American Name Society
53rd Annual
Ehrensperger
Report
2007
This document marks the 53rd year since the
introduction of this annual review of scholarship in onomastic studies to the
membership of the American
Name Society by Edward C. Ehrensperger. As usual, it is a partial view of the research
and other activity going on in the world of onomastics. 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. There is
some danger, however, in depending on electronic copy: sometimes diacritical
marks or other formatting matters may not have come through correctly. For those not using email, I strongly
encourage sending me written copy.
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, I have not included
addresses and telephone numbers as part of the entry. Current members of ANS who would like to
correspond with one or more of the respondents should make a request to me at mmcgoff@binghamton.edu or at the
address you will find below.
In keeping with the spirit of the original Ehrensperger
Report, I have reported on research and publications under a person’s name. In the individual entries, I have listed the surnames
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 for it in its proper
alphabetical order.
For the web version that can be found at http://wtsn.binghamton.edu/ANS/, I have made
use of hypertext. Many of the entries in
underlined capital letters are also hyperlinks.
On the website version, simply clicking on them 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 on the American Name Society
hyperlink above. 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
§
Dr. Frank Nuessel is the incoming editor of the
official journal of the American Name Society, Names: a Journal of
Onomastics.
§
Michael McGoff
maintains the ANS Electronic Discussion Group called ANS-L. 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) and Who Was Who in North American Name Study of ANS.
The Ehrensperger Report
Michael F. McGoff, Vice Provost
Office of the Provost
Binghamton University
State University of New York
Binghamton, New York 13902-6000
© American Name Society 2006.
Frank ABATE reports that he will deliver a paper entitled: “Cincinnati
Names and Naming: From Settlement to Today” at the annual meeting of the American
Name Society in Chicago, January 2008. He will cover the placenames in
the Cincinnati region and how they reflect settlement history, “starting with
names reflective of Native American heritage, through early white pioneers
(from 1788), then blacks, and finally the huge influx of immigrants to the city
and the surrounding tri-state area (Northern Kentucky and Southeastern Indiana)
from Germany.” He states that: “the
legacy of all these influences can be seen in the names and in the character of
the region.”
Mr.
Abate served this year as a consultant on a legal case involving a surname and
employment discrimination. His other
work includes general-language and specialized dictionary projects. He
notes that “while largely lexical, dictionary projects almost always involve
some onomastic aspects.”
Ernest L. ABEL, a Professor at the C.S.
Mott Center for Human Growth & Development of Wayne State University,
published:
§
Abel EL, Kruger
ML. “Nicknames Increase Longevity.” OMEGA: The Journal of Death and Dying,
53:243-248, 2006.
§
Abel EL, Kruger,
ML. “Symbolic Significance of Initials on Longevity.” Perceptual and
Motor Skills, 104:179-182, 2007.
§
Abel EL, Kruger
ML. “The Healthy Worker Effect in Professional Football.” Research
in Sports Medicine, 14:240-243, 2006.
§
Abel EL, Kruger
ML. “The Healthy Worker Effect in Major League Baseball Revisited.” Research in Sports Medicine, 14:83-87,
2006.
§
Abel EL, Kruger
ML. “Stereotypic Gender Naming Practices for American and Australian Dogs
and Cats.” Names: A Journal of Onomastics. 55(1):53-64, 2007.
§
Abel EL, Kruger
ML. “Gender-related Naming Practices: Similarities and Differences between
People and their Dogs.” Sex Roles, (in press).
§
Abel EL. “Birds
are not More Human than Dogs: Evidence from Naming.” Names: A Journal
of Onomastics, (Submitted).
Dr. Abel’s other research interests are related to factors
affecting longevity. A bibliography of his
work not related to names:
§
Abel EL, Hendrix,
SO, McNeeley, SG, O’Leary ES, Mossavar-Rahmani Y, Johnson, SR, Kruger, M. “Use
of Electric Blankets and Association with Prevalence of Endometrial cancer, European
Journal on Cancer Prevention, (in
press).
§
Abel, EL,
Hendrix, SO, McNeeley SG, Johnson, KC, Rosenberg CA, Mossavar-Rahmani Y,
Vitolins M, Kruger, M. “Daily Coffee Consumption and Prevalence of Non-melanoma
Skin Cancer in Caucasian Women.” European Journal on Cancer
Prevention, (in press).
§
Abel EL, Kruger
ML. “Heaping in Anniversary Reaction Studies: A Cautionary Note.” OMEGA:
The Journal of Death and Dying, 54(1):59-65, 2007.
§
Abel EL. “Football
Increases the Risk for ‘Lou Gehrig’s Disease,’ Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
(ALS).” Perceptual and Motor Skills, 104:1251-1254, 2007.
§
Abel EL, Kruger
ML. “Mortality Salience in the Major Leagues.” Death Studies, (in press).
§
Abel EL, Kruger,
ML. “Seasonality of Birth in the Majors, 1880-1999.” Social
Biology, 52(1-2):47-55, 2005, (appearing in 2007).
§
Abel EL, Kruger
ML. “Age Heterogamy and Longevity: Evidence from Jewish and Christian
Cemeteries.” Social Biology, (in press).
§
Abel EL, Kruger
ML. “Lefties are Still a Little Shorter.” Perceptual and Motor Skills,
104:405-406, 2007.
§
Abel EL, Kruger
ML. “Precocity Predicts Shorter Life for Major League Baseball Players:
Confirmation of McCann’s precocity-longevity hypothesis.” Death Studies,
(in press).
Another of Professor Abel’s interests is mythology. On this subject, he published a book in 2006,
Encyclopedia of Intoxication in Myth.
McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers, Jefferson, NC, 2006.
Derek H. ALDERMAN responded with thanks to the American Name Society for the society’s co-sponsorship of his International Placename Workshop held at East Carolina University in October 2007. Sponsorship by ANS was made possible through contributions to the Kelsie B. Harder Memorial Fund which is used in support of education and scholarship in the field of onomastics. Pr