Monday, February 9, 2026

Slovak Onomastic Terminology Wins 3rd Place in "Dictionary of the Year" Competition

 🇬🇧 ENGLISH VERSION

Bratislava/Prague, February 2026 — The Slovak Onomastic Terminology (Slovenská onomastická terminológia), a groundbreaking reference work published by the Ľudovít Štúr Institute of Linguistics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, has been awarded 3rd place in the Main Prize category of the Dictionary of the Year 2024-2025 competition.


The prestigious award, organized by the Union of Interpreters and Translators of the Czech Republic (Jednota tlumočníků a překladatelů, JTP), recognizes outstanding lexicographic and terminological works from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This year's competition attracted more than 55 submissions across all scholarly disciplines.

A Four-Decade Gap Filled

The awarded publication represents the first comprehensive update of Slovak onomastic terminology in over 40 years. The 476-page volume provides standardized definitions for more than 600 terms related to the study of proper names, including:

  • Taxonomic terms for different types of names (personal names, place names, hydronyms, etc.)
  • Theoretical concepts in onomastic science
  • Multilingual equivalents in five languages: Czech, Polish, English, German, and Hungarian

"This work fills a critical gap in Slovak linguistic scholarship," said lead editor Dr. Iveta Valentová of the Ľudovít Štúr Institute. "After more than four decades, we now have a modern, internationally aligned reference that reflects current theoretical developments in onomastics."

International Collaboration

The project represents a model of international scholarly cooperation, bringing together experts from three countries:

Slovak Contributors:

  • Iveta Valentová (lead editor) — Ľudovít Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Sciences
  • Ľubor Králik - Independent researcher, specialist in Slavic etymology
  • Juraj Hladký, Andrej Závodný, Mária Imrichová, Ján Bauko - Contributing scholars

Czech Contributor:

  • Milan Harvalík - Onomastic terminology specialist

Polish Contributors:

  • Artur Gałkowski - Expert in onomastic theory
  • Urszula Bijak - Slavic onomastics researcher

The multilingual approach ensures the terminology is accessible to researchers across Central Europe and beyond, facilitating international communication in onomastic studies.

Digital Accessibility

In addition to the print edition published by VEDA (the Slovak Academy of Sciences publishing house), the entire work is freely accessible online through the Dictionary Portal of the Ľudovít Štúr Institute: https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk/?d=onom

This digital integration allows researchers worldwide to search and cross-reference onomastic terms alongside other major Slovak dictionaries, including the Dictionary of Contemporary Slovak Language and historical linguistic resources.

The Competition

The Slovník roku (Dictionary of the Year) competition has been organized by JTP for over three decades, celebrating excellence in Czech and Slovak lexicography. The awards are typically presented during Jeronýmovy dny (St. Jerome Days), an annual festival of translation and interpretation held in Prague.

This year's competition evaluated 55+ dictionaries and encyclopedias across all fields - from natural sciences to humanities - making the 3rd place achievement particularly significant.

The Main Prize includes a trophy and a cash award of 20,000 CZK, with winners choosing which to accept.

Continuing Excellence

This recognition follows the Ľudovít Štúr Institute's 1st place victory in the 2020-2021 competition for the fourth volume of the Dictionary of Contemporary Slovak Language, demonstrating the institution's sustained leadership in Slovak lexicography.

"We are immensely proud of our colleagues," said representatives from the Department of the History of Slovak Language, Onomastics and Etymology. "This award validates years of meticulous work and positions Slovak onomastics at the forefront of international research."

Practical Impact

The Slovak Onomastic Terminology serves multiple audiences:

  • Academic researchers studying proper names across Slavic and other languages
  • University students learning onomastic theory and methodology
  • Professional translators requiring accurate terminology for specialized texts
  • Government agencies involved in geographic name standardization
  • International organizations like UNGEGN (UN Group of Experts on Geographical Names)

Each term entry includes etymology, usage examples, explanatory notes, and literature references, making it both a scholarly reference and a practical handbook.

Congratulations

The onomastic community extends warm congratulations to:

  • Dr. Iveta Valentová
  • Ľubor Králik
  • Milan Harvalík
  • All contributing scholars and supporting institutions

As Dr. Valentová and her team continue their research, the international onomastic community eagerly anticipates their future publications.

For more information:

🇨🇿 ČESKÁ VERZE

Slovenská onomastická terminologie získala třetí místo v prestižní soutěži slovníků

Bratislava/Praha, únor 2026 - Publikace Slovenská onomastická terminologie (Slovenská onomastická terminológia), průkopnické referenční dílo vydané Jazykovědným ústavem Ľudovíta Štúra Slovenské akademie věd, byla oceněna 3. místem v kategorii Hlavní cena soutěže Slovník roku 2024-2025.

Prestižní ocenění, které organizuje Jednota tlumočníků a překladatelů (JTP), oceňuje vynikající lexikografická a terminologická díla z České republiky a Slovenska. Letošní soutěž přilákala více než 55 přihlášek napříč všemi vědeckými obory.

Vyplnění čtyřicetileté mezery

Oceněná publikace představuje první komplexní aktualizaci slovenské onomastické terminologie za více než 40 let. Svazek o 476 stranách poskytuje standardizované definice pro více než 600 termínů souvisejících se studiem vlastních jmen, včetně:

  • Taxonomických termínů pro různé typy jmen (osobní jména, místní jména, vodní jména atd.)
  • Teoretických pojmů v onomastické vědě
  • Vícejazyčných ekvivalentů v pěti jazycích: češtině, polštině, angličtině, němčině a maďarštině

„Tato práce vyplňuje kritickou mezeru ve slovenském lingvistickém bádání," řekla vedoucí editorka Dr. Iveta Valentová z Jazykovědného ústavu Ľudovíta Štúra. „Po více než čtyřech dekádách nyní máme moderní, mezinárodně sladěnou příručku, která odráží současný teoretický vývoj v onomastice."

Mezinárodní spolupráce

Projekt představuje model mezinárodní vědecké spolupráce a spojuje odborníky ze tří zemí:

Slovenští přispěvatelé:

  • Iveta Valentová (hlavní editorka) - Jazykovědný ústav Ľudovíta Štúra SAV
  • Ľubor Králik - Nezávislý badatel, specialista na slovanskou etymologii
  • Juraj Hladký, Andrej Závodný, Mária Imrichová, Ján Bauko - Přispívající vědci

Český přispěvatel:

  • Milan Harvalík - Specialista na onomastickou terminologii

Polští přispěvatelé:

  • Artur Gałkowski - Expert na onomastickou teorii
  • Urszula Bijak - Badatelka slovanské onomastiky

Vícejazyčný přístup zajišťuje, že terminologie je přístupná výzkumníkům ve střední Evropě i mimo ni, což usnadňuje mezinárodní komunikaci v onomastických studiích.

Digitální přístupnost

Kromě tištěného vydání, které vydalo nakladatelství VEDA (vydavatelství Slovenské akademie věd), je celé dílo volně přístupné online prostřednictvím Slovníkového portálu Jazykovědného ústavu Ľudovíta Štúra: https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk/?d=onom

Tato digitální integrace umožňuje výzkumníkům po celém světě vyhledávat a křížově odkazovat onomastické termíny společně s dalšími významnými slovenskými slovníky, včetně Slovníku súčasného slovenského jazyka a historických jazykových zdrojů.

Soutěž

Soutěž Slovník roku organizuje JTP již více než tři desetiletí a oslavuje excelenci v české a slovenské lexikografii. Ocenění jsou obvykle předávána během Jeronýmových dnů, každoročního festivalu tlumočení a překladu pořádaného v Praze.

Letošní soutěž hodnotila 55+ slovníků a encyklopedií napříč všemi obory — od přírodních věd po humanitní obory — což činí 3. místo obzvláště významným.

Hlavní cena zahrnuje trofej a peněžitou odměnu 20 000 Kč, přičemž vítězové si vybírají, kterou přijmou.

Pokračující excelence

Toto uznání následuje po vítězství na 1. místě Jazykovědného ústavu Ľudovíta Štúra v soutěži 2020-2021 za čtvrtý díl Slovníku súčasného slovenského jazyka, což prokazuje trvalé vedoucí postavení instituce ve slovenské lexikografii.

„Jsme nesmírně hrdí na naše kolegy," uvedli zástupci Oddělení dejín slovenčiny, onomastiky a etymologie. „Toto ocenění potvrzuje roky pečlivé práce a staví slovenskou onomastiku do čela mezinárodního výzkumu."

Praktický dopad

Slovenská onomastická terminologie slouží mnoha okruhům uživatelů:

  • Akademičtí výzkumníci studující vlastní jména ve slovanských a dalších jazycích
  • Vysokoškolští studenti učící se onomastickou teorii a metodologii
  • Profesionální překladatelé vyžadující přesnou terminologii pro odborné texty
  • Vládní agentury zapojené do standardizace zeměpisných názvů
  • Mezinárodní organizace jako UNGEGN (Skupina expertů OSN pro zeměpisná jména)

Každé heslo obsahuje etymologii, příklady užití, vysvětlující poznámky a odkazy na literaturu, což z něj činí jak vědeckou příručku, tak praktický manuál.

Gratulace

Onomastická komunita vřele gratuluje:

  • Dr. Ivetě Valentové
  • Ľuborovi Králikovi
  • Milanovi Harvalíkovi
  • Všem přispívajícím vědcům a podporujícím institucím

Zatímco Dr. Valentová a její tým pokračují ve svém výzkumu, mezinárodní onomastická komunita s nedočkavostí očekává jejich budoucí publikace.

Více informací:

🇸🇰 SLOVENSKÁ VERZIA

Slovenská onomastická terminológia získala tretie miesto v prestížnej súťaži slovníkov

Bratislava/Praha, február 2026 - Publikácia Slovenská onomastická terminológia, prelomové referenčné dielo vydané Jazykovedným ústavom Ľudovíta Štúra Slovenskej akadémie vied, bola ocenená 3. miestom v kategórii Hlavná cena súťaže Slovník roku 2024-2025.

Prestížne ocenenie, ktoré organizuje Jednota tlumočníků a překladatelů (JTP) z Českej republiky, oceňuje vynikajúce lexikografické a terminologické diela z Českej republiky a Slovenska. Tohtoročná súťaž prilákala viac ako 55 prihlášok naprieč všetkými vedeckými odbormi.

Vyplnenie štyridsaťročnej medzery

Ocenená publikácia predstavuje prvú komplexnú aktualizáciu slovenskej onomastickej terminológie za viac ako 40 rokov. Zväzok s 476 stranami poskytuje štandardizované definície pre více ako 600 termínov súvisiacich so štúdiom vlastných mien, vrátane:

  • Taxonomických termínov pre rôzne typy mien (osobné mená, miestne názvy, vodné názvy atd.)
  • Teoretických pojmov v onomastickej vede
  • Viacjazyčných ekvivalentov v piatich jazykoch: češtine, poľštine, angličtine, nemčine a maďarčine

„Táto práca vypĺňa kritickú medzeru v slovenskom lingvistickom bádaní," povedala vedúca editorka PhDr. Iveta Valentová, PhD. z Jazykovedného ústavu Ľudovíta Štúra. „Po viac ako štyroch desaťročiach teraz máme modernú, medzinárodne zladenú príručku, ktorá odráža súčasný teoretický vývoj v onomastike."

Medzinárodná spolupráca

Projekt predstavuje model medzinárodnej vedeckej spolupráce a spája odborníkov z troch krajín:

Slovenskí prispievatelia:

  • Iveta Valentová (hlavná editorka) - Jazykovedný ústav Ľudovíta Štúra SAV
  • Ľubor Králik - Nezávislý vedecký pracovník, špecialista na slovanskú etymológiu
  • Juraj Hladký, Andrej Závodný, Mária Imrichová, Ján Bauko - Prispievajúci vedci

Český prispievateľ:

  • Milan Harvalík - Špecialista na onomastickú terminológiu

Poľskí prispievatelia:

  • Artur Gałkowski - Expert na onomastickú teóriu
  • Urszula Bijak - Bádateľka slovanskej onomastiky

Viacjazyčný prístup zabezpečuje, že terminológia je prístupná výskumníkom v strednej Európe aj mimo nej, čo uľahčuje medzinárodnú komunikáciu v onomastických štúdiách.

Digitálna prístupnosť

Okrem tlačeného vydania, ktoré vydalo vydavateľstvo VEDA (vydavateľstvo Slovenskej akadémie vied), je celé dielo voľne prístupné online prostredníctvom Slovníkového portálu Jazykovedného ústavu Ľudovíta Štúra: https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk/?d=onom

Táto digitálna integrácia umožňuje výskumníkom po celom svete vyhľadávať a krížovo odkazovať onomastické termíny spolu s ďalšími významnými slovenskými slovníkmi, vrátane Slovníka súčasného slovenského jazyka a historických jazykových zdrojov.

Súťaž

Súťaž Slovník roku organizuje JTP už viac ako tri desaťročia a oslavuje excelenciu v českej a slovenskej lexikografii. Ocenenia sa zvyčajne odovzdávajú počas Jeronýmových dní (Jeronýmovy dny), každoročného festivalu tlmočenia a prekladu konaného v Prahe.

Tohtoročná súťaž hodnotila 55+ slovníkov a encyklopédií naprieč všetkými odbormi — od prírodných vied po humanitné obory — čo robí 3. miesto obzvlášť významným.

Hlavná cena zahŕňa trofej a peňažnú odmenu 20 000 Kč, přičom víťazi si vyberajú, ktorú prijmú.

Pokračujúca excelentnosť

Toto uznanie nasleduje po víťazstve na 1. mieste Jazykovedného ústavu Ľudovíta Štúra v súťaži 2020-2021 za štvrtý diel Slovníka súčasného slovenského jazyka, čo preukazuje trvalé vedúce postavenie inštitúcie v slovenskej lexikografii.

„Sme nesmierne hrdí na našich kolegov," uviedli zástupcovia Oddelenia dejín slovenčiny, onomastiky a etymológie. „Toto ocenenie potvrdzuje roky starostlivej práce a stavia slovenskú onomastiku do čela medzinárodného výskumu."

Praktický dopad

Slovenská onomastická terminológia slúži mnohým okruhom používateľov:

  • Akademickí výskumníci študujúci vlastné mená v slovanských a ďalších jazykoch
  • Vysokoškolskí študenti učiaci sa onomastickú teóriu a metodológiu
  • Profesionálni prekladatelia vyžadujúci presnú terminológiu pre odborné texty
  • Vládne agentúry zapojené do štandardizácie zemepisných názvov
  • Medzinárodné organizácie ako UNGEGN (Skupina expertov OSN pre zemepisné názvy)

Každé heslo obsahuje etymológiu, príklady použitia, vysvetľujúce poznámky a odkazy na literatúru, čo z neho robí tak vedeckú príručku, ako aj praktický manuál.

Gratulujeme

Onomastická komunita srdečne gratuluje:

  • PhDr. Ivete Valentovej, PhD.
  • Ľuborovi Králikovi
  • Milanovi Harvalíkovi
  • Všetkým prispievajúcim vedcom a podporujúcim inštitúciám

Zatiaľ čo Dr. Valentová a jej tím pokračujú vo svojom výskume, medzinárodná onomastická komunita s netrpezlivosťou očakáva ich budúce publikácie.

Viac informácií:

Posted by Dr. on No comments:
Labels:

Sunday, February 8, 2026

Names Matter: New Centre Puts Norwegian Onomastics at the Heart of Public Life

 Language isn't just about grammar and vocabulary - it's about identity, place, and belonging. And few linguistic elements carry this weight more intimately than names. Now, thanks to a major new initiative at the University of Bergen, the study of names in Norway is entering a transformative phase.

The newly established Fagspråksenteret (Centre for Academic Language), funded by the Research Council of Norway for an eight-year term, has placed namnegransking - onomastics - at the core of its mission. This isn't merely an academic curiosity. As the centre explicitly states, one of its central goals is to build knowledge and competence that directly supports public administration of names - from municipal decisions about street naming to national policies on personal names in an increasingly multicultural society.
Why does this matter? Because names are where language meets law, culture meets bureaucracy, and history meets the present.
Consider the questions the centre's onomastics team - led by toponymist Peder Gammeltoft, with Ivar Berg as deputy leader and researchers Stian Hårstad and Ivar Utne - plans to tackle:
  • How do research, legislation, and public administration actually interact when a municipality decides whether to restore a historic farm name or approve a new immigrant family's chosen surname?
  • How have urban place-names evolved in Norwegian cities over the last decade - a period of rapid densification, gentrification, and demographic change?
  • How can names serve as linguistic fossils, revealing dialect boundaries or sound changes otherwise invisible in written records?
  • How is personal naming practice transforming in 21st-century Norway, where Muhammad and Sofie now share kindergarten classrooms?
These aren't abstract puzzles. They affect real people: the Sámi family fighting to have traditional place-names reinstated on official maps; the Somali-Norwegian parents navigating naming laws; the local historian using farm-name distributions to reconstruct medieval settlement patterns.
What makes Fagspråksenteret's approach groundbreaking is its refusal to treat onomastics as a niche specialty. Instead, it positions name research as essential infrastructure for a functioning, culturally aware democracy. When a name appears on a birth certificate, a street sign, or a property deed, it carries legal weight - but also historical memory and social meaning. Understanding that duality requires precisely the kind of integrated scholarship this centre promises: rigorous etymology paired with policy relevance, archival depth paired with contemporary urgency.
For scholars across Scandinavia and beyond, this represents a significant moment. Norway - long a leader in place-name preservation through its stadnamnkomitear (place-name committees) - is now institutionalizing the research backbone those committees need to thrive in a changing society.
The road ahead is rich with possibility. As Norwegian society grows more linguistically diverse, the ethical and practical challenges of naming will only intensify. Having a dedicated centre to provide evidence-based guidance—grounded in both historical depth and contemporary sensitivity - is no luxury. It's a necessity.
Names are how we locate ourselves in space and time. Thanks to Fagspråksenteret, Norway is ensuring that this most fundamental human practice receives the scholarly attention - and public support - it deserves.
Learn more about Fagspråksenteret's work on name research here

Nynorsk

Namn har tyding: Nytt senter i Bergen gjer namnegransking til samfunnsangel
Språk handlar ikkje berre om grammatikk og ordføre - det handlar om identitet, stad og tilhøyrsle. Og få språklege element bærer denne tyngda meir intimt enn namn. No, takka vere eit stort nytt initiativ ved Universitetet i Bergen, står namnegranskinga i Noreg overfor ei omvelting.
Det nyoppretta Fagspråksenteret, finansiert av Forskningsrådet i åtte år, har plassert namnegransking i kjerne av sitt arbeid. Dette er ikkje berre akademisk nysgjerrigheit. Som senteret uttrykkjeleg seier, er eit av dei sentrale måla å byggje kunnskap og kompetanse som direkte kan støtte offentleg forvalting av namn - frå kommunale vedtak om vegnamn til nasjonale retningsliner for personnamn i eit stadig meir fleirkulturelt samfunn.
Korfor har dette tyding? Fordi namn er der språket møter lova, kulturen møter byråkratiet, og historia møter noverstida.
Sjå berre på spørsmåla som namneforskarane - leia av stadnamnforskar Peder Gammeltoft, med Ivar Berg som nestleiar og forskarane Stian Hårstad og Ivar Utne - planlegg å utforske:
  • Korleis verkeleg samspel mellom forsking, lovverk og forvalting når ein kommune skal avgjere om eit historisk gardsnamn skal gjeninnførast eller om eit nytt innvandrarfamilienamn skal godkjennast?
  • Korleis har stadsnamn utvikla seg i norske byar dei siste tiåra - ein periode med rask tettstadutbygging, byfornyelse og demografisk endring?
  • Korleis kan namn fungere som språklege fossil, og avdekkje dialektgrenser eller lydendringar som elles er usynlege i skriftlege kjelder?
  • Korleis utviklar personnamnbruken seg i Noreg på 2000-talet, der Muhammad og Sofie no deler barnehagegrupper?
Dette er ikkje abstrakte gåter. Dei påverkar reelle menneske: den samiske familien som kjemper for at tradisjonelle stadsnamn skal tilbake på offisielle kart; dei somalisk-norske foreldra som navigerer namnelova; den lokale historikaren som bruker gardsnamnfordeling til å rekonstruere mellomalderbusetjing.
Det som gjer Fagspråksenteret sitt arbeid banebrytande, er at det nektar å handsama namnegransking som ein nisjefagleg spesialitet. I staden plasserer det namneforsking som eit naudsynt grunnlag for eit fungerande, kulturmedvitt samfunn. Når eit namn dukkar opp på eit fødselsbevis, eit skilt eller eit eigedokument, bærer det juridisk tyngd - men òg historisk minne og sosial tyding. Å forstå denne tvetydinga krev akkurat den typen integrert forsking senteret lovar: rigorøs etymologi kopla til politisk relevans, arkivdybde kopla til samtidsaktuelt behov.
For forskarar i heile Norden og vidare, representerer dette eit viktig augneblink. Noreg - lenge eit førebelsland i vern av stadsnamn gjennom dei kommunale stadnamnkomiteane - institutionaliserer no den forskingsryggen desse komiteane treng for å trivast i eit endrande samfunn.
Framtida er rik på mulegheiter. Etter som det norske samfunnet vert meir språkleg mangfaldig, vil dei etiske og praktiske utfordringane knytt til namngjeving berre auka. Å ha eit dedikert senter som kan gje evidensbasert rådgiving - forankra både i historisk djupne og samtidsfølsomheit - er ikkje luksus. Det er naudsynt.
Namn er korleis vi lokaliserer oss i rom og tid. Takka vere Fagspråksenteret sikrar Noreg at denne mest grunnleggjande menneskelege praksisen får den faglege omsorga - og det offentlege støtta - ho fortener.
Les meir om Fagspråksenteret sitt arbeid med namnegransking her
Posted by Dr. on No comments:

Saturday, February 7, 2026

CfP "The Social Life of Names and Naming Practices in the Context of Migration"

AI-generated, non-official, for illustrative purpose only


Appel à contributions : La vie sociale des noms et les pratiques de
nomination dans les contextes migratoires

Llamamiento para contribuciones: La vida social de los nombres y las prácticas de nominación en contextos migratorios
Anne-Sophie Bentz, Mark Turin et Marie-Antoinette Hily


Names are not mere labels but powerful tools through which people assert identity, are categorised, and negotiate relationships with states, institutions and communities. Whether they refer to people, places or businesses, names do things: they index belonging and difference, tell stories, record histories of mobility and settlement, and mediate social interaction. This topical collection uses names and naming practices to trace the reconfigurations that accompany migration. It is organised around four cross-cutting themes: names as technologies of mobility; toponyms as archives of memory and territorial claims; encounters between naming systems; and the ethics and politics of translation. Across these themes, contributors examine three transversal tensions—visibility vs safety, plurality vs singularity, and repair vs repetition—to show how naming in migration contexts illuminates mobility and immobility, memory and territory, recognition and misrecognition, and limits of symbolic repair.

Calendar

Start of the call: February 1st, 2026
Deadline to send abstracts and closure of the call: March 1st, 2026
Selection and decision: March 10, 2026
Deadline to send articles: June 1st, 2026
Peer-review
Deadline to send articles in their latest version: November 1st, 2026
Publication: March 2027

Submission Modalities

Abstract proposals may be written in French, English or Spanish, and should include the author’s affiliation, a proposed title and an abstract (1,000 words or 7,000 characters including spaces). They should clearly present the method, the data and the empirical and theoretical contribution of the article to the theme of the topical collection. They may come from any social science discipline or law and should be sent to anne-sophie.bentz[at]u-paris.fr, mark.turin[at]ubc.ca and marie-antoinette.hily[at]orange.fr before March 1st, 2026.

Accepted papers can be written in French, English or Spanish.

For further details (standards, number of characters, presentation, etc.): https://journals.openedition.org/remi/5849

Selection Committee/Coordination

Anne-Sophie Bentz, Historian, Associate Professor, Université Paris Cité, Inalco, IRD, CESSMA, Paris, France.

Mark Turin, Anthropologist, Associate Professor, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

Marie-Antoinette Hily, Sociologist, Honorary Research Fellow, CNRS, Université de Poitiers, Migrinter, Poitiers, France.

Date

Deadline for the submission of abstracts 01/03/2026.

Contact

remi[at]univ-poitiers.fr

Argumentation

Names are neither natural nor neutral. Whether they refer to people, places or businesses, they are not labels: they are “a repository of accumulated meanings, practices, and beliefs, a powerful linguistic means of asserting identity (or defining someone else) and inhabiting a social world” (Rymes, 1999: 165). Through their referential function and multiple connotations, they index belonging and difference, tell stories, record histories of mobility and settlement, and mediate social interaction (Bramwell, 2016). Their agency may differ across domains, yet the fact that names “do” things remains unquestioned.

This topical collection examines names and naming in the context of migration, an underrepresented focus in sociolinguistic and anthropological work (Waldispühl, 2024). Migration is closely associated with multilingual repertoires and encounters between different social and legal systems. Naming offers an entry point for understanding the linguistic and social reconfigurations of migratory experience. The topical collection enriches migration research by bringing together humanities and social science perspectives on present and historical contexts grounded in empirical case studies. We do so through four themes:

Names as Technologies of Mobility

Names are not passive descriptors but instruments of movement, geographical and social. Even before a journey begins, prospective migrants may negotiate their names: whether to retain, adapt or abandon a birth name in anticipation of future encounters. Names are read as signals of ethnic origin, religion or class, with consequences for perceived “integration”, employability and exposure to discrimination (Gerhards, 2009; Tuppat and Gerhards, 2021; Dechief, 2011; Pennesi, 2016). Where states insist on legibility and standardisation, names become objects of bureaucratic simplification and control (Scott, 1998; Dechief, 2011; Waldispühl, 2024). In response, migrants sometimes seek partial anonymity or flexibility by using different names in different settings.

Adopting, discarding or recombining names can evade surveillance and administrative scrutiny, but also stage multiple selves when a single fixed legal name fails to represent lived personhood and experience (Dechief, 2009 and 2011). These choices are never cosmetic. In many societies, choosing a name implies aligning with a particular clan, caste or religion, while foregoing a surname, or even a nickname, carries its own implications. Migrants may alter their names to cross borders—material or symbolic—or to pursue social mobility and respectability in workplaces and universities. Naming thus emerges as an agentive strategy through which migrants challenge immobility, negotiate constraints and craft new life trajectories.

Contributions under this theme examine the use of names and alternative linguistic expressions at each stage of the migration journey, with particular attention to processes of name-giving, re-naming and de-naming, and to the connotations and associative meanings that names acquire, shed or reconfigure in migration contexts.

Toponyms as Archives of Memory and Claims to Territory

Toponyms speak of history and function as archives of collective memory, which may be accepted, rejected or reappropriated—sometimes simultaneously—by different communities. Critical toponymic scholarship has shown how place naming is implicated in struggles over identity, memory and authority, from colonial landscapes to postcolonial renaming campaigns (Beck, 2022; Berg and Vuolteenaho, 2009; Rose-Redwood et al., 2010; Alderman, 2016; Williamson, 2023). When multiple names coexist for the same place, the choice of name becomes a symbolic, and sometimes political, act, reflecting contested visions of “who belongs” or, alternatively, “to whom the land belongs”.

Toponymic systems often interact and overlap in migration contexts. For migrants, naming a place can help build a sense of home in exile. It may concern a street, a building, a business or a religious site. Such toponyms act as linguistic markers, sometimes of ownership, always of belonging. By choosing names for places, migrants map mental and social geographies that recall home while also codifying attachment and presence in the new setting (Rasodi et al., 2025; Doll, 2024). We examine how naming practices function as place-making and how territorial claims are made by migrants through the choice of names. Ethnic and migrant entrepreneurship often leverages names to generate recognisability, assert heritage and render the city more habitable for newcomers (Verver et al., 2020; Hunt, 2011; Sinkovics et al., 2021).

Contributions to this theme may analyse how migrant place naming intersects with municipal naming policies, grassroots urban interventions and broader struggles over the symbolics of public space.

Reconfiguring the Self through Naming Systems

Naming is at once linguistic and deeply personal. Names sit at the intersection of intimate practice, social convention and the administrative state. Legal frameworks regulate what counts as a legitimate name, which scripts may be used and how names must be ordered or recorded, while people challenge and circumvent these constraints in everyday life (De Stefani, 2016; Dechief, 2011; Waldispühl, 2024).

Migration foregrounds tensions between naming systems. Name assessment requires nuanced cross-linguistic and cross-cultural understanding, yet registration procedures, digital forms and databases often presume a narrow, standardised model of personal naming, typically derived from Western European or North American norms (W3C 2020 “Personal names around the world”). This mismatch affects how migrants experience their names and, by extension, their sense of self.

The reformatting of names can be accompanied by shifts in identity, and may have consequences for kinship recognition, inheritance, traceability and citizenship status. The topical collection reflects on encounters between different naming systems and their possible coexistence. Contributions to this section explore how naming practices place and displace selves in migration at individual and community levels, and how people navigate, resist or repurpose institutional constraints.

The Ethics of Saying and Speaking

Getting a name right is a basic ethical gesture. Throughout the migration journey, migrants encounter their names as foreign names. Their pronunciation, spelling and script are questioned, approximated and sometimes radically altered. Migrants may adapt their names to facilitate pronunciation by officials, employers, teachers or neighbours. Written forms are equally fraught. Names are transliterated, transcribed or translated into new alphabets; diacritics are lost or substituted; states and institutions impose particular romanisation schemes or translation rules, as in the regulation of personal names in passports and identity documents (Dechief, 2009; Schlote, 2018). At times, these changes are embraced as pragmatic or even empowering; at others, they are experienced as painful compromises or as microaggressions that accumulate over time (Pennesi, 2016; Dechief, 2011; Zhang and Noels, 2021; Sok and Bonnett, 2022).

The ethics of naming thus encompasses decisions about translation, script support and standardisation, as well as the question of who has the authority to fix and pronounce the “official” version of a name. In all these processes, oral and written forms shift, revealing how translation into another linguistic and bureaucratic context produces approximation and, at times, erasure.

This theme invites contributions on changes to names. We ask how such approximations are tolerated, negotiated or resisted; how they affect everyday interactions and institutional encounters; and when they lead to subtle exclusion or overt discrimination in education, workplaces, housing, health care, legal proceedings and other domains of social life (Pennesi, 2016 and 2017; Zhang and Noels, 2021; Sok and Bonnett, 2022).

Overall, these four cross-cutting themes bring forth three transversal tensions, which will be addressed with equal consideration:

1/ Visibility vs. safety. Pseudonyms and nicknames can buy safety; and official visibility can bring recognition, access to rights and statistical presence but in the process overwrite existing names. How do communities manage these trade-offs, and under what conditions do individuals choose to appear, disappear or selectively disclose different names?

2/ Plurality vs. singularity. A plot of land can host many names; a person can carry several names that circulate in different languages and registers. Yet states and digital platforms typically prefer one-to-one mappings: one legal name per person, one “official” toponym per place. How can we acknowledge and encode plurality without producing administrative harm, technical exclusion or confusion, and without suppressing the everyday multiplicity of names in use?

3/ Repair vs. repetition. Renaming can repair historical injustice, but it can also reproduce hierarchies. This tension has been widely discussed in critical toponymy and decolonial renaming debates (Berg and Vuolteenaho, 2009; Rose-Redwood et al., 2010; Wu and Young, 2023). How do we distinguish symbolic change from structural change? Under what circumstances do naming reforms redistribute power, and when do they simply rebrand existing inequalities?

Taken together, the contributions to this special issue highlight how names and naming in migration contexts illuminate broader questions of mobility and immobility, memory and territory, identification and misrecognition, and symbolic repair and its limits. The topical collection seeks to reset the narrative and shed light on this important, yet still underexplored area of study.

Bibliographie

Alderman Derek (2016) Place, Naming and the Interpretation of Cultural Landscapes, in Peter Howard and Brian Graham Eds., The Routledge Research Companion to Heritage and Identity, New York, Routledge, pp. 195-213.

Alderman Derek and Inwood Joshua F. J. (2013) Street Naming and the Politics of Belonging: Spatial Injustices in the Toponymic Commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr., Social & Cultural Geography, 14 (2), pp. 211-233.

Beck Lauren (2022) Canada’s Place Names and How to Change Them, Montreal, Concordia University Press.

Berg Lawrence D. and Vuolteenaho Jani (Eds.) (2009) Critical Toponymies: The Contested Politics of Place Naming, London/New York, Routledge.

Bramwell Ellen S. (2016) Personal Names and Anthropology, in Carole Hough Ed., The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming, Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp. 263-278.

Bruck Gabriele (vom) and Bodenhorn Barbara (Eds.) (2006) The Anthropology of Names and Naming, Cambridge/New York, Cambridge University Press.

De Stefani Elwys (2016) Names and Discourse, in Carole Hough Ed., The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming, Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp. 52-66.

Dechief Diane (2011) Naming Matters: Personal Names & Institutional Identification Practices during Settlement in Canada, Proceedings of the Annual Conference of CAIS/Actes du congrès annuel de l’ACSI.

Dechief Diane (2009) Forms and norms: Theorizing immigration-influenced name changes in Canada, Toronto, York University.

Doll Christian J. (2024) HOW THÖŊ PINY BECAME JUBA NA BARI: Naming and Place-Making in Urban South Sudan, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 48 (2), pp. 244-262.

Gerhards Jürgen and Hans Silke (2009) From Hasan to Herbert: Name-Giving Patterns of Immigrant Parents between Acculturation and Ethnic Maintenance, American Journal of Sociology, 114 (4), pp. 1102-1128.

Hunt Jennifer (2011) Which Immigrants Are Most Innovative and Entrepreneurial? Distinctions by Entry Visa, Journal of Labor Economics, 29 (3), pp. 417-457.
DOI : 10.2139/ssrn.1552679

Ishida Richard (2020) Personal Names Around the World, W3C Internationalization Working Group report, [online]. URL: https://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-personal-names

Khosravi Shahram (2012) White Masks/Muslim Names: Immigrants and Name-Changing in Sweden, Race & Class, 53 (3), pp. 65-80.

Pennesi Karen (2019) Differential Responses to Constraints on Naming Agency among Indigenous Peoples and Immigrants in Canada, Language & Communication, 64, pp. 91-103.
DOI : 10.1016/j.langcom.2018.11.002

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

Pennesi Karen (2016) “They Can Learn to Say My Name”: Redistributing Responsibility for Integrating Immigrants to Canada, Anthropologica, 58 (1), pp. 46-59.

Pilcher Jane and Deakin-Smith Hannah (2025) “That’s Not My Name”: Identity Work by University Students with Minoritised Names, Equity in Education & Society, 4 (1), [online]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/27526461251329380
DOI : 10.1177/27526461251329380

Pina-Cabral João (de) (2010) The Truth of Personal Names, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 16 (2), pp. 297-312.

Rasodi Relebogile, Naidoo Sherwyn, Canham Hugo Ka and Seedat Mohamed (2025) Place Naming as Black Place-making in Johannesburg’s Informal Settlements, Urban Forum, 36 (4), pp. 1-18, [online]. DOI: 10.1007/s12132-025-09543-8

Rose-Redwood Reuben (2021) The Social and Political Life of Names and Naming: Concluding Commentary, Nordic Journal of Socio-Onomastics, 1, pp. 187-198.

Rose-Redwood Reuben, Alderman Derek and Azaryahu Maoz (2010) Geographies of Toponymic Inscription: New Directions in Critical Place-Name Studies, Progress in Human Geography, 34 (4), pp. 453-470.

Rymes Betsy (1999) Names, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 9 (1-2), pp. 163-166.

Schlote Nadja (2018) “Too Hard to Pronounce”: Examining Immigration Ideologies in the Treatment of Newcomer Youths’ Names, Master’s thesis, The University of Western Ontario.

Scott James. C. (1998) Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed, New Haven, Yale university Press.
DOI : 10.12987/9780300252989

Sinkovics Noemi and Reuber A. Rebecca (2021) Beyond Disciplinary Silos: A Systematic Analysis of the Migrant Entrepreneurship Literature, Journal of World Business, 56 (4), [online]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2021.101223
DOI : 10.1016/j.jwb.2021.101223

Sok Bonika and Bonnett Tina (2022) Enduring Effects: Name Mispronunciation and/or Change in Early School Experiences, Journal of Teaching and Learning, 16 (3), pp. 1-20.

Tuppat Julia and Gerhards Jürgen (2021) Immigrants’ First Names and Perceived Discrimination: A Contribution to Understanding the Integration Paradox, European Sociological Review, 37 (1), pp. 121-135.

Verver Michiel, Roessingh Carel and Passenier David (2020) Ethnic Boundary Dynamics in Immigrant Entrepreneurship: A Barthian Perspective, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 32 (9-10), pp. 757-782, [online]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2020.1757160
DOI : 10.1080/08985626.2020.1757160

Waldispühl Michelle (2024) Personal Names and Migration: An Overview, Nordic Journal of Socio-Onomastics, 4 (3), pp. 15-58.
DOI : 10.59589/noso.42024.17635

Williamson Beth (2023) Historical Geographies of Place Naming: Colonial Practices and Beyond, Geography Compass, 17 (5), [online]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12687
DOI : 10.1111/gec3.12687

Wu Chenhui and Craig Young (2023) Critical Toponymies beyond the Power-Resistance Nexus: Multiple Toponymies and Everyday Life in the (Re-)Naming of South China Sea Islands, Social & Cultural Geography, 24 (10), [online]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2022.2104357
DOI : 10.1080/14649365.2022.2104357

Zhang Li and Noels Kimberly A. (2021) The Frequency and Importance of Accurate Heritage Name Pronunciation for Chinese International Students in Canada, Journal of International Students, 11 (3), pp. 608-627, [online]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v11i3.2064

Zhang Ying Shan Doris and Noels Kimberly A. (2022) Call Me “Katy” Instead of “Yueyun”: English Names among Chinese International Students in Canada, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 45 (8), pp. 3379-3393.

Posted by Dr. on No comments:
Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)