Puzey, Guy (Edited by)
Kostanski, Laura (Edited by)
Names and Naming
People, Places, Perceptions and Power

Paperback - 288 pages
ISBN: 9781783094905
Published: 02 Feb 2016
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
Dimensions: 234 x 156 (R8vo)

This book explores international trends in naming and contributes to the growing field of onomastic enquiry. Naming practices are viewed here through a critical lens, demonstrating a high level of political and social engagement in relation to how we name people and places. The contributors to this publication examine why names are not only symbols of a person or place, but also manifestations of cultural, linguistic and social heritage in their own right. Presenting analyses of geographically and culturally diverse perspectives and case studies, the book investigates how names can represent deeper kinds of identity, act as objects of attachment and dependence, and reflect community mores and social customs while functioning as powerful mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion. The book will be of interest to researchers in onomastics, sociology, human geography, linguistics and history.

Guy Puzey is Lecturer in Scandinavian Studies at the University of Edinburgh, UK. His research interests include language policy, linguistic landscapes and geosemiotics, critical sociolinguistics and toponomastics, particularly in the contexts of Scotland and the Nordic countries.; Laura Kostanski is Director at Geonaming Solutions Pty Ltd & Address Exchange Pty Ltd, and is based in Australia. Her research interests include toponymy, human geography, geospatial systems, crowd sourcing, government policy and Indigenous cultural heritage.

Readership Level: Postgraduate Research / Professional

Table of Contents

• Contributors ix
• Acknowledgements xii
• Trends in Onomastics: An Introduction xiii
• Laura Kostanski and Guy Puzey
• Part 1: The Varied Identities of People and Places
• 1 Internet Personal Naming Practices and Trends in Scholarly Approaches 3 Katarzyna Aleksiejuk
• 2 Visitor Experiences of Aboriginal Place Names in Colonial Victoria, Australia, 1834-1900 18 Ian D. Clark
• 3 Introduced Personal Names for Australian Aborigines: Adaptations to an Exotic Anthroponymy 32 Michael Walsh
• 4 Personal Naming and Community Practices in the Western Isles of Scotland: Putting Names in the ‘Gaelic Sense’ 47 Ellen S. Bramwell
• 5 Signs of/on Power, Power on/of Signs: Language-Based Tourism, Linguistic Landscapes and Onomastics on Norfolk Island 62 Peter Mühlhäusler and Joshua Nash
• Part 2: Attitudes and Attachment
• 6 The Controversy of Restoring Indigenous Names: Lessons Learnt and Strategies for Success 83 Laura Kostanski
• 7 Attitudes to Street Names in Helsinki 106 Terhi Ainiala
• 8 Linguistic Landscape and Inhabitants’ Attitudes to Place Names in Multicultural Oslo 120 Maimu Berezkina
• 9 Attitudes to Scots: Insights from the Toponymicon 137 Maggie Scott
• 10 Slang Toponyms in Hungary: A Survey of Attitudes Among Language Users 153 Erzsébet Gyo˝rffy
• Part 3: Power, Resistance and Control
• 11 Renaming as Counter-Hegemony: The Cases of Noreg and Padania 165 Guy Puzey
• 12 Naming Parks, Footpaths and Small Bridges in a Multicultural Suburban Area 185 Staffan Nyström
• 13 Personal Names in Language Policy and Planning: Who Plans What Names, for Whom and How? 197 Justyna B. Walkowiak
• 14 Is the Official Use of Names in Norway Determined by the Place-Names Act or by Attitudes? 213 Aud-Kirsti Pedersen
• 15 The Power of Administration in the Official Recognition of Indigenous Place Names in the Nordic Countries 229 Kaisa Rautio Helander
• Index 250