News

The Atlas of Surnames in German-Speaking Switzerland («Familiennamenatlas der Deutschschweiz» – FDS) is now available!

The new “Atlas of Surnames in German-Speaking Switzerland” («Familiennamenatlas der Deutschschweiz» – FDS) reveals what surnames tell us about dialects, historical occupations, places of residence, and migration patterns. This three-volume work was produced as part of a research project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation at the University of Bern under the direction of Prof. Dr. Luise Kempf. It is the first comprehensive study of surnames from a linguistic-geographical perspective and across multiple time periods. Over 500 annotated maps illustrate regional diversity, historical development, and the traces of language contact and migration.

The three volumes are available via Open Access at the following link: https://elibrary.narr.digital/xibrary/start.xav?start=%2F%2F%2A%5B%40node_id%3D%27230767%27%5D

In addition, the source code for the mapping program is available to anyone interested for further use. It is hosted on GitHub at the following URL: https://github.com/tivano-software/fds-cartography

Call for Contributions on the Topic “Names and Naming in Contact Situations”

Deadline: February 15, 2027

Maryann Parada from the California States University, Bakersfield, is editing a special issue of the journal “Genealogy” and would be delighted if researchers from our network would also submit contributions. The thematic scope is intentionally broad, so it should be of interest to a wide variety of research areas within onomastics. The topic is “Names and Naming in Contact Situations”.

Further information can be found here:
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/genealogy/special_issues/Y2G62NR7WB
https://linguistlist.org/issues/37/2710/

New publication by our member Ivona Barešová

Ivona recently published a new book together with her colleague Francis Bond. Congratulations!

The book is open access and can be downloaded here.

Abstract: Gender in Japanese Names Today explores the expression of gender in Japanese given names and the naming preferences behind them. Using linguistic analysis, carefully compiled datasets, and real-life naming stories, the book offers insight into contemporary Japanese naming trends in the context of earlier naming patterns. The book shows that although the number of children born in Japan continues to decline, the diversity and creativity of Japanese baby names are expanding, contributing to a gradual blurring of boundaries between boys’ and girls’ names. While overtly gender-neutral names remain relatively uncommon, the number of names used for both boys and girls has increased significantly. In contrast to Western patterns, where gender-neutral names tend to develop from boys’ names, Japanese naming trends are shaped by different dynamics, including the greater structural diversity of boys’ names and the growing use of traditionally feminine elements in names given to boys. Placing contemporary Japanese naming practices in a broader international context, the book highlights both parallels with global naming trends and the distinctive linguistic and cultural features of Japanese names. The book offers valuable insights not only for scholars of Japanese studies and linguistics, but also for researchers interested in gender, culture, and social change. It is accompanied by open-access datasets and code, as well as an interactive website for exploring Japanese given names and their patterns.

New publication!

By our member Osward Chanda Penda, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Identity Switch for Survival: From Chanda Bulaya to Samson Jackson, a Black African in England, 1914–35. In: Proceedings of the Estonian Mother Tongue Society, pp. 119–137

Abstract: Identity switch can be used for personal survival. In this archival study, I demonstrate how a British soldier and well-known showman, Chanda Bulaya leveraged this idea between 1914 when he arrived in England to his death in 1935. Born Chanda, in Kasama North-eastern Rhodesia (now Zambia), and a Bemba by ethnicity, Chanda went on to switch names at least seven times depending on the situation and circumstances that he found himself. He was known as Chanda, Bulaya Chanda, Samson Jackson, Samson Bulaya, Henry William Jackson, Chinaka Chanda Kaula Luale and ‘Chief Luale/Luali’, the latter being a circus stage name. Samson Jackson is credited as one of only few black Africans who fought on the Western Front during the First World War (henceforth WWI). Acknowledging that little attention has been accorded to how continental black Africans fared in white-dominated environments, Henry William Jackson’s case will be used to fill in this glaring gap. Changes in the social environment compelled Chanda to alter his identity as a means of survival, which was a common trait among the Bemba-speaking people at the time. The study departs from works on labour migration in Zambia which mainly focus on local movements to the Copperbelt or to other territories within Central and Southern Africa. It also contrasts a typical focus on local recruitment or conscription via traditional chiefs as the means by which Zambians were involved in WWI. The study further distinguishes ‘Chief Luali’ as a continental African who managed his own work in the circus in Europe and who did not have strikingly peculiar personal features. This case study may enhance our understanding of how colonialism affected the identities of African people, the economic and social exclusion experienced by Africans in Europe during WWI and in the interwar period, and how Chanda effectively negotiated his identity to survive.

Keywords: Identity, migration, anthroponyms, social onomastics, First World War (WWI), Western Front, Samson Jackson, Chanda Bulaya, amusement parks, Zambia

Download the paper here.

Our network is an organization affiliated with ICOS (International Council of Onomastic Science)

We are pleased to announce that the International Network for Personal Names Research (INPNR) has officially joined the International Council of Onomastic Sciences (ICOS) family. This is an exciting milestone for our growing community of scholars dedicated to the study of personal names. We look forward to a fruitful collaboration with ICOS and to strengthening global ties within the field of onomastics!

Our member Eugen Schochenmaier has written more about this on his blog e-onomastics. Thank you, Eugen!

https://e-onomastics.blogspot.com/2025/04/a-new-chapter-for-personal-names.html

Program for our 2nd Network Meeting on June 12, 2026

An exciting program featuring our members from various countries awaits us at the 2nd Network Meeting. You can download the program here.

7th Anthroponomastic Conference

November 11–13, 2026. In-person and online format

Researchers in the field of anthroponomastics and related areas, students, and others interested in anthroponomastic studies are invited to submit papers on the study of personal names, both in Latin America and other regions of the world. Since anthroponomastics is a multidisciplinary field aiming to become transdisciplinary, linguists, anthropologists, historians, sociologists, etc. are invited. Papers may be presented in Spanish or Portuguese. For registration see the QR code.

Program for our 2nd Network Meeting on June 12, 2026

An exciting program featuring our members from various countries awaits us at the 2nd Network Meeting. You can download the program here.

Invitation and Call for Papers for our 2nd Online Meeting of the Network

• When? June 12, 2026, 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM (UTC+2)
• Where? Online via Zoom. You will receive the link a few days before the event once you have registered.
• Where to register? https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-research-on-personal-names-in-different-countries-tickets-1086517554481
• Invitation here

We look forward to seeing you!

Anna-Maria Balbach & Emilia Aldrin

Call for abstracts!

NoSo: Nordic Journal of Socio-Onomastics is now open for submissions aiming at the 2027-volume which will be an open volume with broad scope. We encourage members of the network to submit! The journal welcomes articles in English or Scandinavian languages concerning any topic on the role of names and naming in relation to societal issues or social interaction, that is of international (and Nordic) interest. Empirical, theoretical, contemporary, and historical analyses are welcome. Submission deadline: August 15th 2026. For more information, visit the journal website: https://publicera.kb.se/noso

NoSo is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy for Swedish Folk Culture. It appears online with full Open Access (CC BY 4.0). Listed in DOAJ and Crossref. Publishing free of charge.