The journal Onomástica desde América Latina – Onomastics from Latin America is Open Access, allowing the user to also have free access to all articles already published.The journal was created in 2020, having received, in its first two volumes, works arising from the first and second edition of the congress “Jornadas Antroponomásticas”. Since 2023, there is publication of one volume per year. Since 2023 the journal started to receive and publish articles and works in continuous flow The journal does not charge fees for the submission of manuscripts, nor fees for the publication of its articles and uses the Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA - 4.0) for copyright distribution. More information about this license can be found at CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Deed | Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International | Creative Commons The Onomástica desde América Latina journal is a annual publication dedicated to the promotion and diffusion of onomastic researches in national and international scope aimed at the internationalization of the Graduate Program in Language and Literature at Unioeste as a result of a partnership between Unioeste and Unam (National Autonomous University of Mexico). The average period between an article submission, peer review and publication in the ahead of print modality is 12 weeks and the period between submission and publication in a annual issue of the journal is not more than 48 weeks. The journals publishes articles in Portuguese, Spanihs, English and French. | ISSN: 2675-2719 |
Programa de Pós Graduação em Letras -Linguagem e Sociedade
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Copyright (c) 2026 Márcia Sipavicius Seide; Yolanda Guillermina López Franco http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Onomastics and linguistic landscape: achievements and challenges
This article serves as a synthesis of the thematic section of volume 7 of the journal Onomastics from Latin America devoted to the relationship between onomastics and linguistic landscape. After confirming the links between different types of proper names, it details the methodological difficulties involved in establishing the role of crematonyms, toponyms and anthroponyms in the public sphere, primarily their inclusion in quantitative studies and, secondly, the determination of the language and its subsequent function as part of the mosaic of linguistic varieties that make up the linguistic landscape of a given territory. It concludes that proper names form an indissoluble and central part of public space and that both concepts are of interest to scholars of the social uses of language and communication.
Copyright (c) 2026 María Carmen Fernández Juncal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Un acercamiento lexicológico y socioantroponímico a los nombres de pila más atribuidos en México en 2021
In 2021, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI in Spanish) published the list of names most attributed in Mexico between 2017 and 2020, then those of the year 2021. For the first time, Mexican socioanthroponymists have access to official data covering the entire country. The objective of this contribution is to analyze these data from a lexicological point of view and to establish a number of socio-anthroponomic hypotheses, in order to identify trends in contemporary denominational practices in Mexico. After the creation of an ad hoc database for this corpus of names, they were marked according to the linguistic criteria of language, structure, graphic form, derivative processes, and lexical category changes. This article deals with the most salient data, especially the structure of these most attributed names. To the extent possible, we will try to explain certain choices by socio-historical and sociocultural factors present in the extralinguistic reality of the country. This study is based on socio-pragmatic theories of proper names (Van Langendonck, 2007; Van Langendonck and Van de Velde, 2016; Ainiala and Östman, 2017), as well as contemporary studies in socioanthroponymy (Aldrin, 2016; Seide and Petrulione, 2018, López Franco, 2014, 2020). A first finding is that traditional compound names are much less popular than 50 years earlier, and that Spanish has not been displaced by borrowings to other languages, at least in the first frequency ranks. These choices contribute to the collective identity of Mexicans, in a society that wants to be sustainable, in a context where there are still very few studies on Mexican anthroponyms of the 21st century. Especially, based on national statistics
Copyright (c) 2026 Yolanda Guillermina López Franco http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Proper names in the teaching and learning of Spanish as a foreign language in Algeria: an onomastic study of the Puertas Abiertas textbook (3rd year of secondary school)
This study sets out to examine, within a pedagogically grounded and context-sensitive framework, how proper names function in the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language in Algeria. It takes as its primary point of reference the textbook Puertas Abiertas (3AS), commonly used in Algerian secondary schools. The range of cultural references it mobilizes offers a particularly insightful lens through which to observe underlying didactic choices. At the heart of this reflection lies the idea that proper names are far from neutral linguistic elements. On the contrary, their inclusion in teaching materials reflects implicit orientations: they signal which cultural figures or places are considered worthy of transmission, shape the representation of identities, and subtly convey a set of values to learners. For instance, the recurrent presence of certain Hispanic figures, as opposed to others, can influence how students perceive the Spanish-speaking world and their place within it. From this perspective, the selection of proper names is not merely illustrative; it participates in the broader construction of meaning and plays a tangible role in the language learning process itself.
Copyright (c) 2026 Widad Souali http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Socio-onomastic study of the names of commercial establishments located in Imperatriz/MA
It is known that Onomastics, considering Dick's contributions regarding the motivation in naming and the proposition of a taxonomic model for place names, can significantly contribute to the field of linguistic research. In the city of Imperatriz, state of Maranhão, for example, concerning the commercial proper names of shops located on a commercial avenue, specifically in a section known as Calçadão de Imperatriz, there is no known socio-onomastic research. In this context, the objective of this article is to investigate, from a socio-onomastic perspective, the linguistic variation from the company name to the trade name in the proper names of commercial companies located in the city of Imperatriz/MA, specifically in this section of Avenida Getúlio Vargas. For this purpose, the "Commercial Typification" and the "Year of Foundation of the Company" were considered as variables. This research is justified by the fact that commercial proper names express local culture, and this article serves as a record of a survey from a specific period, the year 2024. The methodological resources employed were a mixed-methods approach, with descriptive research of an exploratory nature, and document analysis. The theoretical basis was drawn from the studies of Dick (1990), Isquerdo (2006), Frai (2016), Coelho et al. (2018), Amaral and Seide (2020), Oliveira (2020), and Rodrigues and Cruz (2025), among others. The results showed that the external variables "Commercial Typification" and "Year of Company Foundation" are factors that cause variation between the company name and the trade name, with a high percentage of allonyms, especially trade names that are completely distinct from the company name. As a contribution to Onomastics, the study shows that the trade names of companies present cultural traits of the region, since the designator's motivation is influenced by social, cultural, and environmental aspects of the environment and time in which it is inserted.
Copyright (c) 2026 Romilia de Sá Feitosa, Maria Célia Dias de Castro, Maria da Guia Taveiro Silva http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
The function of proper names in the linguistic landscape: a case study in rural León
The study of onomastics within the linguistic landscape (LL) has focused on crematonyms in urban contexts, both to examine their formation and to challenge the boundaries of this category. Previous research has considered whether these index spatial coordinates by virtue of their location in the LL, whilst also observing the visual elements that influence their perception as proper nouns (PN). In this study, we broaden the unit of analysis and move to the rural setting, where the LL is smaller but still present, to observe the onomastic phenomena that occur in this context. We ask which types of PNs are most frequent in the LL and whether their placement in public space influences the function they perform. To this end, we have collected the onomastic elements present in a corpus compiled in an exhaustive manner from five rural localities in different districts of the province of León. Firstly, we conducted a quantitative analysis of the types and subtypes of PNs present; secondly, we carried out an exhaustive qualitative analysis that enables us to reflect on the function of the NPs in the LL and to observe the patterns that emerge regarding the creation of crematonyms, the absence and presence of PNs in the LL, and the linguistic trends they reflect. The results show, on the one hand, a prevalence of both place names and the toponymic function and, on the other, that the structure of proper names and their linguistic uses reflect the social and identity dynamics of the territory in which they are embedded. In doing so, this study contributes to a holistic and synchronic understanding of onomastics within the LL, enabling a re-examination of the behaviour of PNs in its context and an analysis of the social and identity-related phenomena occurring in a given territory.
Copyright (c) 2026 Lucía Morán Gaitero http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
The significance of proper names in “Taoki et compagnie” in the Algerian context: Between openness to the world and cultural hegemony
This study explores how proper names—both personal names and place names—are used in the Taoki et compagnie textbook and considers the possible effects these choices may have on young Algerian learners encountering French at school. While the manual is primarily intended to support the acquisition of reading skills, it can also be approached as a medium through which cultural perspectives circulate. The characters it introduces and the places it evokes subtly frame a particular vision of the world, one that is largely shaped by Western cultural references. The discussion is situated within the fields of onomastics and intercultural language education, drawing especially on the contributions of Van Langendonck (2007) and Gary-Prieur (1994). The research relies on a qualitative examination of the textbook, beginning with the systematic identification and categorisation of the anthroponyms and toponyms it contains. These names were analysed with regard to how often they appear, the cultural backgrounds they suggest, and the functions they fulfil within classroom activities. The findings point to a clear prevalence of Western-oriented references, whereas elements that might resonate more directly with the local cultural environment appear only occasionally. In this perspective, proper names do more than simply label characters or places. They operate as symbolic reference points that help shape the cultural frameworks and identity representations through which pupils interpret the learning material.
Copyright (c) 2026 Imene Maghraoui http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Linguistic landscape and onomastics: bib numbers in Valencia (Half) Marathon.
This work investigates, from a functional perspective, the race bibs including proper names in the context of the medium(marathon) linguistic landscape (LL). Our aim is to demonstrate the purposes of these fabrics. To achieve this, we start from a broad conception of LL based on physical public space and on the visual, sonorous and semiotic landscape (Calvi, 2018; Fernández Juncal, 2025; Franco Martínez, 2025; Montaner, 2024; Moustaoui, 2019). Likewise, we start from an onomastic approach in which proper names not only name reality, but also reflect (Fernández Juncal & García Alonso, 2025; Fuentes, 2025) and configure it (Morant-Marco, 2022), as well as from Jakobson's classification of language functions (1984). In order to conduct this descriptive qualitative study, we first examined over 3,500 race bibs used in the Valencia Marathon and Half Marathon between 2016 and 2025. Then, after reviewing numerous news articles about these running events, we analyzed, described, and explained the intentions behind these bibs. This article demonstrates that the bibs with onomastic elements, in addition to having an identification role, serve to encourage (oneself or others), advertise, raise awareness, express affection, pay tribute, and entertain. At the same time, we provide a clear example of ephemeral and mobile LL and show some of the research possibilities of LL in relation to onomastics
Copyright (c) 2026 Ricard Morant http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Institutional names in the linguistic landscape of Salamanca
This research takes as its starting point the public services listed by Salamanca City Council on its website, which enable us to design a kind of virtual map of their location in the city, in order to search for the official signs that identify them in the external linguistic landscape. The first goal is to observe whether these services involve signs indicating their presence on the buildings that host them, and whether their distribution and identification signage depend on the socio-economic profile of their inhabitants. The second goal is to analyse the morphosemantic pattern of the names that appear on their signs, focusing on those that involve a proper noun.The research, based on 71 signs collected photographically, draws on the framework used in sociopragmatic studies of the linguistic landscape. The description of the names appearing on these signs falls within the framework of semantic-referential lexicology. The data from both corpora have been classified according to the service offered in the space to which they are linked and the area of Salamanca in which they are located. The identifying names have been described both morphologically and semantically, with a synchronic approach relative to current Spanish.The research shows that the signs identifying public services in Salamanca is unequal and irregular, but that it is influenced by the type of service offered, its architectural location and the need for direct interaction with the population. It also highlights that the geographical location in the city, as well as the number and socio-economic profile of its inhabitants, influence the nature of services offered, but not their visibility. Furthermore, there is evidence of a significant use of proper nouns in their names (61.1%), which generally link the service to the place where it is located or assume a commemorative function. Thus, the research demonstrates usefulness of the linguistic landscape for evaluating institutional action, not only in terms of naming policy, but also in relation to accessibility and territorial equality.
Copyright (c) 2026 Montserrat Rangel Vicente http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
The names of public libraries in the province of Seville: from linguistic landscape to socionomastics
This paper analyses the names of public libraries in the province of Seville and considers them to be tangible manifestations of both the urban and rural linguistic landscape. The main objective is to identify the cultural, historical and social factors that motivate these naming choices. The research is based on the premise that institutional names operate ideologically in the public sphere (Puzey 2012) and that communities negotiate their identity through language (Ainiala and Östman 2017). Furthermore, the linguistic landscape is considered a primary source of onomastics (Gorter 2014). Methodologically, the study corpus has been geolocated through the IDEA Network (Network of Documentation Centres and Specialised Libraries of Andalusia) and documented through direct photography and Google Street View captures. Quantitative and qualitative analysis reveals different socionomastic trends: toponymic silence, urbanonymy as identity, anthroponymic patriarchy, and a diachronic evolution that shows how onomastic history traces the history of peoples (Fernández Juncal 2011). In conclusion, the results confirm that libraries constitute a linguistic landscape laden with social and historical meaning. This study opens up new avenues for research into urban names from this perspective.
Copyright (c) 2026 Mercedes De La Torre García http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Truly rural? Urban and rural characters of Czech first names as perceived by inhabitants of the Moravian-Silesian Region
This article aims to investigate whether a set of Czech first names is perceived as typical of urban or rural areas by inhabitants of the Moravian-Silesian Region, a distinctive post-industrial area located in the Czech Republic borderlands. It seeks to understand whether this perception is consistent with official census data or influenced by stereotypes and personal experiences. The research draws on the notion of onomastic knowledge (Seide, 2021a; 2021b), which posits that a speaker’s knowledge about personal names is built through experiences, beliefs, and memories, and may diverge from scientific knowledge based on official census data. To this end, an online questionnaire was developed and distributed via Microsoft Forms. It contained a list of names (18 male and 25 female names), each of which accompanied with a Likert scale with the alternatives “city,” “village,” and “neutral,” for the respondents to report their perceptions about each name. The names were selected through a complex four-stage, statistically informed procedure. The responses provided by 127 participants were analysed, most of them women (69%) and aged 21–30 years old (55%). The findings show that respondents’ perceptions and census data converge for 44% of the female names and 50% of the male names. While such a convergence indicates that the speakers’ onomastic knowledge may relate to actual data, the divergence points to the influence of stereotypes, such as the association of traditional or religious names with rural areas. This study is expected to inspire researchers to carry out further investigations on the subject and possibly help future parents make informed choices of names based on their social and cultural aspects
Copyright (c) 2026 Kristýna Kasel Menegaldo, Márcia Sipavicius Seide, Michal Místecký http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Names, idols, colors and territory: football onomastics in the linguistics landscape of Buenos Aires
This article analyzes the football linguistic landscape of Buenos Aires based on a photographic recorded in 2023 in neighborhoods traditionally linked to local football clubs, such as Villa Crespo, Floresta, Villa Luro, Caballito and Flores. The analysis is based on a qualitative and interpretative approach, focused on the onomastic and territorial dimension of graffiti recorded. The main objective is to understand how proper names connected to football—those of players, managers, supporters, and historical idols—are inscribed in graffiti, murals, and local businesses, forming visible marks of collective memory and territorial identity. The theoretical framework is grounded in linguistic landscape studies (Scollon & Scollon, 2003; Shohamy & Gorter, 2009; Pons Rodríguez, 2012), which conceptualize urban space as a discursive and semiotic surface, as well as in contemporary onomastic contributions that highlight the role of names as symbolic elements that generate identity meaning (Ainiala, 2016; Fernández Juncal, 2011, 2020, 2024).The results reveal three fundamental dimensions of the phenomenon analyzed. First, neighborhood graffiti functions as a mechanism of territorialization and belonging, visible in expressions that reaffirm “being from the neighborhood” and consolidate the supporters’ community as a social collective. Second, commercial crematonyms—names of bars, bakeries, restaurants, and shops inspired by football clubs and stadiums—demonstrate how football becomes integrated into the city’s economic and touristic landscape, serving as a strategy for cultural legitimacy and public recognition. Finally, murals dedicated to historical idols of local clubs participate in the construction of affective urban memory, articulating sports heroes through visual narratives, community rituals, and a sense of local pride.Overall, the analysis shows that football acts as a key engine of identity in Buenos Aires, shaping spaces, emotions, and discourses. Thus, the football-related linguistic landscape demonstrates that the city is inhabited not only physically, but also symbolically, through names, colors, figures, and visual markings that structure practices of belonging, cultural resistance, and social cohesion.
Copyright (c) 2026 Vinícius Pereira de Souza Cruz http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Algérian Pharmaceutical Brand Names: Word-Formation Processes and Semantics Motivations
This article examines the morphological processes and semantic motivations involved in the formation of pharmaceutical brand names in Algeria. The central question is to identify which formal mechanisms and meaning strategies are favoured by national companies, in a context where naming must both guide product interpretation and ensure brand distinctiveness. The corpus comprises 127 denominations collected from the official websites of Biopharm and Merinal, considered representative of national pharmaceutical production and/or marketing. Each item was described according to the “final process” criterion (the dominant operation in the resulting form) and then subjected to a two-level analysis: (i) lexical morphology, distinguishing in particular compounding, affixation, truncation and arbitrary creation; and (ii) semantic analysis based on the endocentric/exocentric contrast and on naming patterns (descriptive, actantial, associative and appellative). Quantifying the categories and identifying lexical bases makes it possible to describe the naming trends observed in the corpus and to pave the way for inter-operator comparisons. The results reveal a clear predominance of compounding and suffixation over arbitrary creation, whereas prefixation, syncope, blending, hybridisation, parasynthesis, apocope and rearrangement play only a marginal role. At the semantic level, endocentric denominations largely dominate, indicating a strong tendency towards referential readability. Pattern distribution confirms the primacy of the appellative scheme, followed by the associative, descriptive and actantial schemes. Overall, these observations delineate modern commercial onomastics that articulates signals of specialisation with brand differentiation. The study thus provides an empirical contribution to pharmaceutical onomastics in the Algerian context, while noting the limitations of a corpus based on online catalogues and opening prospects for extending the corpus and assessing LASA risks among health professionals and patients.
Copyright (c) 2026 Lamia Adrar http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
This study explores odonymy as a linguistic and cultural practice within the theoretical framework of linguistic landscape studies (Landry & Bourhis, 1997; Lotman, 1998; Eco, 1992), integrating insights from semiotics, sociolinguistics, and memory studies. It argues that street names are not merely functional labels but cultural texts encoding power relations, historical narratives, and collective identities. Using discourse analysis and cartographic observation, the research conducts a case study in Lepe (Andalusia, Spain), tracing the town’s street naming from pre-institutional origins to contemporary urban planning. Results reveal overlapping historical layers, enduring popular names, and gender imbalance in commemorative naming, among other issues. The study proposes an operational classification of odonyms and underscores their symbolic and heritage value, positioning odonymy as both a site of memory and a key analytical tool for understanding the linguistic and cultural landscape.
Copyright (c) 2026 Águeda Vázquez Hidalgo, María Victoria Galloso Camacho http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Social stratification of crematonyms in Galicia's urban linguistic landscape
This work focuses on the analysis of crematonyms in the Galician linguistic landscape, expanding previous research carried out in Vigo to three other cities: A Coruña, Lugo, and Ourense. The aim is to characterise and determine the role played by crematonyms in the urban LL of Galicia, considering the socio-economic stratification of the selected areas in each city. We seek to recognise patterns and establish comparisons between areas, as well as between cities, regarding the naming of businesses and the linguistic phenomena that arise in each context. The results are presented around two core areas. The first includes trends common to all cities and between areas within the same city. In this regard, the prominence of monolingual crematonyms stands out, a group dominated by those composed in Spanish, followed by those formed by terms that can be interpreted in both Spanish and Galician. Galician generally ranks third, while English is the most used foreign language. In addition, there is a clear preference for the use of associative, descriptive and anthroponymic terms across all sections in terms of the mechanisms used to create crematonyms. The second core comprises the specific characteristics of the areas observed from the perspective of social stratification, which are reflected, first, in the most frequent commercial activity in high socioeconomic areas (management and finance) as opposed to the most common activities in low socioeconomic areas (local establishments). Class differences are also evident in the popular naming criteria represented by anthroponyms: in low-income sections, there is a higher percentage of familiar forms such as first names and hypocoristics.
Copyright (c) 2026 Elisa Suárez Caramés http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Toponymy across the ocean: formation of toponymic signs in Portugal and in Brazil
In this article, we describe the forms of toponymic signs in Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) and Portuguese Sign Language (LGP), with particular attention to the role of the body and gesturality in the naming of places. The corpus consists of ten signs—five from Libras and five from LGP—all characterized by strong iconicity. This property allows each sign to preserve elements related to perception, sociocultural practices, and the worldview of Brazilian and Portuguese Deaf communities, reflecting particular ways of visually and spatially representing geographic referents. The description of the signs considers, above all, the role of the body in the organization of sign languages, drawing on perspectives that emphasize the centrality of bodily experience in cognition and linguistic structure (Johnson, 1992; Langacker, 2008). Additionally, we discuss the emergence and lexicalization of semilexicalized structures, such as classifiers, as observed in studies on sign languages (Carneiro, as cited in Carneiro et al., 2023; Zeshan, as cited in Dixon & Aikhenvald, 2003; Zeshan, as cited in Emmorey, 2003). These resources contribute to the imagistic construction of signs and to the schematic representation of geographic or cultural features. The results indicate that the motivations behind the formation of the analyzed toponyms encompass cultural aspects—such as traditional clothing, adornments, and festivities associated with the named places—as well as prototypical elements of the local geography, especially hydrographic features, in addition to structural characteristics of buildings and bridges. We observe that bodily experience generates visual and kinesthetic images that are subsequently fixed into the form of the signs, revealing how conceptualization processes translate into specific phonological choices within the Libras and LGP systems. Although some signs display traces suggesting the influence of Portuguese, iconicity and gesturality remain central principles in the construction of these toponyms. The study contributes to onomastic research in sign languages by highlighting the centrality of corporeality and iconicity in the formation of toponyms, thereby expanding the understanding of naming processes from a comparative perspective.
Copyright (c) 2026 Alexandre Melo de Sousa, Isabel Correia, Bruno Gonçalves Carneiro, Amílcar Morais http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Toponymy in the General Language and Identity in the Bragantine Amazon of Pará
This article analyzes toponymic naming in Amazonian General Language (Língua Geral Amazônica – LGA) in the municipality of Bragança, Pará, Brazil, considering it as a linguistic and symbolic practice that articulates linguistic memory and sociocultural belonging in an Amazonian context. The study is based on the assumption that naming exceeds a merely referential function and constitutes a historically situated linguistic act. The corpus comprises 91 place names recorded in Araújo (2019), from which 15 items were selected for qualitative analysis according to morphological, semantic, and representativeness criteria. The theoretical framework draws on conceptions of naming as a linguistic and symbolic act (Benveniste, 1989; Coseriu, 1982), articulates the taxonomic classification of toponymic motivation proposed by Dick (1980, 1992), and adopts a functional-discursive perspective of language (Travaglia, 2002; Neves, 2018) to examine the relationship between lexical forms, sociocultural context, and meaning production. Methodologically, the analysis combines the systematization of the corpus with a qualitative interpretation of selected toponyms, considering processes of lexical hybridization and historical continuity of LGA in the linguistic landscape of Bragança. The results indicate that LGA-based place names preserve elements of collective memory and function as indices of cultural continuity at a local and regional scale.
Copyright (c) 2026 MARCOS jaime araújo http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Alcunhas no ambiente rural: um estudo de caso
Anthroponymy is a branch of onomastics that deals with personal names. In a community, these names distinguish individuals and facilitate their social relationships. They can also characterize a particular era and preserve information intrinsic to the culture and history of those communities. This paper, a segment of the master’s thesis entitled “Anthroponyms: a didactic proposal at Antônio Sandim de Rezende Municipal School in Terenos/MS” (Costa, 2020), focuses on nicknames, part of the language’s lexical inventory, and their applicability in written productions by students in Middle School. In this context, we aim to understand how the nicknames used by residents of the Nova and Velha Colonies reveal cultural aspects of that community. To that end, we set the following objectives: (i) to inventory anthroponyms through interviews in order to support textual productions in the genres Literary Memory and Chronicle, carried out within activities developed for the Portuguese Language Olympiad “Writing the Future,” with a view to recognizing the community’s particularities in assigning nicknames and thereby contributing to the preservation of that social group’s memory; and (ii) to analyze the motivational factors implicit in the inventoried anthroponyms to verify the intentionality contained in those nicknames. For this purpose, we drew on epistemologies of lexicology and anthroponymy, especially the contributions of Biderman (2001), Oliveira and Isquerdo (2001), Amaral and Seide (2020), among others. During the research, we inventoried 153 anthroponyms, which in turn resulted in 38 textual productions: 17 literary memories and 21 chronicles. These nicknames served as a tool to connect oral accounts and identity markers to textual productions. The data showed that the most productive anthroponyms are linked to behavioral factors, morphological alterations of given names, and physical characteristics. When producing their texts, the students acknowledged the community’s use of anthroponyms and made explicit its traditions, beliefs, habits, and values—markers of its cultural identity. Therefore, we realize that anthroponomastic research contributes to the knowledge and preservation of the historical and cultural aspects of a community and combined with teaching, brings the student closer to their reality, making learning meaningful.
Copyright (c) 2026 Aline dos Santos Teixeira da Costa, Ana Paula Tribesse Patrício Dargel, Renato Rodrigues-Pereira http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Modern naming trends in Vietnam: a sociolinguistic study of gender and culture
This research analyzed 15,689 names from five educational institutions across Northern, Central, and Southern regions during 2023–2024 to study gender-based naming patterns in Vietnam. Grounded in sociolinguistic theory (Anderson, 2007; Reszegi, 2023) and Vietnamese onomastic frameworks (Thompson, 2005; Nguyen, 2010), the study examines how naming practices encode gender identity through sound symbolism (Hough, 2000; Edmondson & Nguyen, 1997) and cultural values rooted in Confucian traditions (Tran, 1999). The methodology employed a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative analysis (chi-square tests, regression analysis using SPSS 28.0 and R 4.2.1) with qualitative interpretation of phonetic, semantic, and structural aspects of Vietnamese names. Names were systematically coded by two independent linguists across semantic categories (strength, wisdom, beauty, nature, etc.) and phonetic features (strong/soft consonants, vowel patterns), achieving high intercoder reliability (Cohen's κ = 0.87 for semantic, 0.92 for phonetic coding). The study found that while gender differentiation remains a basic organizing principle in Vietnamese naming—with men favoring strong consonants (55%) and strength-related semantics (40%), and women preferring soft consonants (58%) and beauty-related meanings (55%)—traditional gender markers Văn and Thị have declined substantially to approximately 18% and 16% respectively, compared to near-universal usage (estimated 80-90%) in mid-20th century Vietnam (Thompson, 2005; Nguyen, 2010), with this decline particularly pronounced among younger generations. Significant regional variations emerge, with Northern Vietnam maintaining stronger traditional naming patterns, Central Vietnam preserving distinctive aesthetic preferences, and Southern Vietnam showing greater international influences and less rigid gender distinctions. Generational comparison demonstrates accelerating change, with preschool children's names showing substantially lower usage of traditional gender markers than university students. The research indicates that education level (β = 0.38, p < 0.001) and urban residence (β = 0.31, p < 0.001) are stronger predictors of naming patterns than gender alone. The results show that Vietnamese naming customs reflect the broader trends in Vietnamese society toward more flexible gender expressions while also preserving cultural traditions and adjusting to modern social changes. Drawing on Jiménez Segura's (2020) framework of naming as gender identity construction, the study contributes to our understanding of how language encodes and transmits gender perceptions across generations in a cultural context that is rapidly modernizing.
Copyright (c) 2026 Thi Minh Thao Le, Pham Thi Ngoc http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Onomastic Lexica Translation via Phonetic Adaptation in Ruggieri’s Work
This study analyzes the translation of Christian onomastics between Portuguese and Mandarin in the 16th century, with a particular focus on the works of Michele Ruggieri (1552-1610). After establishing a Portuguese colonial hub in Macau, the Jesuits, led by Alessandro Valignano, implemented a cultural adaptation policy. As a result, learning Chinese and adapting Portuguese words primarily relied on semantic borrowings, while phonetic adaptations were relatively uncommon (Zhu & Araujo, 2025b). However, Ruggieri’s works incorporate some phonetic adaptations, especially regarding Christian onom astica. This article investigates how these names were adapted, considering whether the choice of Chinese characters was guided by phonetic similarity, semantic meaning, or visual aesthetics. In employing a comparative-descriptive methodology, the analysis highlights both phonological and semantic characteristics of the names (Calabrese & Wetzels, 2009). It reveals that, following the tradition established in China with the introduction of Buddhism, Ruggieri uses Chinese characters as syllabic representations rather than strictly adhering to their traditional logographic functions. In some cases, however, partial semantic adaptation is intricately tied to phonetic elements, reflecting the complexity of the cultural adaptation process. This study sheds light on the challenges of dealing with Christian onomastics in languages that do not use alphabetic scripts (cf. Jatobá, 2025)
Copyright (c) 2026 Chenglin Zhu, Gabriel Antunes de Araujo http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
The morphological processes of Anglicising Yoruba Anthroponyms on Facebook
The increasing global influence of English and the pervasive use of social media have prompted Yoruba speakers to modify their traditional names. This adaptation, known as anglicisation, often involves adjusting names to better fit English pronunciation and spelling conventions. It is done to facilitate greater digital integration and social acceptance on platforms like Facebook. Despite existing research on anglicisation, there is a notable gap concerning the specific word formation processes employed when Yoruba names are anglicised on Facebook. Hence, this study examines the word formation processes employed in the anglicisation of Yoruba names on Facebook. The analysis is based on a random sample of seventy-five names sourced directly from the platform, comprising twenty-five original Yoruba names and two anglicised variants for each. We investigated the morphological processes involved in the anglicisation of Yoruba anthroponyms on Facebook, utilising Yule’s (2010) morphological taxonomy and Adeniyi’s (2017) classification of Yoruba names. Our findings indicated that derivation is the most dominant morphological process (64%), followed by multiple processes (16%), clipping (14%), and acronymy (6%). Furthermore, based on Adeniyi’s classification, given or birth names are the most frequently anglicised (36%), followed by destiny/situational names (20%), royalty names (16%), names associated with deities (16%) and praise names (12%). The study concluded that the anglicisation of Yoruba names on Facebook is not random; it is a clear indicator of global linguistic convergence, cultural modernity, and identity negotiation. Thus, digital spaces foster linguistic innovation and cultural adaptation among Yoruba speakers as they connect with a wider audience.
Copyright (c) 2026 Oluwatosin Mercy Ajayi, Esther Avosuahi Onmoke, Idowu Odebode http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Copyright (c) 2025 Yolanda Guillermina López Franco; Márcia Sipavicius Seide http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Les Dynamiques de l'Anthroponymie : Héritages et Identités au Maghreb et en Afrique Subsaharienne
This thematic issue explores contemporary dynamics of anthroponymy in the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa through six contributions rooted in social, literary, and digital contexts. Far from being limited to a linguistic analysis of proper names, these studies approach them as social facts, discursive practices, and identity markers shaped by history, power relations, cultural shifts, and generational tensions. The synthesis is structured around two axes: the first examines name transmission and its reconfigurations in familial, migratory, or community contexts; the second focuses on naming as a discursive act within fictional and digital spaces. By combining empirical, literary, and sociolinguistic approaches, this article highlights the vitality of a critical, situated onomastics attentive to African voices and their modes of identity expression.
Copyright (c) 2025 Nadjia Nehari-Roubaï, Warayanssa Mawoune, Amina Taibi-Maghraoui http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
The Bulgarian Personal Name System in the Early 21st Century: A Contemporary Perspective
The influence of globalization, waves of migration, and the use of English as a global language for communication are indisputable. The present research aims to illustrate how these processes reflect on the contemporary Bulgarian anthroponymicon and to comment on the changes observed within the name pool.
Copyright (c) 2026 Anna Choleva-Dimitrova, Nadezhda Dancheva, Maya Vlahova-Angelova, Gergana Petkova http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
A lexicological and socio-anthroponymic approach to the most popular names in Mexico in 2021
Abstract: In 2021, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI in Spanish) published the list of names most attributed in Mexico between 2017 and 2020, then those of the year 2021. For the first time, Mexican socioanthroponymists have access to official data covering the entire country. The objective of this contribution is to analyze these data from a lexicological point of view and to establish a number of socio-anthroponomic hypotheses, in order to identify trends in contemporary denominational practices in Mexico. After the creation of an ad hoc database for this corpus of names, they were marked according to the linguistic criteria of language, structure, graphic form, derivative processes, and lexical category changes. This article deals with the most salient data, especially the structure of these most attributed names. To the extent possible, we will try to explain certain choices by socio-historical and sociocultural factors present in the extralinguistic reality of the country. This study is based on socio-pragmatic theories of proper names (Van Langendonck, 2007; Van Langendonck and Van de Velde, 2016; Ainiala and Östman, 2017), as well as contemporary studies in socioanthroponymy (Aldrin, 2016; Seide and Petrulione, 2018, López Franco, 2014, 2020). A first finding is that traditional compound names are much less popular than 50 years earlier, and that Spanish has not been displaced by borrowings to other languages, at least in the first frequency ranks. These choices contribute to the collective identity of Mexicans, in a society that wants to be sustainable.
Copyright (c) 2025 Yolanda Guillermina López Franco http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
The Pseudonym on Digital Networks: A Reflection of an Expected or Real Identity?
This study is situated within sociolinguistics and digital anthroponomy, and examines the sociolinguistic and identity-related issues underlying the choice of pseudonyms by Algerian Facebook users. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Paveau (2015), Cardona (1976), Bourdache (2019, 2021) and Ertzscheid (2009), the pseudonym is approached as a discursive construction, self-assigned at the intersection of social and digital identity. The methodology combines two investigations: a qualitative analysis of pseudonyms collected from four Facebook groups (n=600 pseudonyms) and a survey conducted within three of those groups. The analysis categorizes pseudonyms based on their relation to real, professional, fantasy-based, or cryptonymic identities, highlighting their expressive, protective, relational, or projective functions. Findings show that pseudonyms reflect either real identities (actual names) or idealized identities, shaped by cultural, emotional, or ethnic references. Anonymity, self-presentation strategies, and digital reputation management are central motivations. While users tend to favour authenticity, there is a strong inclination toward constructing a "hoped-for self." This research offers an original contribution to the study of self-naming in Algerian digital contexts, emphasizing the pseudonym's role as a space for identity expression, and as a reflection of sociocultural dynamics and users' engagement with digital environments.
Copyright (c) 2025 Hafida Benbouziane http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Les noms et l’identité : L’onomastique dans La Grotte éclatée de Yamina Mechakra
This work explores onomastics in Yamina Mechakra’s The exploded Cave, a novel that recounts the journey of an illegitimate young woman who joined the maquis during the Algerian war for independence. The aim of this study is to highlight identity, memory and historical tensions through the analysis of proper names. From a literary and anthropological perspective, the study uses concepts from Lévi-Strauss' work on the structure of myth, Paul Fabre’s work on onomastic motivation, as well as postcolonial approaches to memory and identity. Two methodological axes structure the analysis: a synchronic analysis, which studies names in their immediate narrative context, and a diachronic reading, which follows their historical, cultural and symbolic evolution. The analysis consisted of identifying all the anthroponyms and toponyms present in the novel, classifying them according to their origin (Arabic, Berber, French), then studying their meaning, narrative function and symbolic significance. The results show that proper names, far from being neutral, are carriers of multiple meanings: they embody the overlapping cultural heritages of Algeria, inscribe the characters in memorial networks, and actively participate in the construction of the narrative. The name Arris, in particular, functions as a double marker - patronymic and toponymic - of resistance and transmission of identity. This research contributes to shed light on the role of onomastics in Maghreb literature as a tool for expressing historical tensions, identity plurality and postcolonial memories.
Copyright (c) 2025 Naima Merdji http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Methodological proposal for the classification of the nicknames of Cuauhtémoc, Colima, Mexico
In this article, we start from a corpus of 250 nicknames, collected in the communities of Quesería, Cuauhtémoc, Alcaraces, Buenavista and El Trapiche, published in the Apodario. Compilation of nicknames from the municipality of Cuauhtémoc, Colima, in 2024. The nicknames were collected through ethnographic research in which the five communities with the largest number of inhabitants in the northwest region of the state of Colima (Cuauhtémoc, Colima, Mexico) were visited. The participants were native of each community, adults over 30 years of age, both men and women. The nicknames were obtained through a semi-structured interview in which information was collected from family members, neighbors, relatives and friends. To systematize the data obtained, a registration form was designed. The nicknames were organized alphabetically, considering the following lexicographic information: nickname, type, definition, description, and analytical reflection. Regarding the theoretical and methodological contributions of the reviewed studies on this subject, we observed that the first ones were conducted from a sociolinguistic perspective that emphasized life history. Subsequent research was taxonomically refined, achieving a more linguistic framework that emphasized the grammatical element; the latest approaches reveal a distribution and functional analysis of the types of words used to identify individuals. Our methodological proposal of classifying nicknames based on the grammatical, lexical-semantic, rhetorical, and hermeneutical levels seeks to emphasize aspects that provide identity traits of the subjects and reveal a particular worldview of the communities studied through the nicknames. In this sense, identity is seen, based on Gilberto Giménez (2010), as the representations that subjects have of themselves in relation to others and that constitute "who we are" and "who the others are," in this naming of ourselves and the world we inhabit.
Copyright (c) 2026 Lucila Gutiérrez Santana, José Manuel González Freire, Gloria Ignacia Vergara Mendoza, Gilberto Maximiano Ceballos Esqueda http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Naming trends of Lithuanian emigrants in Ireland, Norway, and Germany (1991–2020), with focus on names of Baltic origin
This article examines naming trends among Lithuanian emigrants who give their children Baltic names in Ireland, Norway, and Germany, in comparison to those in the United Kingdom (see Sinkevičiūtė 2024a). The aim is to highlight that the Baltic names given to children in the major countries of emigration from Lithuania between 1991 and 2020 reflect the ethnic identity attributed to them by their parents, and that the tendency among emigrants to choose Baltic names is a regular and stable phenomenon. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of names focuses on the origin and structure of Baltic names to identify their systemic characteristics. This analysis revealed that, across all countries, the most common names are derived from natural phenomena and objects, Lithuanian pagan goddesses and gods, as well as notable historical and legendary figures from Lithuania’s past. Euphony also appears to play a role in naming. Furthermore, the same suffixes recur in names of different origins, and the same shortenings emerge from names sharing common initial elements. These findings complement previous studies on names given to children by emigrants during the same period. In particular, they demonstrate that the behavior of parents across the major countries of emigration from Lithuania is broadly similar when choosing Baltic names for their children (see Sinkevičiūtė 2024a). On the other hand, the study highlighted that Baltic names are more frequently given to girls. This indicates that, from the perspective of origin, girls' names are more Lithuanian than boys' names, as observed in the study of names with diacritic marks, which are more characteristic of girls (see Sinkevičiūtė 2024b).
Copyright (c) 2025 Daiva Sinkevičiūtė-Villanueva Svensson http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
The Feminine Denominative Dynamics in Literature: An Onomastic Analysis
This article is dedicated to the study of proper nouns that carry violence within literary discourse against the backdrop of Yasmina Khadra's novel What Are the Monkeys Waiting For. As soon as we consider that these onomastic units are bearers of multiple values and meanings, we put Michelle Lecolle in the foreground, on a theoretical scale; Marie-Anne Paveau and Sandrine Reboul-Touré (2004) through their construction in literary discourse, Vincent Jouve (2007), Roland Barthes (1974), Genette, Eugène Nicole (1983) and their transparency, J. L. Vaxelaire (2005). The onomastic approach that we have chosen, then, through a studied methodological framework, consists in specifying that proper nouns actively participate in the construction of meaning and, by extension, in the establishment of a discourse marked by denunciation and insult This reflection is part of the field of literary onomastics, a discipline that studies the meaning and implications of proper names in texts literary. Indeed, far from being trivial, they carry meaning and participate fully in the narrative and ideological construction of the work. In the case of What Are the Monkeys Waiting for, their choice is not a matter of chance but responds to a logic that amplifies the author's purpose, in particular by highlighting the social tensions, inequalities and power relations that run through contemporary Algerian society. Thus, we wonder how the feminine proper nouns “Nedjma, Nora Bilal, Sonia, Basma...” beyond their referential function, are shaped and transformed under the effect of discourse, contributing to the dynamics of violence in the narrative. The aim is to demonstrate that the study of proper names in literary discourse is not limited to a lexical analysis but opens the way to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of the text, by revealing the discursive strategies implemented by the author. As you explore the manière dont ces désignations façonnent la violence narrative, ce travail entend contribuer à une meilleure appréhension du rôle fondamental de l’onomastique dans la littérature et de son impact sur la réception du texte.
Copyright (c) 2025 Leila Belkaim http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0