Programme of the 2nd online meeting "New Research on Personal Names in Different Countries"

The International Network for Personal Names Research will hold its 2nd Online Meeting on 12 June 2026, from 1:00 to 5:00 pm (UTC+2). The event, entitled “New Research on Personal Names in Different Countries,” will take place online via Zoom and will bring together scholars working on personal names, identity, translation, concealment, diaspora, climate awareness, trans naming practices, religious naming, and contemporary name dictionaries.

The meeting will be opened at 1:00 pm by Emilia Aldrin from Sweden and Anna-Maria Balbach from Germany. The programme is organised into three thematic sessions, each highlighting current approaches in anthroponomastics and socio-onomastics.

Session 1: Names and Identity in Social Change

The first session begins at 1:15 pm with a lecture by Birgit Eggert from Denmark: “Can the choice of first names reflect a growing awareness of climate issues?” This contribution promises to explore whether contemporary naming practices can reveal changing ecological values and a growing sensitivity to climate-related questions.

At 1:45 pm, Idowu Odebode from Nigeria will present the research pitch “The white that sticks with me till death: identity (re)naming among Yoruba Christians.” This paper will focus on naming and renaming practices in a Christian Yoruba context, addressing the relation between religious identity, cultural belonging and personal names.

At 1:55 pm, Cássio Morosini from Brazil will give the research pitch “(Re)creating identity: name change in the Brazilian trans community.” This presentation will examine name change as an act of self-definition and identity reconstruction, especially in relation to the lived experiences of trans people in Brazil.

The session will be followed by a networking period in breakout rooms at 2:05 pm, giving participants the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas informally.

Session 2: Names in Communication, Translation and Concealment

After a short break, the second session begins at 2:35 pm with a lecture by Irina Gvelesiani from Georgia: “Problematics of translation of proper names – history and contemporaneousness.” The lecture will address one of the central issues in applied onomastics: how proper names move between languages, scripts, periods and cultural systems, and what is gained or lost when names are translated, transferred or adapted.

At 3:05 pm, Linnea Gustafsson from Sweden will present the research pitch “Anonymization and pseudonymization.” This topic is especially relevant for current research ethics, corpus work, archival practice and digital humanities, where researchers must balance the protection of individuals with the scholarly need to preserve meaningful name data.

At 3:15 pm, Thomas Ditye from Austria will give a lecture entitled “Alexinomia: The inability to call others by their name.” This presentation introduces a particularly intriguing phenomenon: the avoidance or inability to use another person’s name directly. The topic connects personal names with psychology, communication, social relations and pragmatic discomfort.

A second 15-minute break follows at 3:45 pm.

Session 3: New Approaches in Anthroponomastics

The final session begins at 4:00 pm with a lecture by Fatemeh Akbari from Austria, Cameron Azimi from the USA, and Eugen Schochenmaier from Germany: “Iranian surnames in the United States: methodological challenges in diaspora onomastics.” The presentation will discuss the study of Iranian surnames in the American context and the methodological problems involved in identifying, classifying and interpreting surname data in a diaspora setting.

At 4:30 pm, Katharina Leibring from Sweden will present the research pitch “The new dictionary of contemporary first names in Sweden.” This contribution will introduce a lexicographic project devoted to present-day Swedish first names and will be of interest to researchers working on name dictionaries, name popularity, semantic interpretation and contemporary naming trends.

A final networking session will take place at 4:40 pm, followed by a farewell at 4:55 pm with Emilia Aldrin and Anna-Maria Balbach. The meeting will close at 5:00 pm.

Overall, the programme shows the impressive thematic range of current personal-name research. The talks move from climate-conscious naming and religious renaming to trans name change, translation, anonymization, name avoidance, diaspora surnames and lexicographic work on contemporary first names. The event will therefore offer a compact but rich overview of how personal names reflect social change, cultural memory, identity negotiation and new methodological challenges in international onomastics.