Our Members


Abdulkadir Adamu, State University of New York at Buffalo

As a PhD student in Linguistics at the State University of New York at Buffalo, my ongoing research focuses on the sociolinguistic documentation of multilingualism and personal naming practices among forcibly displaced communities in northeastern Nigeria. Within this broader project, the onomastic component examines the multimastic nature of naming (i.e., individuals bearing multiple names simultaneously) and its dynamic character.

Abdulkadir Adamu
© Abdulkadir Adamu

I also explore how personal names index multilayered social networks, relational identities, and intergroup dynamics in this region. By centering multilingual, culturally non-homogeneous contexts, this project aims to contribute a distinctive perspective to research on personal naming practices in Africa and beyond. The work has already yielded preliminary findings which I presented at the 57th Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL 57), held from May 21–24 at the University at Buffalo, USA. In related research, I also study personal naming practices among Fulfulde-speaking communities in Nigeria, with a focus on how names in these communities reflect and engage with their cultural values and social life. I welcome opportunities for both local and international collaboration in these areas of research.

Publications
  • Adamu, A. (2015). Religiosity in branding: A sociolinguistic survey of business names in Gombe, Nigeria. Voyages: Journal of Religious Studies, 1(1), pp. 273-281.
    Conference presentation
  • Adamu, A. “Exploring personal naming practices among displaced communities in Northeastern Nigeria” presented at the 57th Annual Conference of African Linguistics (ACAL57) held at the University at Buffalo, New York, in May 21-24, 2026.

Comfort Iseoluwa Adeleke-Adeniji, Redeemer’s University, Nigeria

I an onomastician and a sociolinguist with focus on African drama texts. I love to delve into the thematic and sociolinguistic imports of characters’ names in relation to the textual and extra-textual contexts of African plays. I am interested in discovering the sociolinguistic context of literary names.

Comfort Iseoluwa Adeleke-Adeniji
© Comfort Iseoluwa Adeleke-Adeniji
Publications
  • Adeleke-Adeniji, C. & Odebode, I. (2024). A Sociolinguistic Study of Characters’ Names in Ahmed Yerima’s Ikudeti. In Humanus Discourse, Volume 4 (4) 1-14. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/381660446
  • Odebode, I., Ayodeji, S., & Adeleke-Adeniji, C. (2024). Biblical names in selected plays of Wole Soyinka: A sociolinguistic study. In Onomástica desde América Latina 5, janeiro-dezembro, 1–26. http://doi.org/10.48075/odal.v5i1.33080
  • Adeleke-Adeniji, C. & Odebode, I. (2024). Eventonym as Characteronym: An Ethnographic Study of the Protagonist’s Name in Ahmed Yerima’s Ikudeti. https://www.sirenjournals.com

Barbara Aehnlich, University of Bremen, Germany

I am a lecturer in German linguistics specializing in the history of the German language at the University of Bremen. As a historical linguist, I have also been working in the field of name research for a long time. For my dissertation, I wrote a thesis on the field names of Thuringia and carried out name studies on various topics, such as the naming of pets by children or the names of utra-fan groups in soccer. I am currently in charge of the digitization of the Thuringian field name archive and the project “Field names as a bridge between society and science”. In the field of personal names, I have carried out contrastive studies on the assignment of names with Georgia and investigated the pragmaonomastic implications of the naming of historical female names.

Barbara Aehnlich
© Barbara Aehnlich
Publications
  • Kein „alltäglicher Gruppenname“? – Namengebung bei Ultrafangruppen (mit Tim Köring), in: Ewald, Petra / Pohl, Inge (Hg.): Inoffizielle Eigennamen – Onomastische Studien (Sprache – System und Tätigkeit, Bd. 76), Berlin u.a. 2024, S. 305–338.
  • Tradition neu gestalten – Digitalisierung und Bürgerwissenschaft im Thüringischen Flurnamenprojekt (gemeinsam mit David Brosius), Beiträge zur Namenforschung 59, 2024, S. 159–180.
  • Vom Zettel zum Datensatz. Flurnamenforschung in Thüringen (mit Petra Kunze), in: Smolarski, René; Carius, Hendrikje; Prell, Martin (Hg.): Citizen Science in den Geschichtswissenschaften. Methodische Perspektive oder perspektivlose Methode? (DH&CS Schriften des Netzwerks für digitale Geisteswissenschaften und Citizen Science 3), Göttingen 2023, S. 125–141.
  • „… ab morgen nennen wir uns Ultras …“ Die Benennungen von Ultrafangruppen in den deutschen Fußballligen (mit Tim Köring), in: Namenkundliche Informationen (NI) 114 (2022), hrsg. von Michael Prinz, Gerhard Rampl und Inga Siegfried-Schupp, 169–202.
  • Rufnamen kontrastiv: ein deutsch-georgischer Vergleich (mit Manana Bakradze, Miranda Gobiani, Jakob Wünsch); Zeitschrift Linguistische Treffen in Wrocław, vol. 21, 2022 (I), S. 17–33. DOI: https://doi.org/10.23817/lingtreff.21-1
  • Das Thüringer Flurnamenportal – Ein Werkstattbericht, in: Namenkundliche Informationen (NI) 113 (2021), hrsg. von Michael Prinz und Inga Siegfried-Schupp, S. 35–52.
  • Kulturelle Spezifik der deutschen und georgischen Vornamen (gemeinsam mit Manana Bakradze, Miranda Gobiani, Diana Schluchtmann und Jakob Wünsch), in: Hengst, Karlheinz (Hg.): Namenforschung und Namenberatung (Onomastica Lipsiensia 14), Leipzig 2021, S. 47–69.
  • Sozio- und pragmaonomastische Implikationen der Benennungspraxis am Beispiel der Christiana von Goethe (gemeinsam mit Anja Stehfest), in: Namenkundliche Informationen 107/108 (2016), herausgegeben von Susanne Baudisch et al., Leipzig, S. 369–396.
  • Minka und Findus oder Helga und Brigitte – Individualbenennungen von Haustieren durch Kinder und Jugendliche (gemeinsam mit Elisabeth Witzenhausen), in: Beiträge zur Namenforschung, Band 50, Heft 1/2, 2015, S. 191-218.
    Flurnamen Thüringens. Der westliche Saale-Holzland-Kreis, baar, Hamburg 2012.

Terhi Ainiala, University of Helsinki, Finland

In the fields of onomastics, the most central areas for me are socio-onomastics and folk onomastics. I’m especially interested in identity construction through naming, social and situational name variation and the various functions of names. Furthermore, the stances and perceptions towards various names are fascinating. Personally, I have studied place names but also personal names. As a supervisor for several doctoral and master thesis I’ve been involved with many kinds of personal names, both official and unofficial, both historical and current.

Terhi Ainiala
© Terhi Ainiala
Publications
  • Voutilainen, Eero – Visakko, Tomi – Sjöblom, Paula – Hakala, Ulla – Ainiala, Terhi 2024: Place branding and translocal chronotopes in Finnish municipality slogans. – Language and Communication 94, 56–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2023.12.003
  • Ainiala, Terhi – Jokela, Salla – Tarvainen, Jenny –Jantunen, Jarmo H. 2023: Geographic imagination and urban-rural binary in online discourses related to the capital region of Finland: A corpus onomastic study of Helsinki, Vantaa and Espoo. – Nordic Journal of Socio-Onomastics, 3, 13–44. https://doi.org/10.59589/noso.32023.14401
  • Jantunen, Jarmo H. – Ainiala, Terhi – Jokela, Salla – Tarvainen, Jenny 2022: Mapping Digital Discourses of the Capital Region of Finland: Combining Onomastics, CADS, and GIS. – Names. A Journal of Onomastics 70:1, 20–39. https://doi.org/10.5195/names.2022.2289
  • Ainiala, Terhi – Olsson, Pia 2021: Places of power: Naming of affective places. – Nordic Journal of Socio-Onomastics, 1, 9–38. https://doi.org/10.59589/noso.12021.14713
  • Ameel, Lieven – Ainiala, Terhi 2018: Toponyms as Prompts for Presencing Place – Making Oneself at Home in Kjell Westö’s Helsinki. – Scandinavian Studies 90(2), 195–210. https://doi.org/10.5406/scanstud.90.2.0195
  • Ainiala, Terhi – Lappalainen, Hanna – Nyström, Samu 2016: Slang name or official name? Suburb names as mirrors of urban identities in eastern Helsinki. – Yhdyskuntasuunnittelu 54, 41–59.
  • Ainiala, Terhi 2016: Names in Society. – Hough, Carole (ed.), Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 371–381. https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/34398
  • Ainiala, Terhi – Östman, Jan-Ola (eds.) 2017: Socio-onomastics. The pragmatics of names. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.275
  • Ainiala, Terhi – Saarikivi, Janne (eds.) 2017: Personal name systems in Finnic and beyond. Uralica Helsingiensia 12. Helsinki. https://www.sgr.fi/fi/items/show/193
  • Ainiala, Terhi – Saarelma, Minna – Sjöblom, Paula 2012: Names in Focus. An Introduction to Finnish Onomastics. Studia Fennica Linguistica. 287 s. Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society. https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/3212

Fatemeh Akbari, Academy of Persian Language and Literature (APLL), Austria

Names are living entities, as are societies. They are born, grow, weaken, and occasionally disappear. Throughout their existence, they interact with each other. The influence of names and societies on each other, particularly from socio-political and terminological perspectives, lies at the heart of my onomastic studies.

Fatemeh Akbari
© Fatemeh Akbari

I am an onomastician, sociolinguist, and terminologist. Currently, I contribute as a non-executive member of the International Council of Onomastic Sciences (ICOS) Board (responsible for international collaborations, with Dr. Peter Jordan), a member of Terminology Working Group, and a member of the ICOS Congress 2027 Organising Committee. Additionally, I serve as the head of the Terminology Committee of the APLL; and a sociolinguist on the project Investigating Iranian Surnames in the USA (sponsored by the Persian Heritage Foundation), among others.

Further information

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7898-9096

https://www.linkedin.com/in/fatemeh-akbari-963b3216

Publications
  • 2025. (with M.R. Razavi and B. Fathi) “Definition: A Function-Style Classification” (submitted for publication)
  • 2023. “A Look at Onomastics in Western World”. Iranian Journal of Sociolinguistics, 6(4):13–25. https://sociolinguistics.journals.pnu.ac.ir/article_10553.html?lang=en
  • 2023. “The Power of Names and Naming”. The 1st. International Congress on Social Sciences, 20-21 October 2023, KTO Karatay University, Konya, Turkey
  • 2023. “Names in Politics”. Invited speaker, International Council of Onomastic Sciences’ Summer School, 21–25 August 2023. Glasgow, University of Glasgow
  • 2022. “International Collaboration on Onomastics”. Keynote speech (with Prof. Dr. Peter Jordan). The Second National Conference on Onomastic Studies in Iran, 23 February 2022, Tehran, Linguistic Society of Iran
  • 2021. “Names in Protest Actions”. The 27th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences, 22–27 August 2021, Cracow, Poland
  • 2020. Iran’s Language Planning to Confront English Abbreviations. n.p.: Springer International Publishing. https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030353827
  • 2019. Immigrants’ Business Naming: Persian Restaurants and Supermarkets in Vienna’s Linguistic Landscape. Onoma (Journal of the International Council of Onomastic Sciences), 54, pp. 99–117.
  • 2019. “Persian Commercial Names and Appealing Strategies” In Onomastic Studies. Tehran: Neveeseh Parsi, pp. 13–34.

Emilia Aldrin, Halmstad University, Sweden

My research interests centre around social positioning and identity creation through naming. I have studied for example parents choice of first names for their children as an act of identity, name choices in multilingual families, gendered patterns in name innovations, teenagers positioning through usernames, the effects of name based stereotypes in school assessment, and name use in educational materials as representation of society.

Emilia Aldrin
© Emilia Aldrin
Publications
  • Vad säger väl ett namn? Reflektioner kring teorin om markerade namn utifrån exemplet etniska konnotationer till förnamn. [What’s in a name? Reflections on the theory of name markedness based on the example of ethnic connotations to first names] In: Namn och gränser. Rapport från den sjuttonde nordiska namnforskarkongressen den 8–11 juni 2021 (NORNA-rapporter 100), edited by Väinö Syrjälä, Terhi Ainiala, and Pamela Gustavsson. Uppsala 2023, p. 57–79. https://norna.org/sites/default/files/rapporter/NORNA100.pdf
  • Representing Sweden: A diachronic study of names and illustrations in Swedish textbooks from the 20th and 21st centuries. In: Beiträge zur Namenforschung 56 (2021), p. 63–78.
  • Naming, Identity, and Social Positioning in Teenagers’ Everyday Mobile Phone Interaction. In: Names: A journal of onomastics 67:1 (2019), p. 30–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/00277738.2017.1415523
  • Assessing names? Effects of name-based stereotypes on teachers’ evaluation of pupils’ texts. In: Names: A journal of onomastics. 65:1 (2017), p. 3–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/00277738.2016.1223116
  • Creating identities through the choice of first name. In: Socio-onomastics. Ed. by: Terhi Ainiala & Jan-Ola Östman. Amsterdam 2017, p. 45–68.
  • Vad säger mitt namn om mig? En folkonomastisk studie av vuxnas syn på relationen mellan namn och identitet. [What does my name say about me? A folk onomastic study of adults’ views of the relationship between name and identity] In: NORNA-rapporter 96. Namn som kjelder. Rapport frå Den sekstande nordiske namne­forskar­kongressen på Jæren folkehøgskole, Kleppe 8.–11. juni 2016. Red. av Tom Schmidt & Inge Særheim. Uppsala (2017), p. 21–34.
  • Names and identity. In: The Oxford Handbook of names and naming. Ed. by Carole Hough. Oxford (2016), p. 382–394.
  • Att skapa kön. Könsmönster och könsroller i nyskapade förnamn. [Creating gender. Gendered patterns and gender roles in newly created first names] In: NORNA-rapporter 92. Innovationer i namn och namnmönster. Rapport från NORNA:s 43 symposium i Halmstad 6–8 november 2013. Red: Emilia Aldrin, Linnea Gustafsson, Maria Löfdahl och Catarina Röjder. Uppsala (2015), p. 36–51.
  • Namnval som social handling. Val av förnamn och samtal om förnamn bland föräldrar i Göteborg 2007–2009. [Naming as a social act. Choice of first names and conversations about first names among parents in Göteborg 2007–2009] Uppsala (2011). https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:402591/FULLTEXT01.pdf
  • 2009: The choice of first names as a social resource and act of identity among multilingual families in contemporary Sweden. In: Names in multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-ethnic contact. Proceedings of The 23rd International Congress of Onomastic Sciences, August 17–22, 2008. York (2009), p. 86–92.

email button Dr. Anna-Maria Balbach, Dortmund University, Germany

I am a linguist of German philology studying the interdependence of language and society, culture and especially religion in diachronic and synchronic perspective. I am interested in onomastics of personal names and their influence by these external factors. Who chooses what names for what reasons at what times? What do personal names, especially given names, tell us about a person’s values and various affiliations within his or her society and culture? So far, I have studied German given names of the early modern period, African-American names and their development from 1600 to the present, as well as personal names and gender.

Anna-Maria Balbach
© Anna-Maria Balbach, Aufnahme von Thomas Mohn

Currently, I am planning a research project on given names in Europe and their historical and contemporary development.

Publications
  • New Land – New Name? About the Name Changes of German Emigrants to North America. Research Overview, New Findings and Suggestions for further Research. In: Dammel, Antje/ Leonardi, Simona/ Schweden, Theresa/ Thune, Eva-Maria/ Ziegler, Evelyn (Hrsg.) (2025): Namen und Migration: Onymische Indizes hybrider sozialer Zugehörigkeiten. Bologna: Centro di Studi Linguistico-Culturali (CeSLiC), pp. 73–94. DOI: https://doi.org/10.6092/unibo/amsacta/8665.
  • Emilia, Noah, or Charly? Current Developments of Boys’, Girls’ and Gender-Neutral Names in Germany and Other (European) Countries. In: Sociolinguistic Studies 19, Nr. 1–2 (2025), p. 36–66. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/SS-2024-0021.
  • Noah and Luca, Sofia and Mia: Current First Name Trends in Europe. In: Linguistica Lettica (2024), p. 76–95.
  • Personal Names and Naming in Europe. First Insights into Variabilities and Similarities. In: Beiträge zur Namenforschung 58/4 (2023), p. 355–392.
  • Names, Naming (People), Christianity – Modern Europe. In: Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR), vol. 20. Berlin, Boston 2022, p. 699–706.
  • „Rose, formerly called Grace“. Fremd- und selbstinitiierter Namenwechsel afro-amerikanischer Sklaven im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert. In: Beiträge zur Namenforschung 56 (2021), p. 79–104.
  • Caesar, Jack, and Cuffee: African-American fugitive slave names in the 17th to the 19th century. In: ONOMA 55 (2021), p. 205–227.
  • Die Scrabble-Score-Methode zur Messung sprachlicher Komplexität – Ein Test anhand von 90.000 Rufnamen aus dem SOEP. In: SOEPpapers 990 (2018), p. 1–14.
  • Von Agustin über Tom zu DaShawn – Zur Geschichte und Entwicklung so genannter ‚Black Names‘ in den USA. Teil 3: Von der Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts bis heute In: Beiträge zur Namenforschung 3 (2018), p. 283–338. https://bnf.winter-verlag.de/article/BNF/2018/3/3
  • Von Agustin über Tom zu DaShawn – Zur Geschichte und Entwicklung so genannter ‚Black Names‘ in den USA. Teil 2: Vom Ende der Sklaverei bis ins frühe 20. Jahrhundert. In: Beiträge zur Namenforschung 2 (2018), p. 133–185. https://bnf.winter-verlag.de/article/BNF/2018/2/2
  • Von Agustin über Tom zu DaShawn – Zur Geschichte und Entwicklung so genannter ‚Black Names‘ in den USA. Teil 1. In: Beiträge zur Namenforschung 1 (2018), p. 1–45. https://bnf.winter-verlag.de/list/articles/author/Balbach,%20Anna-Maria
  • Name – Geschlecht – Individuum. Konfessioneller Einfluss auf die Vornamengebung im frühneuzeitlichen Bayerisch-Schwaben. In: Beiträge zur Namenforschung 2/2014, p. 127–163.
  • Jakob, Johann oder Joseph? – Frühneuzeitliche Vornamen im Streit der Konfessionen. In: Konfession und Sprache in der Frühen Neuzeit. Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven. Hrsg. von Jürgen Macha, Anna-Maria Balbach und Sarah Horstkamp. Münster 2012, p. 11–30.

Laimute Balode, email button University of Latvia, Lativa / email button University of Helsinki, Finland

I have taught onomastics at the University of Latvia for many years and, in parallel, as a visiting professor of Baltic languages ​​at the University of Helsinki, I have also taught a Baltic onomastics course for Finnish students. I was elected as a non-executive Board member of the International Council of Onomastic Sciences (ICOS) (1999–2002).

Laimute Balode
© Laimute Balode

I am Baltic linguist, main field of my research – onomastics. My scientific interests are more related to Latvian and Lithuanian toponymy, particularly Baltic hydronymy, as well as lexical parallels in Baltic languages. I am also one of the authors of multy-years project – Latvian Place Name Dictionary, and Short Dictionary of the Origin of Latvian Geographical Names (“No Abavas līdz Zilupei”, 2015). For the past 20 years – I have also focused on socio-anthroponymy, especially on the motivation of newborn names and the latest trends of given-names in Latvia, as well as tendencies in changing of given-names in recent years. Currently, together with colleagues from the Institute of the Latvian Language, I am working on the new Doctionary of Given-names of Latvia.

Publications
  • Balode, Laimute. Ko atklāj mūsdienu Latvijas iedzīvotāju priekšvārdi. / What do the given names of the residents of contemporary Latvia reveal. Onomastika Lettica. 6., Rīga: Latviešu valodas institūts, 2024, 124–148. https://lavi.lu.lv/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/OL_6_22.11.pdf
  • Balode, Laimute. Names of Newborns in Latvia: Recent Changes. Onomastics in Interaction With Other Branches of Science. Volume 2. Anthroponomastics. Proceedings of the 27th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences. Edited by: Urszula Bijak, Paweł Swoboda, Justyna B. Walkowiak, Kraków: Jagiellonian University Press. 2023, 21–48. Pieejams: https://wuj.pl/en/book/onomastics-in-interaction-with-other-branches-of-science-volume-2
  • Balode, Laimute. Personvārdu izvēles tendences Latvijā un citās Baltijas valstīs: salīdzinošais aspekts / Trends in the choice of personal names in Latvia and other Baltic countries: a comparative aspect. Baltìstikos platýbėse. Baltų kalbotyros straipsnių rinkinys, skirtas prof. Bonifaco Stundžios 70 metų jubiliejui”, Vilniaus universiteto leidykla / Vilnius University Open Series, 2022, 33–64. https://www.zurnalai.vu.lt/open-series/article/view/29772/28817
  • Balode, Laimute. Vai Jānis atgriežas? / Does Jānis return? Akadēmiķa Jāņa Endzelīna 148. dzimšanas dienas atceres starptautiskā zinātniskā konference „Baltijas onīmi: no sendienām līdz mūsdienām”. Tēzes, Rīga: LU Latviešu valodas institūts, 2021, 5–6.
  • Balode, Laimute. Name Changes and Identity in Latvia. Onomastikas Pētījumi / Onomastic Investigations, Rīga: Latviešu valodas institūts, 2020, 18–37. https://lavi.lu.lv/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Onomastic_Investigations_2.pdf
  • Balode, Laimute. 100 izplatītākie latviešu sieviešu un vīriešu vārdi. / The most popular 100 male and female names. Valodas prakse: vērojumi un ieteikumi, 14, Populārzinātnisku rakstu krājums, Rīga: Latviešu valodas aģentūra, 2019, 151–170.
  • Balode, Laimute. Piezīmes par personvārdu maiņu Latvijā / Some Comments of First Name Change in Latvia). Dzīves lingvistika. Veltījumkrājums profesoram Jānim Valdmanim = Linguistics of Life. A festschrift in honour of Jānis Valdmanis. Krājuma redaktore Inita Vītola. Rīga: LU Akadēmiskais apgāds, 2018a, 67–86.
  • Balode, Laimute. Deminutīvi patstāvīgu vārdu funkcijā / Diminutives as Official Personal Names in Latvian. Onomastica Lettica. 5., Rīga: LU Latviešu valodas institūts, 2018b, 195–209.
  • Balode, Laimute. Anthroponymic Nests in Latvian. Onomastica Uralica, 13., Debrecen-Helsinki, 2018c, 65–79. http://mnytud.arts.unideb.hu/onomural/kotetek/ou13a.html
  • Balode, Laimute, Plēsuma, Ieva. Retie personvārdi Latvijā trešās tūkstošgades sākumā / Rare given names at the beginning of the third millenium. Onomastica Lettica 4, Rīga, 2015, 220–251.
  • Balode, Laimute. Lietuviešu cilmes personvārdi latviešu antroponīmiskajā sistēmā / Personal Names of Lithuanian origin in Latvian anthroponymic system. Baltu filoloģija. X. Rīga, 2001, 9–20. https://dbh.nsd.uib.no/publiseringskanaler/erihplus/periodical/info.action?id=480017
  • Balode, Laimute, Smilts un stikls latviešu un citu tautu antroponīmijā./ Sand and Glass in the Latvian and Foreign Anthroponymy. Starptautiskais simpozijs “Smilts un stikls” / International symposium “Sand and Glass”. Zinātnisko rakstu krājums. Symposium scientific papers. Rīga: Latvijas Universitāte, 2017, 112–115.
  • Balode, Laimute, Bušs, Ojārs. Das lettische Personennamensystem. Europäishe Personennamensysteme. Ein Handbuch von Abasisch bis Zentralladinisch (herausgegeben von Andrea Brendler und Silvio Brendler), Hamburg: baar, 2007, 459–473.
  • Balode, Laimute. Personvārdi Rīgas ielu nosaukumos / Personal Names in Riga’s streets/ Tavs vārdadienu kalendārs – 2005, 2006, 2007, Rīga: Nordic, 2004, 425–435.
  • Balode, Laimute. Lietuviešu cilmes personvārdi latviešu antroponīmiskajā sistēmā / Personal names of Lithuanian origin in the Latvian anthroponymic system. Baltu filoloģija. X. Rīga: LU, 2001, 9–20.
  • Balode, Laimute. Latvian Hydronyms of Anthroponymik Origin. Patroponimica Romanica. Band 17. Onomastik. Akten des 18. Internationalen Kongresses für Namenforschung, Trier, 12.-17. April 1993. Band IV: Personennamen und Ortsnamen, 1999, 76–81.
  • Siliņa-Piņķe, Renāte, Balode, Laimute. Mazā personvārdu vārdnīca. / Small Dictionary of Given-names, Rīga: Latviešu valodas aģentūra, 2025. (in print).
  • List of scientific and popular-scientific publications (~ 260).

Ivona Barešová, Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic

I primarily focus on various aspects of Japanese given names, including the recent trend of gender-neutral names. I enjoy exploring how names reflect the period in which they are chosen, capturing parental values, needs, and aspirations shaped by broader societal changes. Recently, I have also conducted comparative analyses of Japanese and Taiwanese names and naming practices. I greatly welcome this initiative and am eager to collaborate with scholars working on similar themes in other cultures, as well as to explore new directions in the study of names and identity.

Ivona Barešová
© Ivona Barešová
Publications
  • Barešová, I., K. Machů, and M. Šturdík. 2024. Contemporary Japanese Gender-Neutral Names from the Perspective of Their Bearers. Japanese Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/10371397.2024.2430558.
  • Barešová, I., Nakaya, T., Matlach, V. 2024. Gender-specific Features in Contemporary Japanese Names. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities 39(2): 467–484. https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqae022.
  • Barešová, I. 2023. Born in the Reiwa Era: The Reflection of Contemporary Events in Japanese Given Names. In: Bijak, U., Swoboda, P., Walkowiak, J. B. Onomastics in Interaction With Other Branches of Science. Volume 2, 49–66. https://doi.org/10.4467/K7446.46/22.23.17269.
  • Barešová, I., and P. Janda. 2023. Tradition and Change: Naming Practices in Contemporary Japan and Taiwan. In F. Kraus, K. Šamajová, R. Westlake, and B. Ferklová. Continuity and change in Asia. 393–411. Olomouc: Palacký University Press.
  • Barešová, I., and P. Janda. 2022. Different, Yet Similar: Given Names of Contemporary Japanese and Taiwanese Young Women. Acta Onomastica 63(1): 7–36.
  • Barešová, I., and M. Pikhart. 2020. Going by an English name: The Adoption and Use of English Names by Taiwanese Young Adults. Social Sciences 9(4): 60. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci9040060.
  • Barešová, I. 2020. Name-based Nickname Formation among Japanese Junior High School Students. Acta Onomastica 61(2): 267–286.
  • Barešová, I. 2020. Boy or Girl? The Rise of Non-Gender-Specific Names in Japan. Silva Iaponicarum 56–59: 26–41. https://doi.org/10.12775/sijp.2020.56-59.2.
  • Barešová, I. 2019. Our Second Son Is Number One: Numbers in Recent Japanese Given Names. Investigationes Linguisticae 43: 1–14. https://doi.org/10.14746/il.2019.43.1.
  • Barešová, I. 2016. Japanese Given Names: A Window into Contemporary Japanese Society. Olomouc: Palacký University Press. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317527958_Japanese_Given_Names_A_Window_Into_Contemporary_Japanese_Society.

Katrine Kehlet Bechsgaard, University of California, Berkeley, USA / University of Copenhagen, Denmark

My research focuses on sociolinguistics and socioonomastics – on how language and names are used in and reflect contemporary society. I am interested in naming practices, especially in terms of how name choices are related to identity. I have studied Danish parents’ choice of first names for children, written a book examining cultural, sociological, linguistic, and psychological aspects of naming, and my current project focuses on surname choices, family practices, gender, and identity.


Soufiane Bengoua, Université de Mostaganem, Algeria

I am a professor of language sciences at the University of Mostaganem in Algeria. My first research project, completed for my bachelor’s thesis in 2001, focused on family names from the Mostaganem region. During my master’s and doctoral studies, I became interested in the sociophonological variation of French in the Algerian context. After obtaining my habilitation in 2017, I concentrated on questions related to onomastics, and anthroponymy in particular. The focal point of my current work is socio-onomastics, mainly first names in Algeria, as I believe they constitute an essential element of an individual’s personal and social identity.

Publications

Gerrit Bloothoft, Utrecht University, Netherlands

The naming of a child is a personal act of identity. How this choice relates to tradition, social group, fashion and time (as an example of cultural evolution) has my deepest interest, and I try to unravel this by the analysis of Dutch naming from about 1790 onwards. This is possible on the basis of full population data for the Netherlands of given names, date, place and country of birth, with added information from 19th century marriage records. This allows for unprecedented analytical research. Most of this information can be accessed online at the Dutch Corpus of Given Names which I founded in 2009. Even though I am retired now, I continue my research as guest of Utrecht University, the Netherlands, and the Meertens Institute of the Royal Academy of sciences.

Gerrit Bloothoft
© Gerrit Bloothoft
Publications
  • Bloothooft, G. (2002), ‘Naming and subcultures in The Netherlands’, Proceedings International Conference of Onomastic Sciences, Uppsala, eds E. Brylla and M. Wahlberg, part 2, pp 53–62 (published 2006)
  • Bloothooft, G., van Nifterick, E. en Gerritzen, D. (2004), ‘Over voornamen – hoe Nederland aan z’n voornamen komt’, Het Spectrum, Utrecht, SBN 90 274 8444 9, 364 pp. [On first names – how The Netherlands gets its first names]
  • Bloothooft, G. and L. Groot (2008), ‘Name clustering on the basis of parental preferences’, Names 56:3, 111–163 (Maney Publishing). http://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/article/view/1841/1840
  • Bloothooft, G. and D. Onland (2011), ‘Socioeconomic determinants of first names’, Names 59, 1, 25–41. http://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/article/view/1910/1909
  • Bloothooft, G. and Schraagen, M. (2011), ‘Name fashion dynamics and social class’, Proceedings of the XXIV-International Conference of Onomastic Sciences, Barcelona, pp 271–282. http://www.gencat.cat/llengua/BTPL/ICOS2011/047.pdf
  • Bloothooft, G. and Darlu, P. (2013), ‘Evaluation of the Bayesian Method to Derive Migration Patterns from Changes in Surname Distributions over Time’, Human Biology 85(3), 537–551.
  • Bloothooft, G., Christen, P., Mandemakers, K., Schraagen, M. (Eds.) (2015), Population Reconstruction, Springer, Switzerland, ISBN 978-3-319-19883-5
  • Bloothooft, G. and Onland, D. (2016), ‘Multiple first names in the Netherlands (1760–2014)’, Names, 64:1, 3-18, DOI: 10.1080/00277738.2016.1118860. http://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/article/view/2066/2065
  • Bloothooft, G. (2021), ‘De machtswet van de voornamen’, in Nicoline van der Sijs, Lauren Fonteijn en Marten van der Meulen (red.), Wat gebeurt er in het Nederlands?, Sterck & De Vreese, Gorredijk, pp160-166. [The power law of given names]
  • Bloothooft, G. and Onland, D. (2023). Online Exploration of Given Name Popularity in the Netherlands since 1790. In U. Bijak, P. Swoboda, & J. B. Walkowiak (Eds.), Proceedings of the 27th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences: Onomastics in Interaction With Other Branches of Science. Volume 2: Anthroponomastics (pp. 67–84). Kraków: Jagiellonian University Press. https://doi.org/10.4467/K7446.46/22.23.17270
  • At www.neerlandistiek.nl 114 publications in Dutch can be found on various aspects of baby naming in the Netherlands (published since 2018). Also visit my personal website (in Dutch) www.gerritbloothooft.nl > Publicaties for a full overview.

Jane Bryan, University of Warwick, UK

I am a Reader of Law at the University of Warwick and the Academic Lead of our Community Values Education Programme. I am interested in dialogue in several contexts: as a way to develop reflective teaching practice through peer dialogue, as a way to engage students in their learning through supporting the student voice and as a way to resolve conflicts through mediation and restorative approaches. My interest in the importance of names and correct pronunciation arises in part from my wider attempts to remove barriers to dialogue that can arise in the teaching space and beyond.


Luis Ramón Campo Yumar, Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas (UCLV)

I am interested in the motivations and referents for the selection of first names in Cuba, as well as the problems derived from this choice. Also at the center of my studies are the perceptions and stereotypes that users have about certain first names. In collaboration with other colleagues, I have studied the relationship between onomastics and literature, phraseology and political and historical changes. I have directed my final thesis on nicknames, hypocoristics, given names and surnames in the Cuban context. As part of the bibliographic studies group at ICOS, I have compiled and organized research on Cuban anthroponymy. I am currently finishing my doctoral thesis on the namegiving process in the city of Santa Clara, Cuba. To connect with the new generations and stimulate interest in onomastics I have created my own YouTube channel with the aim of making the discipline more dynamic, accessible and attractive.

Luis Ramon Campo Yumar
© Luis Ramón Campo Yumar
Publications
  • Campo Yumar, L. R., (2024). Los nombres bíblicos en los estudios antroponomásticos cubanos: resultados y perspectivas. Onomástica desde América Latina 5(1), 1–32. https://e-revista.unioeste.br/index.php/onomastica/article/view/33188
  • Campo Yumar, L. R. (2023). Reflexiones en torno al desarrollo y las perspectivas de los estudios antroponomásticos en Cuba. Islas, 65(204) e1295. https://islas.uclv.edu.cu/index.php/islas/article/view/1295
  • Campo Yumar, L. R. (2023). Valor socioindexical del nombre de pila en Cuba. En Serie de Comunicación Social, 2022-2023 (69–73). Centro de Lingüística Aplicada. http://www.cla.cu/simposio/descargar.php?d=2618
  • Campo Yumar, L. R. (2022). Onomastik und Revolution: Über den Einfluss der kommunistischen Ideologie auf kubanische Namensgebungspraktiken. Kuckuck, 2 (22). [Impreso]
  • Campo Yumar, L. R. (2021). Tendencias motivacionales en la elección del nombre de pila en Cuba. En Contribuciones a la Lingüística y a la Comunicación Social. Tributo a Vitelio Ruiz Hernández (62–65). Centro de Lingüística Aplicada. http://www.cla.cu/simposio/descargar.php?d=2593
  • Campo Yumar, L. R., Rabelo Fresno, E. L. (2021). Clasificación motivacional de los nombres de pila basada en la relación estructura-referente. Anuario de letras. Lingüística y filología, 9(1), 75–104. https://revistas-filologicas.unam.mx/anuario-letras/index.php/al/article/view/1604
  • Labrada Hernández, G., Campo Yumar, L. R. (2021). ¡De esos Marcos Pérez hay muchos en Buena Vista! Fraseología y antroponimia en Cuba. Comunicación, 30(2), 28–45. https://revistas.tec.ac.cr/index.php/comunicacion/article/view/6029
  • Campo Yumar, L. R. (2020). Análisis sociolingüístico de los nombres de pila de los estudiantes cubanos de la Universidad Central de Las Villas (UCLV) nacidos entre 1996–2000 [Tesis de Maestría]. Universidad Central de Las Villas.
  • Campo Yumar, L. R. (2020). Necesidad de una política lingüística para la normalización de la construcción y escritura de los nombres de pila. Análisis del modelo jurídico cubano desde la perspectiva comparada. Islas, 62(195), 78–97. https://islas.uclv.edu.cu/index.php/islas/article/download/1129/917

Elian Carsenat, Namsor, France

I am a private researcher on names and created NamSor applied onomastics software in 2012. The idea was to apply various machine learning algorithms to names. For example, we train a probabilistic model to distinguish personal names from place names, brand names etc. which is mostly used to clean data. Also, we have a model to infer gender from names, combining baby name statistics and morphology, which provides accurate probabilities in all regions / alphabets which is used in large gender studies (EU SheFigures; Elsevier’s reports on gender in research). Finally, we work on models to classify names by ‘race’/ethnicity or country of origin and apply those models to the complex and important problem of estimating ethnic biases in external algorithms (recruitment, credit allocations etc.).


Francesco Cerchiaro, Center for Sociological Research, KU Leuven, Belgium

I am a cultural sociologist with a specific interest in the intersection of family, migration and religion. I came across the study of names during my research on Christian-Muslim families in Italy, France and Belgium. Although mixed couples are often interpreted as a marker of the gradual loosening of traditional ties, naming practices, on the contrary, show parents’ attempt to pass down their racial, ethnic and faith backgrounds. Moreover, naming practices open up a new perspective to analyse how partners mediate with the expectations of the family of origin and with the social context characterised by a growing islamophobia.


Osward Chanda Penda, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Osward Chanda (alias Chanda Penda) is currently a Lisa Maskell Doctoral Fellow in the Department of History at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. He previously taught Intangible Cultural Heritage at the University of Zambia, where he also taught a component on personal and place names. His current and previous research has jointly focused on personal and place names. In addition, he is founder and editor of the Encyclopedia of Zambian Names, an ongoing research and publication on Zambian personal names from dozens of local languages and dialects, their meanings and brief histories.

Osward Chanda Penda
© Osward Chanda Penda
Publications
  • Chanda Penda. “Personal Name Trends in Independent Zambia: A Reflection on the Fluidity of Living Heritage”. (2020). 4–1: 28–40. Journal of Law and Social Sciences (University of Zambia, Lusaka). https://journals.unza.zm/index.php?journal=JLSS&page=issue&op=view&path%5B%5D=43
  • Osward Chanda. “Portable Inheritance: The Living Heritage of Traditional Names in Postcolonial Zambia.” Budapest: Central European University (MA Thesis, 2020). https://sierra.ceu.edu/record=b1428492
  • Chanda Penda. Encyclopedia of Zambian Names: Reconciling Zambian and Global Worldviews. Lusaka: Pensulo Publishers Limited, 2013.
Presentations
  • Chanda Penda, Yvonne Kabombwe and Martha M. Kayuni. “Teaching Names in School History: A Decolonial Possibility for the Zambian Society.” American Name Society (ANS2023) Conference. (Virtual). 20-22 January 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQT8ghvO5fQ&t=44s
  • Penda, Osward Chanda. “Safeguarding Cultural Heritage in Postcolonial Zambia through Personal Names” at the Personal Names and Cultural Reconstructions conference, University of Helsinki, Finland (21 to 23 August 2019)
  • Penda, Osward Chanda. “Typology of Zambian Personal Names: Key to Unity in a Multilingual Society”, International Congress of Onomastic Sciences (ICOS2017), University of Debrecen, Hungary (27 August to 1 September 2017)

Antje Dammel, University of Münster, Germany

I am a historical and variational linguist specialising in German at the University of Münster (Germany). One of my main research interests is the grammar and sociopragmatics of (primarily personal) names and naming. My interest in names was sparked when I worked as a doctoral student on the ‘German Family Name Atlas’ project in Mainz, where I learned a lot about the geography and etymology of German family names. Later, I had my own project in which Theresa Schweden and I investigated the grammar and social indexicality of name constructions in German dialects. Together with colleagues, I have also worked on the naming of animals, on the choice and use of pet names in romantic relationships, and on renaming and its effects in the context of migration.

Antje Dammel
© Antje Dammel

Researchgate profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Antje-Dammel?ev=hdr_xprf

Publications

Herausgaben und Buchteile

  • 2021. Personennamen in Bewegung / Anthroponyms in Motion. Themenheft der Zeitschrift Beiträge zur Namenforschung 56 (1–2). (mit Friedel Helga Roolfs und Kirstin Casemir)
  • 2019. Grammar of Names. Special Issue of Language Typology and Universals / Sprachtypologie und Universalienfoschung (STUF) 72 (4). (mit Corinna Handschuh)
  • 2015. Zoonyme – Tiernamen. Bd. 1: Haustiere, Bd. 2: Nutztiere. Heidelberg: Winter (Beiträge zur Namenforschung 50 (1–4). (mit Damaris Nübling und Mirjam Schmuck)
  • 2011. 15 Karten- und Kommentarkomplexe zu phonologischer und graphematischer Variation deutscher Familiennamen. In: Kunze, Konrad; Nübling, Damaris (Hrsg.): Deutscher Familiennamenatlas (DFA). Bd. 2: Konsonantismus. Berlin: De Gruyter. (teils mit Kathrin Dräger und Rita Heuser)

Aufsätze

  • 2025. Migrierende Namen. Raum als Schauplatz und Metapher für wechselnde Zugehörigkeiten. DOI 10.6092/unibo/amsacta/8664. https://amsacta.unibo.it/id/eprint/8664/ (zusammen mit Theresa Schweden)
  • 2023. Neues zur Grammatik und Soziopragmatik inoffizieller Personennamen in Dialekten des Deutschen. In: Dammel, Antje; Schweden, Theresa (Hg.): Referenz auf Personen in Variation(en). Themenheft der Zeitschrift Beiträge zur Namenforschung 58 (1–2), 205–227. (mit Theresa Schweden)
  • 2018. Muckelchen und Süßer? Onymische Gender-Konstruktionen bei Kosenamen im Liebesbrief. In: Nübling, Damaris; Hirschauer, Stefan (eds.): Namen und Geschlechter – Studien zum onymischen Un/doing Gender. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 157–190. (mit Yvonne Niekrenz, Andrea Rapp und Eva Wyss)
  • 2014. Kombinatorik von Artikel, Ruf- und Familiennamen in Varietäten des Deutschen In: Debus, Friedhelm; Heuser, Rita; Nübling, Damaris (Hrsg.): Linguistik der Eigennamen. Hildesheim u.a.: Olms (Germanistische Linguistik 225–227), 249–280. (mit Simone Berchtold)
  • 2011. Familiennamen aus dem Lettischen und Litauischen in Deutschland. In: Hengst, Karl-Heinz; Krüger, Dietlind (Hrsg.): Familiennamen im Deutschen. Erforschung und Nachschlagewerke. Festschrift für Jürgen Udolph zum 65. Geburtstag, Bd. 2. Leipzig: Universitätsverlag, 131–157.
  • 2008. Der Deutsche Familiennamenatlas (DFA). Relevanz computergestützter Familiennamengeographie für die Dialektgeographie In: Elspaß, Stefan; König, Werner (Hrsg.): Sprachgeographie digital. Die neue Generation der Sprachatlanten. Hildesheim: Olms (Germanistische Linguistik 190–191), 73–104. (mit Mirjam Schmuck)

Hannah Deakin-Smith, Nottingham Trent University, UK

I am a social scientist, and my earlier research focused on international student and academic mobility. More recently, I have researched people’s names and identities. As a researcher on the ‘Say My Name’ project, I examined experiences of the pronunciation of student names within higher education in England in the context of culturally diverse student identities. I was also a researcher on a project on long term trends in name changes via analyses of enrolled deed polls. From September 2022, I will be working on the Leverhulme Trust-funded project ‘Name stories: experiences of names & naming in adoptive family life’.


Thomas Ditye, Sigmund Freud University, Austria

Together with my colleague Lisa Welleschik I am interested in the psychological mechanisms of the inability to call others by their personal names. Concerned individuals report to experience anxieties and emotional stress in situations in which calling someone by their name is intended. Our data show that the problem is getting more severe the closer the relationship, linking it to identity and attachment. We have started referring to this condition by “alexinomia” which means “no words for names” and are currently exploring the topic using quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Thomas Ditye
© Thomas Ditye

Alexinomia Research Website: http://www.alexinomia.org/

Publications

Birgit Eggert, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

I am an onomastician and Nordic philologist. I am interested in personal names as a mirror of cultural currents in society. I mainly use quantitative data from censuses and church books to describe the changes that have taken place in naming over time, and how these changes have manifested differently in relation to time, place and social position, i.e., how innovations spread in society. My research is primarily historical, but I have also worked on trends and changes in today’s baby names, both in terms of the names and of their spelling.


Fajar Erikha, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN)

Fajar serves as Head of the Onomastics Research Group at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Indonesia, and as Head of the Indonesian Onomastics Community (Kotisia). Fajar obtained both his Master’s and Doctoral degrees from the University of Indonesia, where his doctoral research examined the socio-onomastic perspectives of urban street renaming.
His research primarily focuses on toponomastics, critical toponymies, and linguistic landscape studies, while he has recently begun exploring anthroponomastics research. Together with his research team, she has developed a representative toponymic model for Nusantara, Indonesia’s new capital city.

Fajar’s academic contributions have been recognised through several prestigious awards, including the Sarlito Wirawan Sarwono (SWS) Award in 2021, conferred by the Consortium of Scientific Psychology of the Nusantara (KPIN), and the Bhumandala Award in 2024, presented by the Geospatial Information Agency (BIG) in its capacity as Indonesia’s national naming authority. These awards acknowledge his sustained scholarly and practical contributions to onomastic studies in collaboration with governmental institutions and community stakeholders since 2015.

Personal email:
Institutional email:

Publications

Dr. Tamás Farkas, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest

I am an onomastician, and my research focuses on the history, changes, system and use of personal names: family names and given names, historical and contemporary. I aim to study names and their functions within their broader context, as linguistically and socioculturally determined phenomena. In addition to anthroponomastics and socioonomastics, and some other fields of name studies, I am also involved in applied onomastics. I am interested in topics such as names and lexicography, the translation of names, names and law, or onomastic terminology. I am an associate professor, and the editor-in-chief of the Hungarian onomastic journal Névtani Értesítő.

Tamás Farkas
© Tamás Farkas
Publications
  • ORCID profile: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7732-2302
  • Farkas, Tamás (2024). Names for non‑existing places and persons. Names and naming in sci‑fi and fantasy fiction. In: Oliviu Felecan – Alina Bugheșiu (eds.), Name and Naming. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference On Onomastics “Name and Naming”. (In)Correctness in Onomastics. Baia Mare, September 5-7, 2023. Mega, Cluj-Napoca. 799–807. DOI: 10.30816/ICONN6/2023/58
  • Farkas, Tamás (2023). Translation and Mistranslation of Proper Names: The Challenge of Proper Names and Common Words in the Translation Process. In: Ursula Bijak – Pavel Swoboda – Justyna B. Walkowiak (eds.), Proceedings of the 27th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences: Onomastics in Interaction With Other Branches of Science. Volume 3. General and Applied Onomastics. Literary Onomastics. Chrematonomastics. Reports. Jagiellonian University Press, Kraków. 55–74. DOI: 10.4467/K7478.47/22.23.17727
  • Slíz, Mariann – Szabó, Panna – Farkas, Tamás (2023). The Role of Academic Journals in the Circulation of Academic Knowledge. In: Wiebke Keim – Leandro Rodriguez Medina (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Academic Knowledge Circulation. Routledge, London – New York. 223–234. DOI: 10.4324/9781003290650-21
  • Slíz, Mariann – Farkas, Tamás (2021). Dynamics of the modern Hungarian given name system. Onoma 56: 15–36. DOI: 10.34158/ONOMA.56/2021/2
  • Farkas, Tamás (2020). Being named or being nameless: On the fundamental questions of proper name giving. Studia Linguistica Hungarica 32: 54–65. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3907336
  • Farkas, Tamás (2018). Onomastics Today: An International Overview. Onomastica Uralica 14: 5–14. https://mnytud.arts.unideb.hu/onomural/kotetek/ou14/01.pdf
  • Farkas, Tamás (2015). The most frequent Hungarian surnames. A study of some aspects of contrastive surname typology. In: Oliviu Felecan (ed.), Name and Naming. Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Onomastics “Name and Naming”. Conventional / Unconventional in Onomastics. Baia Mare, September 1–3, 2015. Editura Mega – Editura Argonaut, Cluj-Napoca. 122–136. https://onomasticafelecan.ro/iconn3/proceedings/2_6_Farkas_Tamas_ICONN_3.pdf
  • Farkas, Tamás (2014). Onomastic Terminology in Hungarian – Situation, Problems and Needs. In: Joan Tort i Donada – Montserrat Montagut i Montagut (eds.), Els noms en la vida quotidiana. Actes del XXIV Congrés Internacional d’ICOS sobre Ciències Onomàstiques. / Names in daily life. Proceedings of the XXIV ICOS International Congress of Onomastic Sciences. Biblioteca Tècnica De Política Lingüística 11. Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona. 14–20. DOI: 10.2436/15.8040.01.3
  • Farkas, Tamás (2012). Jewish Name Magyarization in Hungary. Hungarian Cultural Studies 5: 1–16. https://ahea.pitt.edu/ojs/ahea/article/view/76
  • Farkas, Tamás (ed.) (2009). Régi magyar családnevek névvégmutató szótára XIV–XVII. század. [A tergo dictionary of old Hungarian family names.] ELTE Magyar Nyelvtudományi és Finnugor Intézet – Magyar Nyelvtudományi Társaság, Budapest. http://mek.oszk.hu/08900/08923/08923.pdf

Oliviu Felecan, University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania

I am a Professor Dr. Habil., PhD supervisor at the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Faculty of Letters (Romania). My main research interest include onomastics (both anthroponymy and toponymy), socio-, ethno-, and psycholinguistics, lexicology, classical languages. I have authored three books, co-authored four, edited or co-edited fourteen volumes, and published more than 160 studies, primarily in the field of onomastics. I have organised six editions of the International Conference on Onomastics “Name and Naming” (ICONN, 2011–2023). Since 2019, I have been the Editor-in-Chief of Onoma, the journal of ICOS, and I am also a member of the Scientific Committees of several journals from various countries.

Oliviu Felecan
© Oliviu Felecan
Publications

ORCID profile: 0000-0002-0078-4437

  • Romanian First Names in America: A Synchronic Perspective, in “Onomástica desde América Latina”, 4 (2)/2023, p. 1–17, https://e-revista.unioeste.br/index.php/onomastica/article/view/31665/22463
  • Together with Adelina Emilia Mihali, Romanian-Ukrainian Anthroponymic Contact on the Interstate Border along the Tisza River, in „Names”, 71(4)/2023, p. 5–18, DOI 10.5195/names.2023.2597, https://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/article/view/2597/2417.
  • Transylvania – An Anthroponymic Perspective, in Names and Naming: Multicultural Aspects, Palgrave Macmillan, O. Felecan, A. Bugheșiu (eds.), 2021, p. 149–163, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-73186-1_10.
  • A Psycholinguistic Approach to Nicknaming (With Reference to Nicknames Given by Students to Teachers), in ‘Names and Their Environment’. Proceedings of the 25th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences, Glasgow, 25-29 August 2014, vol. 3, (Carole Hough, Daria Izdebska eds.), University of Glasgow, 2016, p. 65–81. http://www.icos2014.com/wp-content/uploads/icos2014_vol_3.pdf
  • Together with Daiana Felecan, Nicknames of Romanian Politicians after 1989, in “Philologica Jassyensia”, XII, no. 2 (24)/2016, p. 191–208. http://www.philologica-jassyensia.ro/upload/XII_2_FELECAN.pdf
  • Unconventional First Names: Between Onomastic Innovations and Illustrious Models, in Oliviu Felecan, Daiana Felecan (eds.), Unconventional Anthroponyms: Formation Patterns and Discursive Function, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014, p. 133–155.
  • Gypsy names: anthroponymic identity/assimilation, in Joan Tort i Donada, Montserrat Montagut i Montagut (eds.), Els noms en la vida quotidiana. Actes del XXIV Congrés Internacional d’ICOS sobre Ciències Onomàstiques/ Names in daily life. Proceedings of the XXIV ICOS International Congress of Onomastic Sciences, Secció 4, Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura, 2014, p. 502–514.
  • Il contatto linguistico romeno-romanzo attuale, riflesso nell’antroponimia [The contemporary Romanian-Romance linguistic contact mirrored in anthroponymy], in Actes de 26é Congrés Internacional de Lingüística i Filologia Romàniques, Valencia, Berlin/ New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2013, vol. V, Secció 6: Descripció històrica i/o sincrònica de les llengües romàniques: onomàstica (toponímia i antroponímia), p. 123–134.
  • The Monastic Names in the North-West of Transylvania. A Sociolinguistic and Cultural Perspective, in “Transylvanian Review”, vol. XIX, Supplement no. 3/ 2010: Aspects of confessional diversity within the Romanian Space, p. 193–208.
  • A Diachronic Excursion into the Anthroponymy of Eastern Romania, in “Philologica Jassyensia”, VI, no. 1 (11)/2010, p. 57–80.

Andrew Francis-Tan, National University of Singapore

I am a quantitative social scientist. My research aims to understand patterns of inequality and factors that influence social identities like race and gender. My interest in names is personal. My current family name is a combination of my spouse’s family name and my own. Growing up, people often mistook my family name (Francis) as my first/given name. Thus, I became aware that Francis was a gender ambiguous name, since the name Frances, usually given to women, was pronounced identically. More recently, I teamed up with Aliya Saperstein to investigate the socioeconomic implications of having a gender discordant first/given name. Our work is now published in Social Science Research.

Publications
  • Francis-Tan, Andrew and Aliya Saperstein. 2023. “Conflicting signals: Exploring the socioeconomic implications of gender discordant names.” Social Science Research, 110(Feb): 102842. DOI: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2022.102842

Linnea Gustafsson, Halmstad University, Sweden

With a starting point in the field of linguistics, my research interest is how personal names are used in society and what they mean to their bearers. The perspective has often been within the questions of identity and otherness. Regarding personal names, I have, among other things, worked with the acceptance and spreading of new first names, the creation, and use of nicknames, structural differences between female and male first names, class differences within name giving, and names from different cultures in contact.


Federica Guccini, University of Western Ontario, Canada

As an anthropologist interested in the intersections of migration, language, and identity, I study personal names in plurilingual contexts. I examine how naming practices change when people migrate and experience shifts in their language(s) and identities. I have applied this to contexts of historical Hakka Chinese migration from southern China to Mauritius in the Indian Ocean as well as contemporary Chinese international student mobility. Informed by decolonial understandings of language, I am currently conceptualizing a translanguaging approach to naming practices that seeks to detangle names from monolingual and raciolinguistic ideologies.


Lasse Hämäläinen, University of Helsinki, Finland

My primary area of onomastic research are online usernames, i.e., names that people choose for their personal user accounts on various websites. I am especially interested in how usernames represent the identities of their owners and the cultures of online communities, as well as how they influence the communication between website users. Moreover, I have studied Finnish given names using a large given name corpus provided by the Finnish Civil Registry.


Sophie Kihm, Nameberry, USA

I am the Editor-in-Chief of Nameberry, the world’s largest website about names. Nameberry analyzes name trends and popularity, as well as works with expectant parents and others to choose names for their children and themselves. I am particularly interested in the intersection of names and identity, such as how a parent’s personal identity affects their choice of baby names, and how children’s names can define a family identity.

Sophie Kihm
© Sophie Kihm

Sofia Kotilainen, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

I am a historian and a sociolinguist. My onomastic research focuses on personal names and the (long-term) cultural and social name-giving practices in the local communities. I have been analysing the motives of the choice of inherited first names and inherited surnames in Finnish family networks, godparenthood (namesakes), identities and mentalities of naming, as well as nicknames in the social networks. I have created a methodological concept of onomastic literacy (see Kotilainen 2022). I am also interested in royal names and naming traditions.


Larysa Kovbasyuk, Kherson State University, Ukraine / University of Münster, Germany

I am an Associate Professor and Deputy Head of the Department of German and Romance Studies, Faculty of Ukrainian and Foreign Languages and Journalism, Kherson State University, Ukraine. Currently I am a Visiting Scholar at the Institute of German Studies, University of Münster, Germany.

Larysa Kovbasyuk
© Larysa Kovbasyuk

My research interests cover a wide range of linguistic and cultural studies, including German as a Foreign Language (DaF), onomastics, gender studies, intercultural communication, new media, lexicology, phraseology, word formation, language and culture, and German literature.

My academic contributions include 74 research articles, three methodological guides, seven study and workbooks (co-authored with colleagues), as well as specialised textbooks on German grammar and the theory of contemporary German.

Websites
Publications
  • Universal Precedent Anthroponyms in the Novel “Maybe Esther” by Katja Petrowskaja. In: Transkarpatian Philological Studies 21 (2022), pp. 181–186.
  • Unofficial Oikonyms of Modern German in Intercultural Communication. In: Naukovyi visnyk Khersonskoho derzhavnoho universytetu. Seriia “Hermanistyka ta mizhkulturna komunikatsiia”. Naukove periodychne vydannia 1 (2019), S. 291–296.
  • Eigennamen als Basis für Wortbildung in deutschen SMS-Berichten. In: Naukovi zapysky Kirovohradskoho derzh. pedah. un-tu im. Volodymyra Vinnichenka. Seriia «Filolohichni nauky» 154 (2017), S. 114–119.
  • Onomastyka suchasnoi nimetskoi movy: zdobutky ta perspektyvy nimetskoi ta ukrainskoi hermanistyky / Onomastik des Gegenwartsdeutschen: Ergebnisse und Perspektive der deutschen und ukrainischen Germanistik). In: Naukovi zapysky Natsionalnoho universytetu «Ostrozka akademiia». Seriia «Filolohichna» 58 (2015), S. 152–154.
  • Kovbasyuk, Larysa & Kasatkin, Oleh. Vlasna nazva u frazeolohichnykh odynytsiakh suchasnoi nimetskoi movy: gendernyi aspekt / Eigennamen in Phraseologismen des Gegenwartsdeutschen. In: Molody vcheny, №2 (17) (2015), S. 158–161.
  • Vornamen als primäre und sekundäre Nominationen im Gegenwartsdeutschen. In: Odessa Linguistic Journal 4 (2014), S. 327–331.
  • Kovbasyuk, Larysa. & Sereda, Svitlana. Nimetski toponimy z komponentom „koloronazva“: lingvolulturologichny aspekt/ Deutsche Toponyme mit dem Bestandteil „Farbname“ aus der linguokulturologischen Sicht. In: Mahisterski studii, І (2009), S. 101–102.
  • Toponimy z komponentom „koloronazva“ u u nimetskii ta anhliiskykh⁄ Toponyme mit dem Bestandteil Farbbezeichnung“ im Deutschen und Englischen. In: Problemy zistavnoi semantyky 8 (2007), S. 182–188.

info button email button Oleksandra Kuzmenko, University of Muenster, Germany

I am currently a postgraduate student at the University of Münster, Germany. My dissertation explores the role of personal names in constructing post-apocalyptic fictional worlds, self-naming practices among gamers, and the use of usernames in online communication. My research interests include literary onomastics, ludology, cognitive studies, and sociolinguistics. In 2023, I co-organized the international conference “Language and Power” at the University of Münster. In 2024, I developed and co-led a seminar titled “Between Post-Nuclear Narratives and the Threat of Nuclear War: Post-Apocalyptic Discourse in the Media.”

Oleksandra Kuzmenko
© Oleksandra Kuzmenko
Publications
  • Kuzmenko, Oleksandra. 2024. Anthroponyms, Apocalyptic Dualism, and Identity Formation in Post-Apocalyptic Video Games. In: End-Game, pp. 239-256. DOI: 10.1515/9783110752809-014
  • Kuzmenko, Oleksandra. 2023. Brahmin meat, Fat Man, Katzelmacher, or the cases of cultural and social (in)sensitivity in video gaming. In: Name and Naming: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Onomastics “Name and Naming” – (In)correctness in Onomastics, pp. 875–888. DOI: 10.30816/ICONN6/2023/65.
  • Kuzmenko, Oleksandra. 2023. In-game Toponyms: Telling the Story and Building the Video Game World. In: Proceedings of the 27th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences: Onomastics in Interaction with Other Branches of Science. Volume 3: General and Applied Onomastics. Literary Onomastics. Chrematonomastics. Reports, pp. 307–327. DOI: 10.4467/K7478.47/22.23.19014
  • Kuzmenko, Oleksandra. 2023. The most infamous fictional factions: What lies beneath the name? In: Proceedings of the Conference Language and Power, pp. 52–61. DOI: 10.17879/68958578934
  • Kuzmenko, Oleksandra. 2019. The role of pragmatonyms in the formation of a post-apocalyptic worldview in a role-playing video game. In: Onoma 54, pp. 117–135. DOI: 10.34158/ONOMA.54/2019/7

Katharina Leibring, Institute for language and folklore, Uppsala, Sweden

I am a senior research archivist in onomastics at the Institute for language and folklore, Uppsala, as well as Associate Professor at Uppsala University. My main research interests are names given to individuals, humans or animals, i.e. anthroponyms and zoonyms. These categories have their specific qualities, but they do also overlap and contribute to each other. In my research I have, from different aspects, studied names from the 17th century to present times. As a socioonomastician, I am interested in how names and name categories are perceived and used, as well as what they can tell about their time.

Katharina Leibring
© Katharina Leibring

Some of my research has focussed on names in official sources in Early Modern Sweden, but I have also studied anthroponyms and zoonyms used today, as well as attitudes to names, and how names are created and accomodated. I have given some attention to names used for economic incentives. A further area of interest to me is official name care and name planning. In this field I include studies on the Swedish name-day calendars and their role in Sweden today.

Publications
  • Olle, Maja and Noa – new names in the Swedish almanac, and the history behind the name-day calendar. In: Beiträge für Namenforschung 58:4 (2024). P. 437–458.
  • Rörelser inom onomastikonet i det 21:a seklet. [Movements in the onomasticon in the 21st century.] In: Namn och gränser. [Names and borders. Report from the 17th Nordic Onomastic Congress 8.–11. June, 2021.] Ed. by Väinö Syrjälä et al. Uppsala, 2023. (NORNA-rapporter 100.) P. 7–21. https://www.norna.org/sites/default/files/rapporter/NORNA100.pdf
  • Swedish teenagers’ attitudes on unisex and gender-crossing first names. In: Namen und Geschlechter. Studien zum onymischen Un/doing Gender. Hrsg. Stefan Hirschauer & Damaris Nübling. Boston, 2018. (Germanistische Linguistik.) S. 303–326.
  • The new Personal Names Act in Sweden – some possible consequences for the name usage. In: Namenkundliche Informationen 109/110 (2017). Schwerpunktthema Namen in Europa. Festgabe für Dieter Kremer und Albrecht Greule. P. 408–419.
  • Namn och nutidskänsla. Semantiska fält i nybildade efternamn. [Names and that modern feeling. Semantic fields in newly-created surnames.] In: Namn som kjelder. [Names as sources. Report from the 16th Nordic Onomastic Congress, Jæren, Kleppe, 8.–11. juni 2016.] Ed. by Tom Schmidt & Inge Særheim. Uppsala & Stavanger: NORNA-förlaget, 2017. (NORNA-rapporter 96.) P. 133–145.
  • Given names in European naming systems and Animal Names. In: The Oxford handbook of names and naming. Ed. by Carole Hough. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. S. 199–213, 615–627.
  • Karin, Kirstin och Per Månssons svära – det tidiga 1600-talets kvinnonamn och namnfraser i Sverige. [Karin, Kirstin and Per Månssons mum-in-law. The early 17th century’s women’s name and name phrases in Sweden.] In: Studia anthroponymica Scandinavica 29 (2012). P. 37–62.
  • Is your name a good investment? Socio-economic reasons for surname changes in Sweden. In: Onomastic goes Business: Role and Relevance of Brand, Company and Other Names in Economic Contexts. Ed. by Holger Wochele et al. Berlin, Logos: 2012. P. 273–280.
  • Children as name-givers – on the creation, formation and system structure of individual toy names in Sweden. In: Proceedings of the 21st ICOS conference in Uppsala. Vol. 5. Ed. by Eva Brylla et al. Uppsala, 2010. P. 364–371.
  • Sommargås och Stjärnberg. Studier i svenska nötkreatursnamn. [‘Summer goose’ and ‘Star berg’. Studies in Swedish cattle names.] Doctoral dissertation. Uppsala, 2000. (Acta academiae regiae Gustavi Adolphi 69.) 542 pp.
  • For my full publication list, search at www.diva-portal.org.

Yolanda Guillermina López Franco, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico

I’m a linguist and, since the 1990’s, I have worked on socioanthroponomastical projects: social perception of given names, reasons for their choice, name lexicon usage evolution in time, comparison of naming practices between Romanic language speaking countries (Mexico, France, Cuba, Brazil), etc.

My works are theoretically situated in Socioanthroponomastics, Pragmalinguistics and Sociolinguistics of Personal names. I employ both quantitative and qualitative methods, with a preference for the latter, using documentary research (birth certificates, baptismal records, to integrate corpus), as well as field surveys, semi-structured interviews, or focus groups. I study first name attribution models of the 20th and 21st centuries. I’m currently Vice President of the International Council of Onomastic Sciences for a 2d term (2024–2027), and I’m co-editor of the open-access, indexed (Scopus and other) journal, Onomástica desde América Latina, published since 2020: https://e-revista.unioeste.br/index.php/onomastica/index

Yolanda G. López Franco
© Yolanda Guillermina López Franco
Publications
  • López Franco, Y.G. & Sipavicius Seide, Márcia (2026). La elección del nombre en México y en Brasil: un estudio comparativo. Revista GTLex, Uberlândia, v. 11, n. 1, p. e011006, 2026. DOI: 10.14393/Lex-v11a2026-6. Disponível em: https://seer.ufu.br/index.php/GTLex/article/view/82782.
  • López Franco, Y.G. (2026) Un acercamiento lexicológico y socioantroponímico a los nombres de pila más atribuidos en México en 2021 [A lexicological and socio-anthroponymic approach to the most attributed first names in Mexico in 2021]. Onomástica desde América Latina, vol. 7, no. 1, 2026. https://e-revista.unioeste.br/index.php/onomastica/fr_CA/article/view/35142 DOI: 10.48075/odal.v7i1.35142
  • López Franco, Y.G. & Rosales Novoa, S. (2024) Attribuer des prénoms à Santiago de Cuba et à Tlalnepantla de Baz, au Mexique, en 1970: convergences et divergences dans deux variantes de l’espagnol [Giving names in Santiago de Cuba and Tlalnepantla de Baz, Mexico in 1970: convergences and divergences in two variants of Spanish] Onoma 59, 19–47. DOI: 10.34158/ONOMA.59/2024/2
  • López Franco, Y.G. (2023) De camino a la laicidad: los nombres atribuidos en 1970, en la parroquia de San Bartolomé Apóstol, Naucalpan de Juárez, Estado de México [On the way to secularism: the names attributed in 1970, in the parish of San Bartolomé Apóstol, Naucalpan de Juárez, State of Mexico] Onomástica desde América Latina, vol. 6, no.1, 2025. DOI: 10.48075/odal.v4i1.30757
  • López Franco, Y.G. (2022) Mode ou tradition ? Modèles d’attribution des prénoms au baptême catholique dans une commune mexicaine en 1960 [Fashion or tradition? Models of the attribution of first names at Catholic baptism in a Mexican city in 1960]. Onoma 57, 227–246. DOI: 10.34158/ONOMA.57/2022/15
  • López Franco, Y.G. & Rosales Novoa, S. (2022) Primera comparación de los modelos de atribución de los nombres de pila en Santiago de Cuba y en Tlalnepantla de Baz, México (año de 1960). [First comparison of first name attribution models in Santiago de Cuba and Tlalnepantla de Baz, Mexico (1960).] Revista GTLex, Uberlândia, v. 8, p. e0815, 2023. DOI: 10.14393/Lex-v8a2022/23-15
  • López Franco, Y.G. (2021) Aspects méthodologiques de l’étude lexicologique et socioanthroponymique des prénoms. [Methodological aspects of the lexicological and socioanthroponymic study of first names] In Karlheinz Hengst (Edit.) Onomastica Lipsiensia. Leipziger Untersüchungen zur Namenforschung, Band 14. Namenforschung und Namenberatung. Dietlind Kremer un Gabriele Rodríguez zum 60. Geburstag. Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag. p. 499–515. ISBN: 978-3-96023-175-2. ISSN: 16-14-7464.
  • López Franco, Y.G. (2020) Las relaciones intercategoriales e intracategoriales en antroponimia. El caso de los nombres de pila en francés de Francia y en español de México. [Intercategorical and intra-categorical relationships in Anthroponomastics. The case of first names in French from France and Spanish from Mexico Onomástica desde América Latina, [S. l.], v. 1, n. 1, p. 222–247, 2020. DOI: 10.48075/odal.v1i1.24169 Disponível em: https://e-revista.unioeste.br/index.php/onomastica/article/view/24169.
  • López Franco, Y.G. (2018a) Une enquête socioanthroponymique finiséculaire : la perception des prénoms dans huit communes de l’Hérault, France, en 1995. Une méthodologie toujours en vigueur. [A socioanthroponymic finisecular survey: the perception of first names in eight communes of Hérault, France, in 1995. A methodology still in force]. Onomastica uralica, no. 10. p. 209–227. Debrecen, Hungary: Debrecen University Press. ISSN 1586-3719 (Print), ISSN 2061-0661 (Online) ISBN 978-963-318-660-2 https://mnytud.arts.unideb.hu/onomural/kotetek/ou10.html
  • López Franco, Y.G. (2018b) La question des sources dans les études anthroponymiques contemporaines. Paris : Publication des Archives Nationales / Open Edition Books. ISBN: 9791036512308. DOI: 10.4000/books.pan.998
  • López Franco, Y.G. (2014) En torno a l semantismo de los nombres propios. Entre debate y síntesis teórica. [About Semantics of proper names. Between debate and theoretical synthesis] Revista Trama, vol. 10, núm. 20, 2o semestre 2014. p. 69–81. DOI: 10.48075/rt.v10i20.10346
  • López Franco, Y.G. (2010) Un siglo de nombres de pila en Tlalnepantla de Baz. Estudio Lexicológico y sociolingüístico. [A century of first names in Tlalnepantla de Baz. Lexicological and sociolinguistic study] México: UNAM-Plaza y Valdés. ISBN: 9786074023183

Chrismi-Rinda Loth, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa

I am broadly interested in names as interesting semiotic devices that humans deploy and deny in various ways but especially in the linguistic landscape. My current research focuses on toponomastics
At the moment I am the team lead on a project to document and analyse place names in South African Sign Language (more information soon!). Since its inauguration in 2011 I have been the facilitator of the International Symposium on Place Names (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/10047495). I also serve as a non-executive Board member of the International Council of Onomastic Sciences (ICOS) as well as Vice-Chair of the ICOS Working Group on Toponymy for the 2024–2027 term.

Chrismi-Rinda Loth
© Chrismi-Rinda Loth

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.

Francis T. McAndrew
© Francis McAndrew
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.

Eyo Mensah
© Eyo Mensah
Publications

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. 

Jean-François Mignot
© Jean-François Mignot
Publications

Cássio Morosini, University of Minas Gerais, Brazil

I am a PhD candidate in Theoretical and Descriptive Linguistics at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Previously, I worked on figurative language, investigating how metaphors are used to discuss immigration in Brazilian media. My current research project focuses on how trans and non-binary people in Brazil choose their names, and how anthroponyms can be understood as devices that assist in creating and/or negotiating identity. At the moment, I am a guest researcher at Halmstad University, Sweden.

Cassio Morosini
© Cassio Morosini
Publications
  • Morosini, C.; Amaral, E. T. R. (2025). ‘O Brasil fica bem perto daqui’ ou o que nomes de urna podem revelar sobre a política brasileira [‘Brazil is around here’ or what ballot names can reveal about Brazilian politics]. GTLex, v. 10, p. e010009, 2025. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14393/Lex-v10a2025–9

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).

Damaris Nübling
© Damaris Nübling
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.

Sharon Obasi
© Sharon Obasi
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.

Idowu Odebode
© Idowu Odebode
Publications
  • Odebode, I. (2010). Twins’ naming among the Yoruba Nigerians: A sociolinguistic study. In: Onomastica Canadiana, 92 (1), 39–52.
  • Odebode, I. (2010). Naming systems during Yoruba wars: A sociolinguistic study. In: Names, 58 (4), 210–219. https://doi.org/10.1179/002777310X12852321500220
  • Odebode, I. (2012). Pet naming as protest’s discourse in polygamous Yoruba homes: A socio-pragmatic study. In: Studies in Literature and Language, 4 (1), 107–113. http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/n http://cscanada.net/index.php/sll/article/view/j.sll.1923156320120401.245
  • Odebode, I. (2013). A morpho-pragmatic study of selected anglicized Abiku names on Facebook. In: C. Uwasomba, A. Mosobalaje & O. Coker (Eds.). Existentialism, literature and the humanities in Africa: Essays in honour of Professor Benedict Mobayode Ibitokun. Göttingen, Germany: Cuvillier Verlag, 338–350.
  • Odebode, I. (2019). Theonymy in anthroponymy: A sociopragmatic study of selected Yoruba African religious names. In: O. Felecan (Ed.). Onomastics between sacred and profane. Delaware, USA: Vernon Press, 265–278. https://vernonpress.com/file/6454/40d1ff9c05cf429a10ef0b152841c60c/1535521847.pdf
  • Odebode, I. (2019). Motion and locution: A pragma-scientific study of Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman and Keye Abiona’s Even Kins are Guilty. In: D. Banks & E. Di Martino (Eds.). Specialised discourses and their readerships. The M.A.K. Halliday Library Functional Linguistics Series. Gateway East: Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd, 89–100. https://doi.org/10.1007/978–981–13–8157–7_5
  • Odebode, I. (2021). Multicultural aspects of name and naming in Nigeria: A sociolinguistic study. In: O. Felecan & A. Bugheșiu (Eds.). Name and naming – multicultural aspects. Zug: Palgrave Macmillan & Springer International Publishing AG, 437–453. https://doi.org/10.1007/978–3-030–73186–1_28
  • Odebode, I., & Dalamu, T. (2020). Place (re)naming through catchphrases in Nigeria: A sociolinguistic study. In: The Journal of Communicative English 25, 75–87.
  • Odebode, I., Ayodeji, S., & Adeleke-Adeniji, C. (2024). Biblical names in selected plays of Wole Soyinka: A sociolinguistic study. In: Onomástica desde América Latina 5, janeiro – dezembro, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.48075/odal.v5i1.33080
  • Odebode, I. (2024). From revitalization to bastardization towards attrition: Reflections on linguistic-onomastics – inaugural lecture. Ede: Redeemer’s University Press.

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.

Ayokunmi Ojebode
© Ayokumni Ojebode
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. 

Liam Ó hAisibéil
© Liam Ó hAisibéil
Publications

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


Maryann Parada, California State University, Bakersfield, U.S.A.

Maryann Parada is a Professor of Spanish Linguistics at California State University Bakersfield in the U.S. She holds a PhD in Hispanic Studies from the University of Illinois-Chicago. Her teaching and scholarly work focus on Spanish sociolinguistics, language contact and variation, and the study of Hispanic personal and place names in the diaspora. She explores the ways language reflects and shapes cultural and social experiences, while supporting heritage language students in broadening their understanding of the Spanish language in all its facets.

Maryann Parada
© Maryann Parada
Publications

Parada, M. (2021). Anthroponymic persistence of Spanish vestigial ⟨x⟩. In W. Chappell & B. Drinka (Eds.), Spanish socio-historical linguistics: Isolation and contact (pp. 205–230). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/ahs.12.c09par

Parada, M. (2020). A socio-onomastic study of Spanish receptive bilinguals. In S. M. Alvord & G. L. Thompson (Eds.), Spanish in the United States: Variation and attitudes (pp. 56–73). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429289125-5

Parada, M. (2019). Linguistic and onomastic variation across the sibling spectrum in Latina/o Chicago. In S. Haque & F. Le Lievre (Eds.), Family language policies and the process of intergenerational transmission in the context of migration: Methodological and notional approaches (pp. 101–122). Éditions des Archives Contemporaines.

Parada, M. (2019). Femininity perceptions of cross-ethnic forenames: A comparative analysis of Latina and European American women. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 48(4), 458–476. https://doi.org/10.1080/17475759.2019.1635908

Parada, M. (2016). Ethnolinguistic and gender aspects of Latino naming in Chicago: Exploring regional variation. Names, 64(1), 19–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/00277738.2016.1118858

Parada, M. (2013). Sibling variation and family language policy: The role of birth order in the Spanish proficiency and first names of second-generation Latinos. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 12(5), 299–320. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2013.835572


Neerja Pathak, University of Edinburgh

I work within Social Anthropology. I concluded my doctoral research at the University of Edinburgh in October 2025. My research explores the relation between personal names of women, name-change, self-making and marriage. I ask what relations of power and processes are revealed when we seek to pay close attention to how people narrate stories about their names. I am specifically interested in learning how kinship, relations, temporalities could be understood through personal names. I am fascinated with the possibilities that names hold: on the one hand names can become habits over time while on the other names tend to not stick in certain cases.

Neerja Pathak
© Neerja Pathak

Coming from South Asia my most recent direction within onomastics has been to understand how names and naming practices often reveal the subtle workings of discrimination, exclusion and privilege. It is on the surface of names and through names that the most mundane forms of power could be captured.


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.

Karen Pennesi
© Karen Pennesi
Publications

Purnama Rika Perdana, UIN Sultan Maulana Hasanuddin Banten, Serang, Indonesia

Rika is an Associate Professor at UIN Sultan Maulana Hasanuddin Banten, an Islamic university in Serang, Indonesia. She obtained her doctoral degree in linguistics from the University of Indonesia in 2019, where her doctoral research examined the anthroponymy of Indonesian ethnic names.

Purnama Rika Perdana
© Purnama Rika Perdana

Her research primarily focuses on linguistics and onomastics, and her latest publication is about rail toponymy (2026). This publication is one of the outputs of her postdoctoral research at the University of Louisville (KY, USA), funded by Fulbright in 2025.

Recently, she has pioneered a groundbreaking new direction by exploring the naming systems within the Indonesian Deaf community. She believes that in Deaf culture, a ‘sign name’ is not just a label, but a sacred marker of identity, acceptance, and cultural belonging that can only be granted by the community itself. Because this crucial area of socio-onomastics has remained completely unresearched in Indonesia, Rika—who is now also a signer of American Sign Language (ASL) and Indonesian Sign Language (BISINDO)—is shifting her focus to these unique, visual naming traditions.

Publications

info button email button 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.

Gergana Petkova
© Gergana Petkova

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.

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.

info button Jane Pilcher, University of West of England, Bristol, UK

© Jane Pilcher

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.

Jane Pilcher
© Jane Pilcher
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

info button 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.

Guy Puzey
© Guy Puzey

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.

Azkia Rostiani Rahman

Azkia Rostiani Rahman is an independent researcher focused on onomastics, sociolinguistics, and discourse studies. She obtained her Master’s degree in Linguistics from the University of Indonesia, where her master’s thesis, Nama Diri Suku Sasak: Sebuah Kajian Antroponimi, examined the personal naming system of the Sasak ethnic community from an anthroponymic perspective. 

Her research explores the relationship between names, language, culture, and identity, with particular interests in Indonesian naming traditions, socio-onomastics, and linguistic landscapes. Building upon her master’s research, she is currently preparing her doctoral research on the toponymy of hamlet names (dusun and dukuh) across West Nusa Tenggara Province, aiming to document naming practices and reveal their linguistic, historical, and cultural significance.

In addition to her academic research, Azkia has professional experience in higher education, translation,and community development. Her interdisciplinary work bridges linguistics with digital humanities and public engagement, and she is increasingly interested in applying artificial intelligence to language documentation and onomastic research.

Publications

Miguel Reyes Contreras, Universidad de Istlahuaca CUI, Mexico

I am a professor and researcher at Universidad de Ixtlahuaca CUI, Mexico in the English Language Department. I received the title as an associate professor at the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico. I belong to the Mazahuan indigenous community in central Mexico. My main areas of studies are in the Linguistic areas: Onomastics (place and person names, chrematonys), Paremiology (Proverbs, phrases, etc.), Discourse Analysis, Teaching Methodologies and cultural studies related indigenous peoples in Mexico. Most of my work is related to the study of minority languages in the linguistics landscape (in Mexico and New Mexico), Interdisciplinarity in Discourse Analysis, Proverbs and sayings in Mexican Spanish and methodologies for language and culture teaching. I am an active member of ONOMA, Seminario interinstitucional de Onomastica in Mexico. I currently study the presence of minority languages in the New Mexican Toponomastic Landscape, and I was settled in Santa Fe New Mexico as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar.

Publications
  • “La lengua en el paisaje lingüístico de Ixtlahuaca. Fase 1: Apotecónimos” En C. R. Bueno Castro (coord..). Topografías de la investigación en Lingüística, Educación y sociedad., 2021, pp. 80–201. Universidad de Ixtlahuaca CUI. ISBN: 978 607 8506 33 0
  • “A descriptive Account of the Modern Mazahuan onomastic system” in Ndlovu, S. (Ed) Personal names and naming from an anthropological-linguistic perspective. De Gruyter-Mouton. 323–344.
  • “Truncamientos de hipocorísticos españoles y antropónimos en mazahua: un fenómeno compartido” en (Primeras Jornadas Antroponomásticas). Onomástica desde América Latina. Vol. 1, No. 1, (marzo) 2020), pp. 141–167. https://doi.org/10.48075/odal.v1i1.24164
  • “John, Joan, Jone or Jon?” Análisis de contenido de antropónimos en materiales para la enseñanza de inglés como L2. Onomástica desde América Latina, 4(1), 1–17, 2023. https://doi.org/10.48075/odal.v4i1.31274
  • “Sobre Antroponimia en las calles de Santa Fe, Nuevo México”. Onomástica desde América Latina. Vol. 1, No. 2, (julio 2020) pp. 122–143. https://doi.org/10.48075/odal.v1i2.25487
  • “Acercamiento onomástico a los nombres de las bandas de Heavy Metal”. Onomástica desde América Latina. Vol. 2, No. 1, (enero 2021) pp. 59–81. https://doi.org/10.48075/odal.v0i0.26062
  • “El nombre no es sólo un referente. Entrevista a Yolanda Guillermina López Franco. A name is not only a referent. An interview with Yolanda Guillermina López Franco” Domínios de Lingu@gem | Uberlândia | vol. 15, n. 2 | abr./jun. 2021, pp. 604–611.
  • “El saber ancestral en la toponimia mazahua del Barrio de Tlalpujahuilla, Santa Ana Ixtlahuaca” Revista Onomástica desde América Latina. Vol. 3, No. 1, (abril 2022) pp. 59–81. ttps://doi.org/10.48075/odal.v3i5.28950
  • Miguel Reyes Contreras, “On anthroponymy in the Streets of Santa Fe, NM” Revista GTLex, 8(1), e0814|2022/23, pp. 2–19. https://doi.org/10.14393/Lex-v8a2022/23–14
  • Reyes Contreras, M., & Serrano Morales, J. C. (2024). Exploraciones en el paisaje onomástico de Ixtlahuaca, México: el caso de los urbanónimos. Lengua Y Sociedad, 23(1), 241–259. https://doi.org/10.15381/lengsoc.v23i1.25125

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.


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.

Anne Rosar
© Anne Rosar
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.

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.

Peyman Ghassemi Pour Sabet
© Peyman Ghassemi Pour Sabet
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.

José Armando San Martín Gómez, Université Paris-Sorbonne, France

I am a philologist, a Master’s graduate from Sorbonne Université (Paris, France), and currently a PhD candidate in Études Romanes Espagnoles in a joint international program between Sorbonne Université and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). My research focuses on colonial anthroponymy in the Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries. Through my studies, I examine trends, uses, and the social distribution of given names, relying on both quantitative and qualitative methods to shed light on the historical development of naming practices in Spanish.

José Armando San Martín Gómez

Since 2023, I have been serving as Secretary of the Seminario Interinstitucional de Onomástica (SIO), directed by Dr. Yolanda Guillermina López Franco (UNAM) and Dr. Francisco J. Peral Rabasa (INAH).

Publications
  • “Una aproximación al estudio de la antroponimia en Honduras durante el periodo colonial (siglos XVII-XVIII)”, Revista de Filología y Lingüística de la Universidad de Costa Rica, 47 (1), 2020.
  • “Estudio de la antroponimia de El Salvador tardocolonial (1650–1803): tendencias de uso y evolución”, en J. L. Ramírez Luengo (ed.): Estudios sobre la historia léxica del español de América. Jaén: Universidad de Jaén, 2021.
  • (With A. Zabalza Seguín): “Una aproximación a la antroponimia queretana del siglo XIX (1800–1850)”, Onomástica desde América Latina, 3 (5), 2021, pp. 56–75.
  • “Un acercamiento al estudio de la antroponimia del Alto Perú durante el periodo colonial: siglos XVI-XVIII”, Onomástica desde América Latina, 2022, 3 (6), pp. 27–44.
  • “Antroponimia histórica en Centroamérica: el caso de El Salvador y Honduras entre los siglos XVII y XVIII”. (Inédit).
  • (With C. Paredes García): “Algunos aspectos de la antroponimia de Texas durante el siglo XVIII: primeros acercamientos a su estudio histórico” Onomástica desde América Latina, 5 (1), 2022, pp. 1–18.
  • Hacia un estudio de la antroponimia campechana durante el periodo tardocolonial: primeras aproximaciones en un corpus documental del siglo XVIII y XIX. (Inédit).

info button 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).

Eugen Schochenmaier
© Eugen Schochenmaier
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.

Theresa Schweden
© Theresa Schweden
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.

Inga Siegfried-Schupp
© Inga Siegfried-Schupp

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.

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. 

Julia Sinclair-Palm
© Julia Sinclair-Palm
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

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.

Daiva Sinkevičiūtė
© Daiva Sinkevičiūtė
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

Daniel Solling, Institute for language and folklore, Uppsala, Sweden

I am a research archivist in onomastics at the Institute for language and folklore in Uppsala. My primary work task is serving as editor of the lexicon Sveriges medeltida personnamn (SMP), which covers medieval personal names in Sweden. My main research interests therefore concern anthroponyms in historical time periods. In my research, I often focus on language and cultural contact as reflected in names and naming practices. Some of my research has focused on alba amicorum and names in these friendship books. I also study other names, with a particular focus on the individual naming of objects in present-day Sweden.

Daniel Solling
© Joachim Bago

Before working in onomastics, my research focused on the historical linguistics of German, especially Early New High German word formation, orthography, and syntax, as well as Middle Low German syntax.

Publications
  • Individuelle Namensgebung von Autos in Schweden. In: Cotticelli-Kurras, Paola (ed.): Names in Times of Crisis. Age of pandemics, energetic deficiency, and war. (Sprachvergleich. Studien zur synchronen und diachronen Sprachwissenschaft, 7). Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto. 2025. P. 237–252.
  • Der Rufname Helmik(e) in Schweden. In: Bareis, J. Alexander, Henriksson, Henrik & Nystrand, Mikael (ed.): Bewegungen. Beiträge zur 14. Arbeitstagung schwedischer Germanistinnen und Germanisten Text im Kontext in Lund am 21. – 23. April 2022. (Lunder germanistische Forschungen, 75). Lund: Lunds universitet. 2024. P. 135–149.
  • Introduction to the special issue. Personal names and multilingualism in historical context. In: NoSo. Nordisk tidskrift för socioonomastik. Nordic Journal of Socio-Onomastics. 4.3. 2024. P. 5–13.
  • Namnkomplexet Sighvast och Silvester under medeltiden och tidigmodern tid i Sverige. Ett exempel på ett namnkomplex i Sverige på medeltiden samt på inlånade namns påverkan på onomastikonet. [The name complex Sighvast and Silvester in medieval and early modern Sweden. An example of a name complex in medieval Sweden and the influence of borrowed names on the onomasticon.] In: NoSo. Nordisk tidskrift för socioonomastik. Nordic Journal of Socio-Onomastics. 4.3. 2024. P. 83–117.
  • Zu deutschen Männernamen auf -eke und -ike im mittelalterlichen Schweden. In: Grub, Frank Thomas, Reuter, Ewald & Sverrisdóttir, Oddný G. (ed.): Einheit des Faches – Vielfalt der Perspektiven. Ausgewählte Beiträge zum XII. Nordisch-Baltischen Germanistentreffen in Reykjavík vom 8. – 10. Juni 2022. (Nordeuropäische Arbeiten zur Literatur, Sprache und Kultur = Northern European studies in literature, language and culture, 18). Berlin: Peter Lang Publishing Group. 2024. P. 21–32.
  • Staubi & Robban – Individualnamen für Maschinen und technische Geräte im deutsch-schwedischen Vergleich. In: Beiträge zur Namenforschung. 57.3. 2022. P. 311–341. Written together with Ambra Ottersbach.
  • Stamböcker som källa för personnamnsforskningen. Exempel från en underutnyttjad genre. [Alba amicorum as a source for anthroponymic research. Examples from an underutilised genre.] In: Ortnamnssällskapets i Uppsala årsskrift. [85]. 2020. P. 73–84.
  • Tillnamnsbruket bland svenska adliga i stamböcker. [The use of bynames among Swedish noblemen in alba amicorum.] In: Löfdahl, Maria, Waldispühl, Michelle & Wenner, Lena (ed.): Namn i skrift. Names in Writing. Handlingar från NORNAs 48:e symposium i Göteborg den 29–30 november 2018. [Namn i skrift. Names in Writing. Report from the 48th Nordic Onomastic Symposium in Gothenburg 29.-30. November 2018.] (Meijerbergs arkiv för svensk ordforskning, 44 / NORNA-rapporter, 98). Gothenburg & Uppsala: Meijerbergs institut för svensk etymologisk forskning & NORNA-förlaget. 2020. P. 379–394.

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.

Edla Szabó
© Edla Szabó
Publications
  • 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.

Nicoline van der Sijs
© Nicoline van der Sijs
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.

Svenja Völkel, University of Mainz, Germany

I am a language typologist and anthropological linguist at Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany. My regional focus is on Oceania and Australia, in particular the Polynesian languages and societies in the South Pacific. In onomastics, my topics of interest include name-giving practices and naming taboos (i.e., names and social status), the structure of names (e.g., the development of names from appellatives and the phonemic adaptation of foreign names), the grammar of names (e.g., the use of articles and other markers with names as compared to common nouns and with anthroponyms as compared to other names) and the use of lexemes for ‘name’ in different grammatical constructions (e.g., alienable vs. inalienable and ordinary vs. honorific). These onomastic studies are part of my broader research interest in language-specific forms and practices of person reference (honorifics, kinship terms, personal pronouns, and personal names) from a cross-linguistic perspective and their interplay with culture-specific ideas of social structure and interpersonal behaviour.

Svenja Völkel
Publications
  • 2023: Personal names and naming in Tongan language and culture. In Sambulo Ndlovu (ed.), Personal names and naming from an anthropological-linguistic perspective, 301–321. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
  • 2023: Introduction: The cultural aspect of personal names. In Sambulo Ndlovu (ed.), Personal names and naming from an anthropological-linguistic perspective, 1–11. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. (together with Sambulo Ndlovu)
  • 2023: Naming and labelling contexts of cultural importance in Africa. International Journal of Language and Culture, 10 (2). (special issue, ed. together with Nico Nassenstein & Sambulo Ndlovu)
  • 2023: Named entities, naming practices, and their meaning – linguistic types and cultural contexts. International Journal of Language and Culture, 10 (2). 151–174.
  • Forthcoming: An onymic grammar of Tongan: The distinction of proper names from common nouns in Polynesian languages. In Corinna Handschuh, Johannes Helmbrecht & Julia Nintemann (eds.), Proper names: A grammatical typology. Berlin: de Gruyter.

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.


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.