Nominations for Name of the Year

Wed Jan 5 13:37:14 UTC 2011

"=F6" means "o-umlaut." Obviously

JL

On Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 8:32 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Nominations for Name of the Year
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> That's "Eyjafjallaj=F6kull."
>
> And "phenomenon."
>
> J:
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 7:48 AM, Cleve Evans <cleveland.evans at bellevue.edu
> >w=
> rote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Cleve Evans <cleveland.evans at BELLEVUE.EDU>
> > Subject:      Nominations for Name of the Year
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> >
> > Dear ADS Listserv,
> >
> > Here are the nominations for Names of the Year that will be voted on by
> t=
> he
> > American Name Society in Pittsburgh:
> >
> > Nominations for Names of the Year 2010
> >
> > Fictional Names:
> >
> > Mother Slaughter (character from Neil Gaiman=92s The Graveyard Book).
>  Th=
> e
> > nominator says: Mother Slaughter was dead and her headstone was so worn
> t=
> hat
> > the name =93SLAUGHTER=94 became =93LAUGH.=94  This name is ironic at a
> nu=
> mber of
> > different levels. Here is a quote from The Graveyard Book :
> > =95          Mother Slaughter was =93a tiny old thing, in the huge
> bonnet=
>  and
> > cape that she had worn in life and been buried wearing=94 (22).
> > =95          =93So Bod picked the red and yellow nasturtiums, and he
> carr=
> ied
> > them over to Mother Slaughter=92s Headstone, so cracked and worn and
> weat=
> hered
> > that all it said now was=85
> > =95          LAUGH=94 (297).
> >
> > Quinn (Fabray) and Finn (Hudson): High school student characters on the
> > popular television series =93Glee=94. They are notable as names because
> o=
> f the
> > =93cute=94 factor of having a dating couple with rhyming first names
> (and=
>  this
> > fits psychological research showing people are more likely to be
> attracte=
> d
> > to those with similar names.) These are also names which have been
> > increasing as baby names. Finn, especially, is much more common for
> infan=
> ts
> > than high-schoolers. Quinn is notable as a formerly male name which has
> > turned mostly female, and it has shown a recent sharp increase in use as
> =
> an
> > example of the =93Hollywood feedback loop=94 effect.
> >
> > Personal Names:
> >
> > Bristol: The nominator says:  =93As a given name, Bristol was unknown
> unt=
> il
> > the daughter of then-vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin was thrust
> i=
> nto
> > the spotlight as an unwed teenage mother in 2008. Despite what many
> > perceived as a negative reason for her fame, the American public was
> > apparently able to overlook it, as the name jumped to a rank of 666 on
> th=
> e
> > girls' Social Security list in 2009 from zero the year before.
> > Bristol Palin's move from the political stage in 2008 to the pop-cultural
> > one in 2009, as she made public appearances and filmed television
> > commercials advocating sexual abstinence, probably contributed to the
> ris=
> e
> > in popularity of her first name. Even though she made front-page news
> > because of a pregnancy, it is hard to imagine her name developing any
> sor=
> t
> > of staying power had she not chosen to work in media and advocacy
> afterwa=
> rd.
> > (I can only imagine that her much greater fame as a contestant on
> "Dancin=
> g
> > With the Stars" will push the name Bristol even higher on the 2010
> chart.=
> )
> > This is an example of a specific regional place name, used by a single
> se=
> t
> > of parents familiar with that place, gaining widespread usage among
> paren=
> ts
> > who in all likelihood have no idea what or where Bristol Bay is.
> > I find the rise in the name Bristol remarkable because it doesn't fit the
> > traits of many popular female baby names today. It does not evoke
> > traditional femininity like Ava, Emma, Emily and Madelyn do. It is not a
> > typical surname like Madison or Taylor. It has no biblical origin as
> Hann=
> ah,
> > Abigail and Sarah do. Most popular girls' names today end in a vowel or
> t=
> he
> > letter "n"; this ends in "l." In other words, it does not fit into the
> > common category of a name aligned with the public's current taste that
> > simply needed a celebrity boost to vaunt it to trendiness. In this way,
> i=
> t
> > stands out. The one connection with a trend I can come up with is that it
> > rhymes with a name popular in the last generation, the one that is naming
> > its own babies now: Crystal.
> >
> > Buster Posey:  The nominator says: =93catcher for the World
> Series-winnin=
> g
> > San Francisco Giants. I just love the way his name combines butch and
> fem=
> me
> > =85 kinda like San Francisco itself.=94
> >
> > The Situation and Snooki:  nicknames of the =93stars=94 of the
> =93reality=
> =94 TV
> > show Jersey Shore. Some commentators believe these unusual names are
> part=
>  of
> > the reason for this show=92s success.
> >
> > Paul the Octopus (2008?-2010): the score-predicting cephalopod. Also
> know=
> n
> > as Pupo Paul.
> >
> > Lady Gaga: Stage name of the popular singer whose given name is Stefani
> > Germanotta. As with The Situation and Snooki, the very oddity and
> > memorability of the stage name has contributed to her success.
> >
> > Place Names:
> >
> > Eyafjallaj=F6kul: the Icelandic volcano whose name no one could
> pronounce=
>  or
> > spell, but which caused havoc throughout Europe in April and May. In the
> =
> USA
> > there was almost as much commentary about the name itself as the
> disrupti=
> on
> > the volcano caused in Europe.
> >
> > Cit=E9 Soleil: the Haitian slum that became a metaphor for Haiti=92s
> lame=
> ntable
> > post-=93seism=94 recovery and, later, for the cholera epidemic.
> >
> > Copiap=F3: the town adjacent to the Chilean mine where 33 men were
> trappe=
> d
> > for more than six weeks.
> >
> > Deepwater Horizon: (2 nominators) Name of the offshore oil drilling rig
> > which exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico during April 2010, causing
> =
> one
> > of the worst oil spill disasters in history.
> >
> > Trade Names:
> >
> > WikiLeaks: (4 nominators): One nominator says: =93Launched in 2006 but
> be=
> came
> > famous/notorious in 2010 for its publication of Iraq war logs and
> diploma=
> tic
> > cablegrams. The name is interesting, because the site is not a true wiki
> > (collaborative, user-editable website). Instead, =93wiki=94 here is
> close=
> r to
> > the original Hawaiian meaning of =93fast.=94
> > Another nominator says:  =93The second-most-famous Web site to begin with
> > "Wiki," the distributor of thousands of purloined documents from
> governme=
> nt
> > and industry, and the group behind a renewed debate on secrecy, freedom
> o=
> f
> > speech, the Internet, and national security=94
> >
> > Tea Party: (3 nominators). One nominator says: =93for being one of the
> > most-talked-about political phenomena in the United States during 2010. =
> =93
> > Another nominator says: =93This is interesting as a name because of its
> > historical associations which have helped to energize the movement, as
> we=
> ll
> > as for the controversy over the term =93teabagging=94.
> >
> > BP:  The nominator says =93Do I really need to explain?=94 See Deepwater
> > Horizon above.
> >
> > Old Spice: The nominator says =93the 75-year-old men=92s-toiletries
> brand=
>  that
> > enjoyed a spectacular revival this year thanks to a series of cleverly
> > crafted TV/online ads. =93
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >
>
>
>
> --=20
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