49th Annual

Ehrensperger Report

2003

 

 

PREFACE

The Ehrensperger Report is a publication of the American Name Society (ANS).  This document marks the 49th year of its publication.  As usual, it is a partial view of the research and other activity going on in the world of onomastics, or name study.  It is named in honor of Edward C. Ehrensperger, one of the founders of ANS, who for over twenty-five years, from 1955 to 1982, compiled and published this annual review of scholarship.

In a report of this kind, the editor must make use of what comes in, often resulting in unevenness.  Some of the entries are very short; some extensive, especially from those who are reporting not just for themselves but also for the activity of a group of people.  In all cases, I have assumed the prerogative of an editor and have abridged, clarified, and changed the voice of many of the submissions.

I have encouraged the submission of reports by email or electronically, since it is much more efficient to edit text already typed than to type the text myself.  For those not using email, I strongly encourage sending me written copy. There is some danger, however, in depending on electronic copy: sometimes diacritical marks or other formatting matters may not have come through correctly. 

Again this year, you will notice an important change in the format of the report.  Because this report is to be posted on the World-Wide Web, rather than include addresses and telephone numbers as part of the entry, I have gathered those that were submitted in a separate list.  The list, such as it is, is available to current members of the American Name Society through a request to me at mmcgoff@binghamton.edu.

In keeping with the spirit of onomastics and the original Ehrensperger Report, I have attempted where possible to report on research and publication under a person’s name.  I have also attempted to locate topics of interest and then cross-list them with one or more names.  This approach results in an incomplete index, but it should permit locating many of the important areas of research over the last year.  In the main entries, I have listed the last names of contributors entirely in capitals.  When you see a name or topic in capital letters and underlined in the body of an entry you should expect to find a main entry in its proper alphabetical order.

For the web version that can be found at http://www.wtsn.binghamton.edu/ANS/, I have made liberal use of hypertext.  Many of the entries in underlined capital letters are also hyperlinks.  At the website simply clicking on them with will bring you to a reference in the text.  Most people’s names are hyperlinks as well.  In the main entry for a person if the name as heading is highlighted and underlined, putting your cursor on it will produce that person’s email address.  Clicking on it will produce an email addressed to them.  In the cross references, clicking on a person’s name will bring you to his or her main entry.  In some cases, clicking on a hyperlink will launch your browser and bring you to the website of that organization, much as what happened if you clicked above on the American Name Society hyperlink.  I hope that by again using hypertext in this year’s web version of the Ehrensperger Report, I have made it easier and more efficient to use.  If you have any comments or suggestions I would very much like to hear them.

 

Other Resources

 

Ren Vasiliev is the editor of the official journal of the American Name Society, Names: A Journal of Onomastics.  Look in the December issue for the latest style sheet.

Michael McGoff maintains the ANS Electronic Discussion Group.  If you wish to take part in the interesting discussions that often start up on this listserve, send an email message to the following address:

mailto:listserv@listserv.binghamton.edu

No “subject” is necessary, and the message must contain only one line:

sub ans-l yourfirstname yourlastname

The system will add your name and email address to the list and you will receive all notices that are posted.  You will also be able to send notices (You must join the list to do this).

Dr. McGoff also maintains the home pages for the American Name Society (ANS); the Toponymy Interest Group and Who Was Who in North American Name Study of ANS.

 

The Ehrensperger Report

Michael F. McGoff, Vice Provost

Binghamton University

State University of New York

Binghamton, New York 13902-6000

mmcgoff@binghamton.edu

 

© American Name Society, 2004

 

49th Annual

 Ehrensperger Report

December 2003

 

 

 

 

 

Frank ABATE continues his work on a Dictionary of Placenames for the United States.  He plans that “the dictionary section will include some 2,500 entries of greatest significance, and several chapters treating important themes and patterns in the history of placenaming in the United States.”  Mr. Abate “drove cross-country in 2003 to document and better understand the significance of the westward movement, and to study first-hand the historical, cultural, and geographical aspects that help explain the reasons behind the names.”  During his trip he visited American Name Society members Thomas GASQUE in Vermillion, South Dakota [ed. note – Professor Gasque has since moved to South Carolina], and Grant SMITH in Spokane, Washington, both of whom, he adds, “were very gracious hosts.”   Frank presented a paper on his placenames research at the Dictionary Society of North America (DSNA) conference at Duke University in May.

We are happy to report that Mr. Abate says that he is “back at work and feeling much better after some health setbacks in late summer and fall,” and that he hopes that 2004 will be a very productive year for him.

 

Wolfgang AHRENS. See KERFOOT

 

John ALGEO says that he has little to report in onomastics for this period but sends his “warmest regards” to his ANS colleagues.

 

American Dialect Society (ADS). See Popik

 

American Folklore Society.  See NICOLAISEN.

 

American Name Society. (ANS) See MCGOFF

 

American Society Of Geolinguistics. See Ashley, FINKE, Levitt

 

ANS Website.  See McGoff

 

Antarctic Names. See Yost

 

Leonard R. N. ASHLEY, is Professor Emeritus, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.  He has recently published five books on onomastics: Names in Literature, Names of Places, Names in Popular Culture, Art Attack: Essays on Names in Literature, and Cornish Names.  All are available from Author House http://www.authorhouse.com/home.asp (phone 800-839-8640). He also produced for Barricade Books, in 2002 and 2003, the latest in his series of books on the occult: The Complete Book of Dreams and What They Mean, (the 9th book, 2002) and The Complete Book of Sex Magic (the 10th book, 2003).  In 2003 a German translation, Geschichte der Magie, appeared in hardcover from Komet (Bergish Gladbach).  He continues to publish articles on various literary topics in scholarly journals. Two of many are “Unhappy all the Time”: Religion in Anthony Burgess’ Earthly Powers,” Christianity and Literature 52: 1 (Autumn 2002), 35 45, and “The Observed of All Observers: Hamlet on the Stage,” Hamlet Studies 24 (2002), 39 55.  Also in 2002 Dr. Ashley published “The Ethics of Academic Book Reviewing,” Journal of Information Ethics 11: 1 (Spring 2002), 37 51 and he addressed the American Society of Geolinguistics (ASG) and other organizations.  He continues to produce the chroniques, as he has for decades in Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance (Geneva), over 100 pages of reviews on Renaissance art, history, and literature annually.  He wrote 42 book reviews in Geolinguistics 29 (2003), a journal he co-edits with Wayne H. FINKE and he published papers on geolinguistics, as well, in that journal during the period.  Professor Ashley read papers at the conference of the American Society of Geolinguistics, which appear in the proceedings he edited with Professor Finke, Language and Identity (2002) and Language in the Era of Globalization (2003).  The first international conference brought together 60 speakers from more than two dozen foreign countries as well as the U.S.  The second conference had 50 participants from 24 countries.  The keynote speaker for 2002 was Leigh Oakes (University of London), and Hans Hansen from the University of Copenhagen was keynote speaker for 2003.  Professors Ashley and Finke are already inviting proposals for papers to be delivered at the ASG conference: Language and Politics to be held in Fall 2004 at Baruch CUNY.  ANS members are urged to submit proposals on the subject names and politics to Dr. FINKE.

In 2002 Professor Ashley’s collected geolinguistic essays were published in the U.K., U.S., and India by Wisdom House http://www.wisdomhouse.co.uk/ as Language in Modern Society.  A second volume, Language in Action, is in press for 2004 publication by Wisdom House.  His article on literary onomastics will appear in the special issue of Onoma being edited by Professor Thomas GASQUE. Dr. Ashley’s “Time for New Directions in Literary Onomastics” appeared in Onomata 16 (1999/2002).  Still to come, he says are books on names in Turkey and Mexico, the folklore of Scandinavia (with Ola J. Holten).

 

Australian Placenames.  See Flavia HODGES

 

Herbert BARRY III is Professor Emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh.  At the annual meeting of the American Name Society in December 2002 in New York City, he presented a paper “Increase from 1990 to 2000 in Diversity of First Names Given in Pennsylvania.”  His “measure of the 50% name rank is the number of most frequent names given to half of the population.”  This measure originated from his experience with a pharmaceutical measure, ED50, the dose of a drug that is effective for 50% of the population, during his tenure as a Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy,

Professor Barry and Aylene S. HARPER analyzed changes from 1990 to 2000 in the 100 most frequent male and female names of United States residents, from census data.  The information was summarized in an article “Persistent Popularity of Male Last Letter in Female First Names.” It appears in A Garland of Names: Selected papers of the Fortieth Names Institute (2003), edited by Wayne H. FINKE and Leonard R. N. ASHLEY, published by Cummings & Hathaway, NY.  An article by Barry and Harper, “Final Letter Compared with Final Phoneme in Male and Female Names,” is in Names: A Journal of Onomastics, vol. 51, pp. 13-33 (2003).  The latter article reoriented and amplified the information and included United States Social Security Administration information on frequency of the final letter y in male and female names in ten decades, from 1900-1909 to 1990-1999. Barry and Harper are presently preparing an article on increasing diversity of first names from 1991 to 2000 among births in Pennsylvania.  Diversity is greater for females than males and especially greater for African Americans than Caucasians.  They are also preparing a paper on differences in consistency of sex differentiation among first names in four languages: Latin, Spanish, French, and English.

 

C. Richard BEAM is “still collecting Pennsylvania German placenames,” which, he says, are “harder to find because the old-timers are gone.”  He and his colleagues at The Center for Pennsylvania German Studies at Millersville University continue to review their field notes and tapes from the past 30 years and still find valuable information.  He adds, “One of the earliest of the placenames to appear was Kaahle Barig near Denver, PA.”  He says that it is so called because of the areas “lack of trees.”

 

Thomas L. BERNARD, Emeritus Professor of Education and Psychology at Springfield College in Massachusetts, published the following during the period:

·       “Onomastica Geographica, Or, Where in the World is my First Name From?” American Name Society Bulletin #103, November 2002.

 

BGN. See U.S. Board on Geographic Names

 

Biblical Onomastics.  See DEMSKY

 

Bibliography.  See Powell

 

Biomedical names. See MANDEL

 

Brand Names.  See Clankie

 

William BRIGHT, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics & Anthropology at UCLA, continues to write his quarterly "Placename Column" on U.S. Placenames of American Indian origin for the newsletter of the Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas (SSILA).  Recent titles are "Chicorica, NM: 'little cup,' 'spotted bird,' 'rich child'?" (Jan. 2002) and "The Frozen Logger: Michigan, Michillimackinac, Mackinac, Mackinaw" (Apr. 2002).  He gave a talk about his work at the July 2002 meeting of COGNA in Baltimore.  In May 2002, he completed his five-year project, under a contract with the University of Oklahoma, to prepare a large etymological dictionary for U.S. placenames of American Indian origin, under the working title Native American Placenames of the U.S. (NAPUS).  The volume is currently being printed and should be available in the very near future.  Professor Bright’s website is: http://www.ncidc.org/bright.  See also HODGES.

 

Enzo CAFFARELLI continues to serve as Editor of RIOn (Rivista Italiana di Onomastica – Italian Onomastic Review); to redact the Dictionary of Italian Family Names that is to appear at the end of 2005; and to publish many articles and notes in the press in order to promote the knowledge of names to a larger public.

RIOn has dedicated a special issue in 2003 to unpublished, rare and uncollected works by Emidio De Felice, the most eminent Italian scholar of personal and family names in the second half of 20th century.  The work was edited by Dr. Caffarelli with Rita Caprini (University of Genoa). 

Other recent publications:

·       Enzo Caffarelli (with Doreen Gerritzen), “Frequenze onomastiche. I prenomi del 2000: i più diffusi in 40 Paesi del mondo”  (The most frequent names in the world at the end of 2nd Millennium), Rivista Italiana di Onomastica, VIIII, 2002, 2, p. 631-710.

·       “L’alimentazione nell’onomastica. L’onomastica nell’alimentazione” (Foods in the names, names in the foods), in Saperi e sapori mediterranei. La cultura dell’alimentazione e i suoi riflessi linguistici (eds. A. Marra, I. Pinto, D. Silvestri), Napoli, University “L’Orientale” 2002, p. 143-173.

·       Cognomi italiani da toponimi tra distribuzione territoriale e ricerca etimologica. Aspetti morfologici, motivazioni storiche e nuove proposte classificatorie (Italian surnames from toponyms between territorial distribution and etymology. Morphological aspects historic motivations and new classification),  Studi sçi cercetari de Onomastica,  Craiova, 7 (2002), pp. 11-42.

Dr. Caffarelli participated in many congresses and seminars, particularly in Naples (“Onomastics & Literature”) where he presented a paper on the choice of family names in the Eduardo De Filippo theatre; and in Zadar Croatia, (“Name, National Identity, and Nationalism”) with a paper on the names of properties in the game of “Monopoly” throughout the world.  He was invited by the University of Basel (Switzerland) to two conferences on the contribution of onomastic studies and proper names to the Lexicography.

Having concluded his collaboration as Italian correspondent and revisor for the Dictionary of American Family Names, published in the spring by Oxford University Press (DAFN, with more than 5,500 entries derived from Italian surnames). The first volume of another international project (PatRom, or Patronymica Romanica), an historic dictionary of Roman anthroponymics, on which Dr. Caffarelli has collaborated since 1994, is “finally ready.”  He has, additionally, prepared a study on proper names including numbers, for a miscellaneous volume, Linguistics and Numbers, one of the products of a project conducted in 2001-2003 by 4 Italian universities.  Research on nicknames in the Roman world is explored with another study on logonyms (words used to indicate words) fixed in the Italian family names’ repertoire.

He submitted a proposal for an International Centre of Onomastics to be approved, financed and hosted by the 2nd University of Rome “Tor Vergata.”

Dr. Caffarelli has been appointed as a consultant for a group studying the international onomastic bibliography – by the ICOS board (International Council of Onomastic Sciences).  It is to appear as soon as possible on line.  Finally, he was asked to be an onomastic consultant to the International Institute of Genealogical Studies and History of Family, sponsored by the International Academy of Genealogy.

He is presently co-organizing, along with the Academy of Sciences of Croatia and other international linguistic institutions, a new symposium in Zadar (in the Summer of 2004).  It will focus on the linguistic status of proper names and proper names derived from the lexicon.

 

Canadian Society for the Study of Names (CSSN).  On May 29 and 30, 2004, the CSSN will hold its annual meeting in association with the Congress of Social Sciences and Humanities, at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg.  One or more sessions will be devoted to “Confluence: Ideas, Identities, and Place.”  American Name Society members interested in making a presentation at the CSSN meeting should contact Professor Bill Davey, the program chair (wdavey@uccb.ns.ca), before February 16.  Please access the CSSN website for further information about the Society’s past programs (http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/info/cssn_e.php).

 

Jon CAMPBELL of the United States Geological Survey says that he has no research to report for this period.

 

Marvin D. CARMONY extends his greetings and reports that he has “no reportable activity for this period.”

 

C.M. CARNES is applying for admission to doctoral programs, “preferably in the U.K.,” that will “let [him] use material he has already collected on 14th century names in Gloucestershire.”

 

D. Allen CARROLL, of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, stepped down in summer, 2002, after more than a decade as head of its Department of English.  He writes that his “recent work in names and literature is reflected in three ways”: 

·       A presentation on “The Meaning of ‘E. K.’” - one of the great mysteries of Edmund Spenser scholarship, initials that appear to stand for the author of the editorial apparatus to The Shepheardes Calender (1579), which he will present in April at the Renaissance Society of America’s Conference in New York City and as well, he hopes, at the Southeastern Renaissance Conference in Durham, North Carolina. 

·       A paper in Spenser Studies (Vol. 16 [2002]) on how to read the rebuses (pictures intended to stand for names) that occur as doodles in the margin of a newly found poem (dated 1588) in praise of Spenser’s Faerie Queene.  Three rebuses (on toes and mazes and hares named “Wat”) suggest that Thomas Watson wrote the poem and two on sacrifices (hecatombs) refer to Watson’s major work Hekatompathia (1582). 

·       Two notes in Cahiers élisabéthains, in fall 2003, on a possible source of Midsummer Night’s Dream (in Macabbes) that may have suggested, among other features, the names Demetrius and Lysander and on why the name “Demetrius” is referred to in that play as a “vile name,” about which there has been some dispute for some time.

 

Clive CHEESMAN, a relatively new member of the American Name Society, is Rouge Dragon Pursuivant at the College of Arms in London. 

 

Chinese-American Names.  See Louie

 

Chinese Family Names. See LI

 

Shawn CLANKIE, after spending four years in a visiting lectureship at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan, moved in April 2003 to nearby Otaru to take up a tenured position as Associate Professor of English and Applied Linguistics at Otaru University of Commerce.  In 2003, he presented the following papers:

In December 2002, Professor Clankie’s book A Theory of Genericization on Brand Name Change appeared (Edwin Mellen Press).

Also of note during this period, the U.S. 7th Court of Appeals made reference to Dr. Clankie’s work in their decision of the case of Ty Inc. vs. Ruth Perryman (Case 02-1771), a dispute of the generic use of “Beanies.”

          In addition to continuing his work on brand names, Dr. Clankie has begun collecting information for a potential book on naming in Japan.  He also has co-authored a TESL textbook (with T. Kobayashi), The Earth and Our Health that appeared in November 2003 (Seibido).

More about Professor Clankie can be found at his website:

http://www.otaru-uc.ac.jp/~shawn.

 

Grady CLAY continues to produce his “Crossing the American Grain” for broadcast on Public Radio’s Morning Edition.  In a recent offering, he refutes another author’s assertion that “language follows society” and counters that “Language Leads Society.”  He adds “there can be NO community without the vehicle of language to carry its common heritage, to express its history, and its body of customs.”   Mr. Clay recently published a book of his Crossing the American Grain commentaries.

 

COGNA.  See Council of Geographic Names Authorities.

 

Gerald L. COHEN, at the University of Missouri-Rolla, states that his “main work this past year has been the third (and last) volume of his Dictionary of 1913 Baseball And Other Lingo:  Primarily from the Baseball Columns of the San Francisco Bulletin, February to May 1913.  Volume 3: Q-Z (published by the author, 2003).  Cost: $25 (+ $5 shipping).  He adds that “most entries are not onomastic, but a few do appear, e.g., 'Topnotcherville,' 'Tublets' (humorous diminutive of Seals' catcher 'Tub' Spencer), 'Shoeless Joe Jackson' (re: an incident which might have given him his nickname), numerous names for the local baseball team, the Seals.

          In addition Professor Cohen published in Comments on Etymology:  Emanuel Mofor Ayafor Foyere: “Personal Names of Cameroon's Awing Tribe,” Volume 32, no. 8, May 2003, pp.42-45; “Origin of Edna St. Vincent Millay's Middle Name” (Reprint of Denis Gaffney’s 4 Sept. 2001 New York Times letter-to-the-editor), Volume 32, no. 1, Oct. 2002, pp. 15-16; and Barry POPIK: “Antedating ‘I'm from Missouri, you've got to show me’ by one year, to 1897,” Volume 32, no. 7, April 2003, pp. 23 25.

 

Coltharp, Lurline H., Collection of Onomastics

 

Council of Geographic Names Authorities (COGNA). See BRIGHT, MCArthur, Payne, RUNYON.

 

CSSN.  See Canadian Society for the Study of Names.

 

Dictionary of American Family Names.  (DAFN)  See TUCKER; CAFFARELLI

 

Danish Placenames.  See Fellows-Jensen

 

Aaron DEMSKY, who is Director of The Project for the Study of Jewish Names at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, sent an extensive report that includes the program and abstracts for the 6th International Conference on Jewish Names which was held June 11, 2003 at Bar-Ilan University.   Included as well in his report is a full description of the book that he edited: These Are The Names -Studies in Jewish Onomastics Volume 4 (Ramat-Gan, Israel).  This volume of These Are The Names honors our eminent colleague Professor Edwin D. LAWSON on the occasion of his eightieth birthday.

          Those interested in purchasing this series or single volumes should contact press@mail.biu.ac.il or Professor Demsky.

          If you would like to read Professor Demsky’s full report, Click Here.

 

Christine DE VINNE, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Ursuline College in Ohio, served in her first year as president of the American Name Society.  She continues to study the uses of names in literature, especially in areas related to “life writing” with attention to the theory and use of names in autobiography.  Dr. DeVinne presented “Shaker Placenames: Mapping Theology and Communal Biography” at the 2002 ANS conference in New York City and “Naming the Family Business: Personal Names and Corporate Names” at the 2003 conference in San Diego.  She is working on a study of confession in American autobiography.

 

Digital Gazetteer of the United States.  See PAYNE

 

Sheila EMBLETON, Vice President, Academic at York University in Toronto, writes that she did not publish anything specifically in onomastics during the period.  Much of her time was taken up as the chief academic officer at the university during a “double cohort year (two high school classes arriving at once!).” 

Her non-onomastic items for the period are:

Dean Embleton also received a grant (with Dorin Uritescu) from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC) for the period 2003-2006.  It is a Research Grant for $90,382 which will support her work on The Romanian Online Dialect Atlas.  She also acted as a referee -- for a variety of journals, for various granting agencies, and for tenure and promotion cases at various universities.

 

Cleveland Ken EVANS.  See LIEBERSON.

 

Family Names.  See Personal Names

 

Gillian FELLOWS-JENSEN, published:

          Dr. Fellows-Jensen also organised (with Peter Springborg) the Eighth International Seminar on Care and Conservation of Manuscripts at the University of Copenhagen. There were over 120 participants.

          Her current projects include: Scandinavian Placenames in the Isle of Man; English Influence on Scandinavian Placenames in the Isle of Man; Scandinavian Street Names in York; and the Norse Sources Dealing with Scandinavian Settlement in America.

 

Wayne H. FINKE, Professor at Baruch College, CUNY, is Secretary of the Faculty and Deputy Chair of the Department of Modern Languages.  He is the Secretary of the American Society of Geolinguistics and each year edits its journal (Vol. 29 - 2003 ran to 378 pages with articles, over 50 book reviews and nearly 200 pages of notes on geolinguistics worldwide.  Professor Finke recently directed the international conference Language in the Era of Globalization, October 2-4, 2003 with 50 participants representing two dozen countries.  Next year's conference will be on the topic Language and Politics and ANS members are “invited to address any of the many ways in which names and placenames are affected by politics.”

Professor Finke continues as director of the Names Institute, which meets the first Saturday in May each year.  In November 2002 he co-edited with Leonard R. N. Ashley the papers of the gala 40th anniversary of the Names Institute as A Garland of Names.  It was published in memory of E. Wallace McMullen, a long time member of the American Name Society and founder of the Names Institute.

The Journal of the American Society of Geolinguistics (2003) was dedicated to the memory of Allen Walker Read, one of the founders of ANS, and contains an appreciation by Jesse Levitt and an article written years ago by Professor Read but hitherto unpublished.  May 1, 2004 will be the 43rd annual Names Institute and ANS members “are cordially invited to visit NYC and to participate in this congenial group.” Proposals for 15-minute papers on any aspect of names should reach Professor Finke by March 1, 2004 at Baruch College at wayne_finke@baruch.cuny.edu.

 

First Names.  See Personal Names

 

Food and Drink Names.  See POPIK

 

Douglas GALBI, a Senior Economist with the Federal Communications Commission, continues to consider how naming trends “provide evidence of more general changes in the information economy and communication.”  His recent work has documented the rise in popularity of the name Mary in sixteenth-century England and related that to the struggle over sense in communication and the development of Shakespeare's theatre.  (See Table 2, p. 99 and Appendix A in “Sense in Communication,” available at http://www.galbithink.org/).  He “encourages more scholars to consider how name frequencies provide insights into communications developments.” 

 

Thomas J. GASQUE retired from the University of South Dakota in May of 2003 and is now living in Columbia, South Carolina.  He hopes to continue doing some work with South Dakota placenames and to begin gradually working on the names of South Carolina.  As guest editor of Onoma 38, the 2003 issue of the annual journal of the International Council of Onomastic Sciences (ICOS), he is preparing articles by twelve onomastic scholars from the U.S. and Canada. Professor Gasque expects the publication to be ready in early 2004.  In September he attended the meeting of COGNA at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, California, and attended the annual meeting of the American Name Society in San Diego in December 2003.

 

Genealogy, Names in.  See Edmund MILLER

 

Generation Names.  See LI

 

Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).  See MCARTHUR, Payne

 

Geographical Names, Standardization of.  See  PAYNE

 

Geolinguistics.  See American Society of Geolinguistics

 

Given Names.  See Personal Names

 

Greek. See PARIANOU

 

Stephen P. HALUTIAK-HALLICK writes that he has “nothing to report” for this period.

 

Eric P. HAMP, of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Chicago, writes: “in the latest number of Érin [he] wrote about Romano-British (=British Celtic) Mona (Welsh Môn, in Caernarfon ‘caer yn Ar Fon,’ fortress in/over opposite Môn’) the name for Anglesey (the island of Angles).  It is “named from just its point.”

          During this period Dr. Hamp also published “Gaulish ci, -c, Old Irish cé, Ogam koi” in Celtica 24 2003.

 

Patrick HANKS, Editor in Chief of the Dictionary of American Family Names (DAFN) reports that, “after ten years' hard grind,” with contributions from over 30 leading scholars from around the world, the dictionary was finally published.  It contains over 70,000 entries, plus over 100 pages of introductory essays by the project’s main contributors.  Because frequency (as well as historical importance) was a criterion for selection of entries, coverage is good: over 85% of American will find an entry for their surnames in DAFN.  The publisher is Oxford University Press and it is in 3 volumes and 2064 pages.  The price is $295.00 (ISBN: 0195081374).  Mr. Hanks says, “corrections and comments from interested scholars, especially improvements for existing entries and data for possible additional entries, will be gratefully received.”

He adds that, currently, Ken Tucker, Kate Hardcastle, and he are beginning a study of family names in Great Britain, starting with a comparison of the relative frequencies of each name in the 1881 census and the 2001 Electoral Rolls.

See also CAFFARELLI, TUCKER

 

Aylene S. HARPER.  See BARRY

 

Flavia HODGES, Director of the Asia-Pacific Institute for Toponymy, sends the following report:

The Asia-Pacific Institute for Toponymy, based at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, came into being in late 2001, and is supported through 2006 with funds from the Vice-Chancellor's Millennium Innovations initiative.  The Institute currently employs a part-time research fellow, Flavia Hodges, and two part-time research associates, Susan Poetsch and Clair Hill.  Other, honorary, Institute members are senior research fellow David Blair and research associates Dale Lehner, Joyce Miles and William Noble. 

In addition to the Institute’s Education & Training Division (headed by Susan Poetsch) and Technical Toponymy Division (headed by Flavia Hodges), its Cultural Toponymy Division (headed by David Blair) hosts the