American Name Society

Last updated
American Name Society
AbbreviationANS
FormationDecember 29, 1951
Founded at Detroit, Michigan
TypeScholarly society
PurposeOnomastics
Website http://www.americannamesociety.org/

The American Name Society(ANS) is a non-profit organization founded in 1951 to promote onomastics, the study of names and naming practices, both in the United States and abroad. [1] The organization investigates cultural insights, settlement history, and linguistic characteristics revealed in names.

Contents

The ANS runs an annual conference for name scholars and enthusiasts, and it is the largest scholarly society dedicated to "the investigation of names and how they develop". [2] Since 1952, the ANS has produced the journal Names . [3] Since its very first issue in 1952, this scientific quarterly has continually published original articles, notes, and book reviews that investigate the derivation, function, and impact of names and naming in North America and around the world. [4] The American Dialect Society was the parent organization of ANS. It has also been associated with the Modern Language Association. [5]

History

In the early 1950s, members of the American Dialect Society felt that there ought to be another organization focused on the function of proper nouns. On December 29, 1951, [5] in Detroit, a group of academics voted to create the American Name Society, which would focus on onomastics and publish a quarterly journal with content written by society members. The founders appointed a Sponsoring Committee with 29 members and elected a president, Elsdon C. Smith. [6] The first meeting was held on December 27, 1952, in Boston. The ANS has had a broad scope since its inception, and attracts specialists from a variety of fields. [5]

Names: A Journal of Onomastics

In March 1953, the ANS began publishing Names , [5] "a journal of onomastics." [7] The first volume of Names was published in March 1953, edited by Erwin Gudde. [5] George R. Stewart, a founding member of the ANS, [8] described his vision for using Names to define the field of onomastics. [9] As of January 2021, all current and archived issues of Names became available for free via the Open Access program at the University of Pittsburgh. In 2022, Names was awarded the exclusive DOAJ Seal from the Directory of Open Access Journals, reflecting best practices in open access publishing. [10] Professor I.M. Nick is the current Editor-in-Chief of Names. [11]

Awards

Emerging Scholar Award

The Emerging Scholar Award recognizes names researchers in the early stages of their academic or professional careers. [12] The awardee receives recognition at the annual meeting, a cash prize of $250, one year of membership in the ANS. [13]

Best Article in Names: A Journal of Onomastics

The Best Article in Names: A Journal of Onomastics is given to the one article per year that the journal Editorial Board selects as demonstrating the highest level of methodological innovation, exhibiting exemplary style and organization; and promising to make the most significant contribution to the scholarly investigation of names and naming. [1] [14]

Name of the Year

Since 2004, the ANS has declared a Name of the Year. Each year, the public can nominate a name by contacting the Name of the Year election coordinator with justification for the name's inclusion. ANS members can also nominate names at the annual meeting. Nominated names are judged on three criteria: linguistic innovation, potential to impact language use, and ability to capture national attention. [15] Since 2008, the ANS has voted on the top personal name, place name, trade name, and fictional name at its annual conference. [16] [17]

YearName of the Year (Overall)FictionalPersonalPlaceTradeMiscellaneousE-NameNotes
2023 Gaza & Barbie (tie) Barbenheimer Swiftie Gaza ChatGPT X [18]
2022 Ukraine Encanto Volodymyr Zelenskyy Kyiv FTX January 6 NFT [19]
2021 Great Resignation Squid Game Karen United States Capitol Cyber Ninjas CRT #FreeBritney [20]
2020 Kamala & COVID-19 (tie) Schitt's Creek George Floyd Wuhan, China Zoom COVID-19 QAnon
2019 Arrokoth Baby Yoda Greta Thunberg Arrokoth TikTok Antivaxxer #Fridaysforfuture
2018 Jamal Khashoggi Wakanda Jamal Khashoggi Paradise, California Gritty
2017 Rohingya Nambia Maria Charlottesville Me Too Donald Trump referred to the nation "Nambia" in a September 2017 speech at the United Nations. [21]
2016 Aleppo Hamilton Aleppo Brexit [22]
2015 Caitlyn Jenner [23] Rey, Finn, and Poe (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) Caitlyn Jenner Denali Charlie Hebdo
2014 Ferguson [24] Elsa (Disney) Malala Ferguson Uber
2013 Francis Ender Wiggin Francis Syria ObamaCare
2012 Sandy Downton Abbey Malala Gangnam Fiscal cliff
2011 Arab Spring Lisbeth Salander Muammar Gaddafi Fukushima, Fukushima Siri
2010 Eyjafjallajökull Quinn and Finn ( Glee) Lady Gaga Eyjafjallajökull Tea Party
2009 Salish Sea Max (Where the Wild Things Are (film)) Chesley Sullenberger Salish Sea Twitter
2008 Barack Hussein Obama Edward (Twilight (novel series)) Barack Hussein Obama Wasilla, Alaska Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
2007 Betrayus Nickname for Sen. Chuck Hagel and later Gen. David Petraeus. [25]
2006 Pluto
2005 Katrina
2004 Fahrenheit 9/11 [17]

The American Name Society is allied with the Modern Language Association (MLA). [26]

Sister Societies

The American Name Society is a member of a group of sister societies that meet concurrently with the Linguistic Society of America: [27]

Related Research Articles

Onomastics is the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. An alethonym or an orthonym is the proper name of the object in question, the object of onomastic study.

Allen Walker Read was an American etymologist and lexicographer. Born in Minnesota, he spent much of his career as a professor at Columbia University in New York. Read's work Classic American Graffiti is well regarded in the study of latrinalia and obscenity. His etymological career included his discovery of the origin of the word "OK", a longtime puzzle, and his scholarly study of the history and use of the common English vulgarity "fuck."

The Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL) is a non-profit organisation that promotes humanities and social science research in the Levant. It consists of two research institutes, the Kenyon Institute in Jerusalem and the British Institute in Amman (BIA) in Amman, Jordan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discourse analysis</span> Generic term for the analysis of social, language policy or historiographical discourse phenomena

Discourse analysis (DA), or discourse studies, is an approach to the analysis of written, spoken, or sign language, including any significant semiotic event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Directory of Open Access Journals</span> Curated list of peer-reviewed Open-Access journals

The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is a website that hosts a community-curated list of open access journals, maintained by Infrastructure Services for Open Access (IS4OA). It was launched in 2003 with 300 open access journals.

Arnold Melchior Zwicky is an adjunct professor of linguistics at Stanford University and Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of linguistics at the Ohio State University. The Linguistic Society of America’s Arnold Zwicky Award, given for the first time in 2021, is intended to recognize the contributions of LGBTQ+ scholars in linguistics and is named for Zwicky, the first LGBTQ+ President of the LSA.

Information for Social Change (ISC) is an international, volunteer-based association, whose primary mission is to debate and comment on issues of social justice, censorship, freedom and ethics in the library and information field. Information for Social Change can be described as an activist organization of library and information professionals. An important aspect of the mission is for members to debate and challenge dominant paradigms or perspectives in the library and information sector. The scope of Information for Social Change is not, however, limited to the traditional library sector, but encompasses a broad spectrum of issues impacting access to information, information literacy and the wider role of information users in society. Information for Social Change supports conferences and collaborates with a range of literacy activists groups. ISC self-publishes their scholarly journal, ISC journal which is published online. Their webpage is (https://informationforsocialchange.wordpress.com and the international standard serial number for the ISC journal is: 1364-694X | 1756-901X. Information for Social Change is part of the Directory of Open Access Journals.

The International Council of Onomastic Sciences (ICOS) is an international academic organization of scholars with a special interest in onomastics, the scientific study of names. The official languages of ICOS are English, French, and German.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Crystallographic Association</span>

The American Crystallographic Association, Inc. (ACA) is a non-profit, scientific organization for scientists who study the structure of matter via crystallographic methodologies. Since its founding in 1949 it has amassed over 2000 members worldwide.

Judith Tonhauser is a Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Stuttgart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katerina Harvati</span> Greek paleoanthropologist

Katerina Harvati is a Greek paleoanthropologist and expert in human evolution. She specializes in the broad application of 3-D geometric morphometric and virtual anthropology methods to paleoanthropology. Since 2009, she is full professor and director of Paleoanthropology at the University of Tübingen, Germany. From 2020 to 2023 she was Director of the Institute for Archaeological Sciences and since 2023 she is Director of the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen.

Donna M. Huryn is an American medicinal and organic chemist. She received her B.A. (chemistry) from Cornell University, and Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania. She is on the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh’s school of pharmacy, holds an adjunct appointment in the department of chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, is the principal investigator of the University of Pittsburgh Chemical Diversity Center, and was a visiting fellow in the summer of 2017 at the University of Bologna. She is a fellow of the American Chemical Society, recipient of the ACS Philadelphia Local Section Award, has held a number of elected positions within the American Chemical Society at both the local and national levels, and is 2015 Chair of the Division of Organic Chemistry. Huryn also formed, along with a number of other scientists, the Empowering Women in Organic Chemistry Conferences in 2019. The goal was to empower and bring the research and career of all marginalized individuals in chemistry-related fields to the forefront of the scientific community. Huryn noticed how there was not enough women pursuing and maintaining a career in organic chemistry, and thus founded this organization. The Empowering Women in Organic Chemistry Conferences allowed for women leaders to present their scientific findings and hear the stories of how eminent women in the field of organic chemistry overcame the challenges they faced being female. She is associate editor of ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters. She in also an editor of the journal Organic Reactions and co-authored the textbook Medicinal Chemistry and the article "Medicinal Chemistry: Where Are All the Women?" which appeared in the ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters Journal. Huryn’s research focuses on the design and synthesis of small molecules probes and drugs to treat cancer, neurodegenerative and infectious diseases.

Bissula was an Alemannic woman in the 4th century. She was captured by the Romans in 368 at the Battle of Solicinium, in the area of Württemberg, at a young age and became a slave of the Roman poet Ausonius who had participated in the campaign. Ausonius, who by then was a widower of about 60 years of age, fell in love with Bissula and released her from slavery. He wrote a poem on her, de Bissula, which he sent to his friend Paulus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diamond open access</span> Open access distributed with no fees to author and reader

Diamond open access refers to academic texts published/distributed/preserved with no fees to either reader or author. Alternative labels include platinum open access, non-commercial open access, cooperative open access or, more recently, open access commons. While these terms were first coined in the 2000s and the 2010s, they have been retroactively applied to a variety of structures and forms of publishing, from subsidized university publishers to volunteer-run cooperatives that existed in prior decades.

Laura Miller is an American anthropologist and the Ei'ichi Shibusawa-Seigo Arai Endowed Professor of Japanese Studies and Professor of History at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. She held various academic positions and jobs in both the United States and Japan before accepting this named chair in 2010.

Theory of language is a topic in philosophy of language and theoretical linguistics. It has the goal of answering the questions "What is language?"; "Why do languages have the properties they do?"; or "What is the origin of language?". In addition to these fundamental questions, the theory of language also seeks to understand how language is acquired and used by individuals and communities. This involves investigating the cognitive and neural processes involved in language processing and production, as well as the social and cultural factors that shape linguistic behavior.

Geoffrey "Geoff" William Coates is an American chemist and the Tisch University Professor in the department of chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keisha N. Blain</span> American historian

Keisha N. Blain is an American writer and scholar of American and African-American history. She is Professor of Africana Studies and History at Brown University. Blain served as president of the African American Intellectual History Society from 2017 to 2021. Blain is associated with the Charleston Syllabus social media movement.

Socio-onomastics is the study of names through a sociolinguistic lens, and is part of the broader topic of onomastics. Socio-onomastics 'examines the use and variety of names through methods that demonstrate the social, cultural, and situational conditions in name usage'. As a discipline, it aims to explore 'the social origin and use of different variants of proper names within various situations and contexts', including both place names and personal names.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret M. Bryant</span> American linguist

Margaret Mae Bryant was an American linguist and folklorist. She was an expert on grammar, and was twice president of the American Name Society.

References

  1. 1 2 "About the ANS - American Name Society". 20 February 2015.
  2. ↑ "'Ferguson' Is 2014's Name of the Year". Time. 9 January 2015. Retrieved 2017-02-20.
  3. ↑ Abel, Ernest Lawrence (2013-09-01). "A Note on the Names in Names". Names. 61 (3): 168–173. doi: 10.1179/0027773813Z.00000000056 . ISSN   0027-7738.
  4. ↑ "About the Journal | Names". ans-names.pitt.edu. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Leonard R. N. Ashley (2002) The American Name Society: The First Fifty Years, Names, 50:1, 63-72, DOI: 10.1179/nam.2002.50.1.63
  6. ↑ Unknown (1952-06-01). "American Name Society". Indiana Magazine of History. ISSN   1942-9711.
  7. ↑ "About the Journal | Names". ans-names.pitt.edu. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
  8. ↑ "Who Was Who in Name Study". www.wtsn.binghamton.edu. Archived from the original on 2012-04-15. Retrieved 2018-04-08.
  9. ↑ Stewart, George R. (1953). "The Field of the American Name Society". Names. 1 (2): 73–78. doi:10.1179/nam.1953.1.2.73.
  10. ↑ "Directory of Open Access Journals". doaj.org. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  11. ↑ "Editors' Profiles | Names". ans-names.pitt.edu. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  12. ↑ "ANS Emerging Scholar Award | American Name Society". 2022-01-08. Retrieved 2022-02-09.
  13. ↑ Nick, I. M. (2022-08-22). "Invitation to Apply for the American Name Society's Emerging Scholar Award". Names. 70 (3): 64–65. doi: 10.5195/names.2022.2442 . ISSN   1756-2279.
  14. ↑ Nick, I. M. (2021-11-15). "2020 Award for Best Article in NAMES: A Journal of Onomastics". Names. 69 (4): 55–56. doi: 10.5195/names.2021.2347 . ISSN   1756-2279.
  15. ↑ Nuessel, Frank (12 May 2017). "Editorial". Names. 65 (2): 63–64. doi: 10.1080/00277738.2017.1316003 .
  16. ↑ "Words with friends; Appalachian professor leads American Name Society » News Archive » Appalachian State University News". Archived from the original on 2017-02-21. Retrieved 2017-02-20.
  17. 1 2 "Name of the Year | American Name Society". American Name Society. 2017-02-03. Retrieved 2017-02-20.
  18. ↑ Nick, I. M. (2024-03-12). "Name of the Year Report 2023". Names. 72 (1): 57–68. doi:10.5195/names.2023.2621. ISSN   1756-2279.
  19. ↑ Evans, Cleveland (29 January 2023). "Cleveland Evans: What is the 2022 Name of the Year?". Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  20. ↑ ""Great Resignation" Chosen 2021 Name of the Year | American Name Society". 2022-01-30. Retrieved 2022-02-08.
  21. ↑ Evans, Cleveland (16 January 2018). "Evans: Rohingya is a name worth remembering". Omaha.com. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  22. ↑ "Why 'Dumpster Fire' Was 2016 Word of the Year". Live Science. Retrieved 2017-02-20.
  23. ↑ "'Caitlyn Jenner' Is the 2015 Name of the Year". Time. 8 January 2016. Retrieved 2017-02-20.
  24. ↑ "'Ferguson' Is 2014's Name of the Year". Time. 9 January 2015. Retrieved 2017-02-20.
  25. ↑ "American Name Society: Names of the Year". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2017-05-20.
  26. ↑ "Directory of Allied Organizations". apps.mla.org. Retrieved 2018-04-08.
  27. ↑ "Meeting Handbook" (PDF). Linguistic Society of America. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.