Roots to the Contemporary Globalized Trend of Sponsored Names’, Nordisk tidskrift för socioonomastik / Nordic Journal of Socio-Onomastics 1, 115–155.

  2019 (with Jani Vuolteenaho & Matthias Wolny). ‘“This Venue Is Brought to You by…”: The Diffusion of Sports and Entertainment Facility Name Sponsorship in Urban Europe’, Urban Geography 40.6, 762–783.

  2018 (with Jani Vuolteenaho). ‘“Armed with an Encyclopedia and an Axe”: The Socialist and Post-Socialist Street Toponymy of East Berlin Revisited through Gramsci’, in The Poltical Life of Urban Streetscapes: Naming, Politics, and Place, ed. by Reuben Rose-Redwood, Derek Alderman & Maoz Azaryahu (Abingdon: Routledge), pp. 74–97.

  2016. ‘Aircraft Names’, in The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming, ed. by Carole Hough (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 605–614.

  2016. ‘Linguistic Landscapes’, in The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming, ed. by Carole Hough (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 395–411.

  2016 (with Laura Kostanski, eds). Names and Naming: People, Places, Perceptions and Power (Bristol: Multilingual Matters).

  2016 (with Jani Vuolteenaho). ‘Developing a Gramscian Approach to Toponymy’, in Names and Their Environment: Proceedings of the 25th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences, Glasgow, 25–29 august 2014, ed. by Carole Hough & Daria Izdebska, vol. 2 (Glasgow: University of Glasgow), pp. 66–77.

  2011. ‘New Research Directions in Toponomastics and Linguistic Landscapes’, Onoma 46, 211–226.

Anne Rosar, University of Mainz, Germany

My research is situated at the intersection of German cultural-historical linguistics, gender and corpus linguistics. These perspectives play a central role in my onomastic studies, which focus primarily on surnames. As a postdoctoral researcher in the Digital Dictionary of Surnames in Germany (DFD) project, I explore the current inventory of surnames in Germany by analyzing the etymology of surnames, their grammatical structures, as well as their geographical distribution and the sociohistorical contexts of name-giving practices. My research also focuses on surname changes upon marriage, which I have investigated from both a synchronic and a diachronic perspective. In addition, I co-organize the 10th Conference on Names in Mainz (Germany), titled “Migration Onomastics: Personal Names in the Context of Migration Movements”. The goal is to examine anthroponyms in connection with linguistic biographies and migration processes. In this context, I collaborate with Anja Hasse (Zurich/Switzerland) to analyze naming practices among the Swiss Amish in the United States.

• Publications:

  (angenommen): „diesen natürlichen Gang haben auch die deutschen Weiber, […] von dem Entstehen der Geschlechtsnamen an, betreten“ – Zur Genese des patriarchalen Ehenamenprinzips in Deutschland. In: Beiträge zur Namenforschung. Daniel Kroiß, Miriam Lind und Lena Späth (Hrsg.): Namen und Politik. Doppelheft zur gleichnamigen Tagung vom 20.–22.09.2023 in Mainz (erscheint voraussichtlich 2025).

  (2023): "Deiner oder meiner?" Zur Wahl des Ehenamens in Deutschland. In: Das Standesamt (StAZ). Zeitschrift für Standesamtswesen, Familienrecht, Staatsangehörigkeitsrecht, Personenstandsrecht, internationales Privatrecht des In- und Auslands. Geringfügig geänderte Fassung des Aufsatzes in: Der Sprachdienst 6/22, 224–236.

  (2021): "Die Namensfrage war gleich nach der Brautkleidfrage die zweitwichtigste!" – Diachrone Entwicklung und Argumentationstopoi der Ehenamenwahl in Deutschland. In: Beiträge zur Namenforschung, Heft 1–2, S. 149–186. Kristin Casemir, Antje Dammel und Friedel Roolfs (Hg.): Personennamen in Bewegung (Anthroponyms in Motion). Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter. 

  Mit Theresa Schweden (Hg.) (2020): Namengeographie. Beiträge zur Namenforschung, Heft 2–3. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter.

  (2020): Beziehung grammatikalisiert: Onymische und pronominale Referenz auf weibliche Personen im Dialekt von Idar-Oberstein. In: Luise Kempf, Damaris Nübling und Miriam Schmuck (Hg.): Linguistik der Eigennamen. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter (Linguistik – Impulse und Tendenzen), S. 377–396.

Eugen Schochenmaier, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

I am a linguist specializing in name studies, semantics, and applied onomastics, with a focus on surnames, given names, occupational names, and digital name-based lexicography. Since 2002, I have been engaged in onomastic research, serving as Web Officer & Webmaster for the International Council of Onomastic Sciences (2017–2024) and Information Officer for the American Name Society (2018–2019). As a Senior Onomatologist at Mondonomo, I am editing the "World Names Reference Books" series. Since 2016, I have been an online editor of ONOMA, the Journal of ICOS. Since 2012, I have run e-Onomastics, a platform dedicated to name research and linguistic trends. My expertise includes surname mapping, analysis of occupational names, and digital onomastics. I also serve as an Integration Consultant at the Department of Onomastics of the Baitursynov Institute of Linguistics (Kazakhstan), fostering collaboration between Kazakh and Western onomastic research. My work bridges traditional and digital methodologies in name studies, exploring how names reflect identity, history, and cultural transformation. I am currently working on two projects: Iranian Surnames in the USA (sponsored by Persian Heritage Foundation) and Standardizing Kazakh Surnames: Transliteration Guidelines for the 2031 Latin Script Reform (supported by the Science Committee of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan).

• Publications: 

  1) with Chernovatyi, L., Reference Dictionary of Ukrainian Names. Mondonomo (2023). ISBN: 978-95-35045-50-2;

  2) Champs associatifs des noms propres et mécanismes de la compréhension textuelle. Thèse de doctorat, Université de Paris 10 (2009).

  3) Resources, media, networks and future of onomastic studies. In: Onomastica Uralica 14 (2018), p.37–51.

  4) Biblical Anthroponyms in Secular Contexts. In: Onomástica desde América Latina 5 (2024), p.1–20.

  5) Controversial Article on Geonomastics. In: Meta-CartoSemiotics. Journal for Theoretical Cartography 3 (2010), p.1–13.

  6) De la traduction du néologisme "properhood" en français. In: Onoma 52 (2017), p.115–122.

  7) Preliminary Study of the Most Frequent Russian, French and German Occupational Surnames. In: Onomastica Lipsiensia 13 (2018), p.271-290.

  8) Connotation du nom propre, ou si Nicolas Chauvin était « chauviniste ». In: Nouvelle revue d'onomastique 53 (2011), p.211-237.

  9) Comparative study of the 100 most frequent Russian, French, German and British Surnames. In: C. Hough and D. Izdebska (eds.) Proceedings of the 25th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences Glasgow 2014, Vol. 3, (2016), p. 221-232. University of Glasgow.

  10) Что такое ономатометрия, или Методы прикладной ономастики в генетике, юриспруденции, экономике и лексикографии. In: Материалы V Международной научно-практической конференции "Вопросы современной филологии в контексте взаимодействия языков и культур" (2023), p. 159-163, Оренбург. (What is Onomatometry, or Methods of Applied Onomastics in Genetics, Law, Economics and Lexicography. In: Proceedings of the V International Scientific and Practical Conference ‘Issues of Modern Philology in the Context of Interaction of Languages and Cultures’ (2023), p. 159-163, Orenburg.)

Theresa Schweden, University of Mainz, Germany

My research focus is historical sociolinguistics, especially on morphology, semantic change and socio-onomastics. I am currently a member of the Collaborative Research Center “Human Differentiation” at the University of Mainz, where I am researching the linguistic differentiation by and of humans. Names also play a central role in this. In my doctoral thesis, I looked at unofficial names in German dialects, which contribute to the creation of identity in village communities and allow conclusions to be drawn about village social history. In a study on dog names, I was able to show that the alignment with the human name inventory and the choice of a large inventory of nicknames testify to the strong integration of domestic dogs into the family. I am also concerned with social aspects of names that mark a migration history and with migration-related name changes.

• Publications:

  (to be published 2025, mit Antje Dammel): Migrierende Namen. Raum als Schauplatz und Metapher für wechselnde Zugehörigkeiten. In: Dammel, Antje/Leonardi, Simona/Thüne, Eva-Maria/Schweden, Theresa/Ziegler, Evelyn (eds.): Personennamen in Migration. Reihe M der CeSLiC Occasional Papers der Universität Bologna.

  (to be published 2025): Lieber eine Schmidt als irgendeinen Ali. Eine diskurslinguistische Studie zu Namen als ethnische Marker auf dem Wohnungsmarkt. In: Beiträge zur Namenforschung (BNF) (60).

  (2024): Von Stinkehund und Speckberta bis Baby und Prinzessin: Sekundärnamen für Hunde – ein onomastischer Zugang zur Tier/Mensch-Grenze.“ In: Ewald, Petra/Pohl, Inge (eds.): Inoffizielle Eigennamen – Onomastische Studien (Sprache – System und Tätigkeit 76). Berlin: Peter Lang, 83–105.

  (2024): Aus Nelly wird Nele: Zum onymischen Doing Family durch Hundenamen. Beiträge zur Namenforschung (BNF) 59 (1), 79–104.

  (2023) de Stoiber Edmund und Fischers Helene. Inoffizielle Personennamen im Spannungsfeld von Privatheit und Öffentlichkeit. Linguistik Online Sonderheft „Bewegte Namen im Varietätenspektrum und im Sprachkontakt“, 61–83. DOI.

  (2023): Personenreferenz im Dialekt. Grammatik und Pragmatik inoffizieller Personennamen in Dialekten des Deutschen. (Empirische Linguistik / Empirical Linguistics 18). Berlin/Boston. De Gruyter. DOI.

  (2021): Zwischen Toponym und Anthroponym. Ein topnomastischer Ansatz zur Analyse dörflicher Hausnamen als geographisches Referenzsystem. Dräger, Kathrin, Rita Heuser, Michael Prinz (eds.): Toponyme. Standortbestimmung und Perspektiven (Germanistische Linguistik 326) Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 109–128. DOI.

Inga Siegfried-Schupp

As a linguist and historian, I work and research on questions that focus on the character of personal and place names in their cultural, historical and social context. I am particularly interested in theoretical questions on community formation by means of proper names and thus the connection between language, community, individual and naming.

During my many years of involvement in several Swiss name book projects (name books of the cantons of Bern, Basel-Stadt and Zurich), I have examined the social and interonymic contextualisation of place names in addition to linguistic-historical analyses. As the author of various linguistic and popular science publications, I am currently focussing on informal and unofficial personal and place names. These names, which are not administratively standardised, allow an unobstructed view of universal processes of name formation and open up space for comparative studies. I am therefore very pleased about this new network and the resulting opportunities for academic exchange.

Email:  kontakt@allesuebernamen.de

• Publications:

  „Zur Erhebung inoffizieller Ortsnamen“, in: Dräger, Kathrin/Prinz, Michael, Prinz/Heuser, Rita

  (eds.) (2021): Toponyme. Eine Standortbestimmung, Berlin, 128–139.

  „Personennamen als verkörperte Wissensansprüche”, in: Nübling, Damaris; Hirschauer, Stefan (Hg.): Namen und Geschlechter: Studien zum onymischen un/doing gender. Berlin, New York 2018 (=Linguistik. Impulse &Tendenzen 76), 29–44.

  “Die Herausbildung und Verwendung des eigennamenspezifischen Suffixes -(e)mer im Alemannischen” (zusammen mit Martin H. Graf), in: BNF 52/4 (2017), 431–448.

  „Städtische Mikrotoponymie”, in: Riecke, Jörg (Hg.) unter Mitwirkung von Albrecht Greule u. Stefan Hackl: Namen und Geschichte am Oberrhein. Heidelberg 2017, 105–115.

  „Inoffizielle Ortsnamen“, in: Namenkundliche Informationen 109/110 (2017), 538–574.

  „Parallelnamen“, in: Mischke, Jürgen/Siegfried, Inga (Hg.): Die Ortsnamengebung im Kanton Basel-Stadt (=Namenbuch Basel-Stadt). Basel 2016, 222–227.

  „Eigenname und Funktion. Zur Entstehung und Tradierung von Toponymen“, in: Ehrhardt, Horst (Hg.): Sprache und Kreativität. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang 2011, 203–213.

Julia Sinclair-Palm, Carleton University, Canada

Dr. Julia Sinclair-Palm (they/them) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, where they serve as the Director of the forthcoming Robert Quartermain Centre for SOGI‐inclusive Excellence in Education (RQCSIEE). Before arriving at UBC, Dr. Sinclair-Palm was an Associate Professor in Childhood and Youth Studies in the Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies at Carleton University. Their work examines how young people forge new identities, imagine futures and navigate structural inequalities in the midst of these larger, and sometimes restrictive narratives about childhood and youth. 

E-Mail: julia.sinclairpalm@ubc.ca

 

• Further information:

  Director of the Robert Quartermain Centre for SOGI‐Inclusive Excellence in Education, and Associate Professor of Teaching in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, in the Faculty of Education

  The University of British Columbia | Vancouver Campus | Musqueam Traditional Territory
  2125 Main Mall | Vancouver British Columbia | V6T 1Z4 Canada

• Publications:

  Sinclair-Palm, J. (2024). Names as a trans technology: Exploring the naming practices of trans youth in Australia, Ireland and Canada. Nordic Journal of Socio-Onomastics, 4 (1), 137-161. https://doi.org/10.59589/noso.42024.16669

  Sinclair-Palm, J. (2024). Teaching trans: Pedagogical implications of embodying course content. Reading the room: Lessons on pedagogy and curriculum from the gender and sexuality studies classroom. Ed. Natalie Kouri-Towe. Concordia University Press.

  Sinclair-Palm, J. (2023). The Role of Family in Trans Youths’ Naming Practices. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2023.2181450

  Sinclair-Palm, J & Chokly, K. (2022). “’It’s a giant faux pas’: exploring young trans people’s beliefs about deadnaming and the term deadname.” Journal of LGBT Youth, 20(2), 370-389. https://doi.org/10.1080/19361653.2022.2076182

  Dyer, H., Sinclair-Palm, J. and Yeo, M. (2020). “Drawing Queer and Trans Kinship with Children: Affect, Cohabitation, and Reciprocal Care.” Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 42(4), 257-276. https://doi.org/10.1080/10714413.2020.1724764

  Sinclair-Palm, J. (2022). Trans Youth in Canada. The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Sexuality Education. Ed. Louisa Allen and Mary Lou Rasmussen. Cham: Springer International Publishing. (pp. 1-8). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95352-2_88-1

  Sinclair-Palm, J. (2020). Queer and Trans Youth Organizing. The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education, Ed. Cris Mayo and Lisa Weems. Oxford University Press.https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.1311

  Dyer, H., Sinclair-Palm, J., Joynt, C., Yeo, M., and Tait, C. (2020). Aesthetic Expression of Queer kinship in Children’s Drawings. Journal of Canadian Studies, 54(2-3), 526-543. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/780618.

  Sinclair-Palm, J. (2020). Gender and Gender Identity Development Among Young Trans People in North America. The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education, Ed. Cris Mayo and Lisa Weems. Oxford University Press.https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.1549

  Sinclair-Palm, J. & Gilbert, J. (2018). “Naming New Realities: Supporting Trans Youth in Education.” Journal of Sex Education, 18 (4): 321-327. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2018.1452347

Xiaoying Qi, Australia Catholic University, Australia

I am a sociologist. In conducting research on transformations of family life and family structure in contemporary China [see Qi, Xiaoying (2021) Remaking Families in Contemporary China, Oxford University Press], I came across an emerging surnaming practice. This is the provision of the mother’s surname to her child, rather than the father’s. What appears to be a demonstration of feminist power, the practice in fact operates to preserve the patriarchal line of a daughter-only family. Through development of the concept of ‘veiled patriarchy’ I demonstrate how surnaming is influenced by a number of factors, including inter-generational relations, gender cultures, and the power of property within and between families. I also examine the emotional dimension of surnaming, which is under-researched in this sparsely examined sociological space.

Peyman Ghassemi Pour Sabet, Curtin University, Australia

My interest in onomastics lies in the link between socio-political changes and changes they cause in the naming practice in society. Being more than just a personal choice, naming can manifest the socio-political inclinations of any society. Any significant changes in these inclinations will bring about changes in the naming practice too. The current research project I am contributing to is a study of the link between changes in Chinese given names and social changes over a period of 200 years.

 

 

 

• Publications: 

  Su, H., P. Ghassemi Pour Sabet, and G. Q. Zhang. 2023. "Historical imprints on Chinese ideological given names." Pragmatics and Society 15(4): 501-53.

  Sabet, P. G. P., and G. Zhang. 2020. "First names in social and ethnic contexts: A socio-onomastic approach." Language and Communication 70: 1-12.

Rachael Robnett, University of Nevada, USA

I am a psychologist and in my research I am interested in links between marriage traditions and the decisions people make about surnames.

Daiva Sinkevičiūtė, Vilnius University, Lithuania

I am an onomastician and Baltic philologist, specializing in personal names in the Baltic languages. Currently, I am examining Lithuanian names, exploring their trends and changes and how societal changes influence them. I am interested in how parents choose names for their children and how Lithuanian identity is expressed through names. Another field of my research is historical Baltic personal names, their development, and their heritage. Finally, I am also interested in the policy surrounding personal names and place names.

Further information

 

• Publications: 

  Sinkevičiūtė, Daiva, 2024, Raides su diakritikais turintys emigrantų vaikų vardai didžiosiose emigracijos iš Lietuvos šalyse 1991-2020 m. [Names of emigrant children with Lithuanian letters with diacritics in major emigration countries from Lithuania in 1991–2020]. In: Baltu filoloģija, 33 (1), 81–98. https://doi.org/10.22364/bf.33.1.07

  Sinkevičiūtė, Daiva, 2023, Names in Contemporary Lithuanian: Valued Qualities and Their Changes, In: Proceedings of the 27th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences. Onomastics in Interaction With Other Branches of Science. Volume 2, Anthroponomastics Edited by Urszula Bijak, Paweł Swoboda, Justyna B. Walkowiak, Kraków: Jagiellonian University Press, 2023, 425–441. https://doi.org/10.4467/K7446.46/22.23.17289 

  Sinkevičiūtė, Daiva, 2023, Nauji lietuvių dvikamieniai asmenvardžiai su atviraisiais pirmaisiais kamienais, In: Baltistica, 58 (2), 315–327. http://dx.doi.org/10.15388/baltistica.58.2.2532

  Sinkevičiūtė, Daiva, 2022, The influence of borrowed names on the Lithuanian stock of personal names: the case of names ending in -ija, -ijus, In: Name and Naming. Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Onomastics „Name and Naming“. Multiculturalism in Onomastics, 297–309. DOI: 10.30816/ICONN5/2019/24, https://onomasticafelecan.ro/iconn5/proceedings/1_24_Sinkeviciute_Daiva_ICONN_5.pdf

  Sinkevičiūtė, Daiva, 2022, Nauji XVI a. lietuvių dvikamieniai vardai su trumpinių kilmės dėmenimis [New 16th-century Lithuanian compound names with stems of hypocoristic origin], In: Baltistica, 57 (2), 329–344. http://dx.doi.org/10.15388/baltistica.57.2.2476

  Sinkevičiūtė, Daiva, 2021, Skolintų vardų su baigmeniu -ij- kaita Lietuvos vardyne (kilmės aspektas) [The development of borrowed names ending in -ij- in Lithuanian (origin)], In: Acta Linguistica Lithuanica, 84, 232–253. https://doi.org/10.35321/all84-11

  Sinkevičiūtė, Daiva, 2020 [2021], Newly discovered Lithuanian compound names with first stem of Christian origin as witnesses of the intersection of pagan and Christian cultures, In: Onoma, 55, 149–166. https://doi.org/10.34158/ONOMA.55/2020/9

  Sinkevičiūtė, Daiva, 2018, Nežinomi Lietuvos Metrikos senieji lietuvių dvikamieniai asmenvardžiai [New Lithuanian compound proper names from the Lithuanian Metrica], In: Baltistica, 53 (1), 147–162. http://dx.doi.org/10.15388/baltistica.53.1.2346

  Sinkevičiūtė, Daiva, 2018, Litauische Vornamen naturthematischer Herkunft: Trends des letzten Jahrhunderts, In: Onomastica Uralica, 13, 243–257. https://mnytud.arts.unideb.hu/onomural/kotetek/ou13/18.pdf

  Sinkevičiūtė, Daiva, 2006, Lietuvių dvikamienių asmenvardžių trumpiniai ir jų kilmės pavardės [Shortenings of Lithuanian compound proper names and surnames of this origin], Vilnius: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla (ISBN 9986-19-973-1). https://kolekcijos.biblioteka.vu.lt/system/files/repository/fe/17/95/VUB01_000332631.pdf

Ranjana Srinivasan, Teachers College Columbia University, New York & licensed clinical psychologist, USA

I am a licensed clinical psychologist studying the experiences of name-based microaggressions within racial and cultural minority populations in the United States. “Name-based microaggressions” constitute a specific category of microaggressions that capture the subtle discriminatory comments that minority individuals experience due to their first and last names of cultural origin. Examples of name-based microaggressions include: assignment of an unwanted nickname, assumptions and biases about an individual based on their name, and teasing from peers and educators due to cultural aspects of a name. My research uncovered the mental health impact of name-based microaggressions and the coping mechanisms that minority populations utilize to combat these discriminatory experiences. It also provides treatment recommendations for mental health professionals and educators who are working with minority individuals with names of ethnic origin.

Elizabeth Suter, University of Denver, USA

Edla Szabó, University of Turku, Finland

I am a doctoral researcher focusing on the graphemics and phonology of Finnish personal names. My interests lie in how the popularity of personal names changes over time and why that is. I am investigating whether the graphemic features of names influence these changes. I am also interested in the possible connection between Finnish social class and Finnish personal names—by which I mean the potential differences in personal names across social classes. One aspect of this might be the graphemic structure of personal names.

 

• Publications:

  Article called Three Finnish graphemic first name categories and models - classification and popularity variation | Onomastica Uralica | December 2025

Jana Valdrová, University of Innsbruck, Austria

I am a gender linguist, and an associate researcher at the University of Innsbruck. I am interested in how the system of female and male names supports and legitimizes the binary perception of gender. Gender-neutral names are “intruders in the system” – they embody a critical reflection on the gendered world, but in patriarchalist regimes they are seen as a threat to “traditional values”. As a forensic expert, I focus on gender-neutral names in Czech legislation and Czech onomastics. I am currently analyzing onomastic literature and legislation in terms of equal treatment of names.

Nicoline van der Sijs

My specializations are historical linguistics and etymology, and as such I am also interested in onomastics. I am em. professor of historical linguistics of Dutch at the Radboud University in Nijmegen and guest researcher at the Institute for the Dutch Language in Leiden. I have set up a number of large databases with etymological and dialect information, such as the Etymologiebank.nl, the Uitleenwoordenbank and the elektronische Woordenbank van de Nederlandse Dialecten. On the Etymologiebank the content of some 80 etymological works is collected and interlinked via the lemma form. These works also include dictionaries on personal names and place names. It would greatly advance research if a similar digital network would be erected by linking data collections of personal names in various languages, and I would happily contribute to such a project.

E-Mail:
post@nicolinevdsijs.nl
nicoline.vandersijs@ivdnt.org

• Publications:

  
  - Joby, Christopher and Nicoline van der Sijs (eds) (2025), The Dutch Language and Contact Linguistics, John Benjamins.
  - Sijs, Nicoline van der (2019), ‘Historical linguistics in the Netherlands’, in: Linguistics in the Netherlands 2019, eds. Janine Berns & Elena Tribushinina, 54-59.
  - Jansen, Mathilde, Nicoline van der Sijs, Fieke van der Gucht, Johan de Caluwe (2017), Atlas van de Nederlandse taal. Editie Nederland, Tielt: Lannoo.
  - Sijs, Nicoline van der (ed.) (2011), Dialectatlas van het Nederlands, Amsterdam: Bert Bakker. Cartografie: Geografiek.
  - Kruijsen, Joep en Nicoline van der Sijs (2010), ‘Mapping Dutch and Flemish’, in: Language and Space. An International Handbook of Linguistic Variation. Volume 2: Language Mapping, eds. Alfred Lameli, Roland Kehrein, Stefan Rabanus, Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 180-202, maps volume 43-47.
  - Sijs, Nicoline van der (2009), ‘Loanwords in Dutch’, in: Haspelmath, Martin & Tadmor, Uri (eds.), Loanwords in the World’s Languages: A Comparative Handbook, Berlin and New York: De Gruyter Mouton, 338-359.
  - Philippa, dr. Marlies, dr. Frans Debrabandere, prof.dr. Arend Quak, dr. Tanneke Schoonheim en dr. Nicoline van der Sijs (eds) (2003-2009), Etymologisch Woordenboek van het Nederlands, 4 delen, Amsterdam: AUP.
  - Sijs, Nicoline van der (2009), Cookies, Coleslaw, and Stoops. The Influence of Dutch on the North-American Languages, Amsterdam: AUP / Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  - Sijs, Nicoline van der (2005), Van Dale Groot Leenwoordenboek. De invloed van andere talen op het Nederlands, Utrecht/Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
  - Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands. De ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam: L.J. Veen.

Stephen Wu, Hamilton College, USA

I am an economist and my research spans the fields of higher education, health economics, labor economics, and the economics of subjective well-being. I am interested in studying different ways to measure name fluency, and also studying discrimination due to name pronunciation. Among my current projects, I am researching the impact of difficult-to-pronounce names on job outcomes in academic labor markets.

Our members (A–L)