Renaming of Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America and of Denali to Mount McKinley
In reaction to the Executive Order of the White House as of 20 January 2025 ruling the renaming of Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America and of Denali to Mount McKinley the International Council of Onomastic Sciences presents the following comment:
(1) Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of America: The English name (if it is used in the UK and other English-speaking countries outside US) as well as the names in other languages for this feature are exonyms. Exonyms are in the hands of the receiver/target language, and it is up to the receiver community to decide, whether it wants to maintain the traditional version or adopt the new American endonym. The use of exonyms can never be decided by the donor (in this case US) community. So it may happen that for the US territorial waters the new endonym Gulf of America is used and is also applied in the US as an exonym for international and other territorial waters of the same feature, but that in other countries the exonym Gulf of Mexico and other exonyms remain in use. If a mapwork follows the practice to add to the exonym also the endonym(s), it would have to add along the US coast the new US endonym Gulf of America in brackets (and along the Mexican coast the Mexican endonym a.s.o.). This affects official and private publishers likewise. (Of course, a private publisher may have a specific naming practice, but this would not correspond with the international principles of standardization.) Still another question is, to which extent a White House Executive Order in this matter is binding and for whom it is binding in the US. It may result in the parallel use of both names, in two endonyms, one of which is official.
(2) Denali, Mount McKinley: If a linguistic community does not have an exonym for this mountain, name use and publications in this language will have to follow the official endonym change. Many receiver languages, however, did not follow the endonym change from Mount McKinley to Denali and continued to use Mount McKinley as an exonym. In this case the current change means just a return from exonym to endonym status.
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The 2nd ICOS board meeting took place online on 18 February 2025. We discussed many topics. Among other things, we talked about the next program of our Onomastics Online Lectures series or the Summer School of Onomastics.
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The Onomastics Online lecture was given on 13 February 2025 at 17:00 CET. Pierre Gendreau-Hétu (Université de Montréal, Canada) had a French presentation with the title “Aux origines d’un pionnier de Nouvelle-France : distribution du nom Grondin et corrélation génétique“.
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ONOMA
The new volume of the journal ONOMA (Vol. 59, 2024) was published: https://onomajournal.org/vol-59/
The thematic issue is dedicated to American onomastics.
The guest editors of the issue are Grant Smith, Yolanda Guillermina López Franco, and Márcia Sipavicius Seide.
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Onomastics Online Lecture
The lecture in the Onomastics Online series was held on 12 December 2024 at 17:00 CET. Jani de Lange (University of the Free State, South Africa) discusses “Onomastics and Sign Language: An Unexplored Terrain“. The record of the lecture is on the ICOS YouTube channel.
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Meeting of IBOS
Meeting of the Bibliography Group of the International Council of Onomastic Sciences (IBOS) was held via Zoom on 30 October 2024.
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1st Meeting of the New Board
The first meeting of the new ICOS board was held via Zoom on 21 October 2024.
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Successful Onboarding of New Board Members
We are delighted to introduce the newly elected board of directors for the International Council of Onomastic Sciences (ICOS), a distinguished group of scholars and experts leading the field of onomastics worldwide. This leadership team, comprising both seasoned professionals and emerging voices, is committed to advancing research in name studies and promoting global collaboration across diverse linguistic traditions.
President: Staffan Nyström
Staffan Nyström, a Professor at the Department of Scandinavian Languages, Uppsala University, Sweden, takes on the role of President. With a broad interest in names in all their forms, Professor Nyström’s research primarily focuses on Swedish place names. His work encompasses cultural-historical studies that explore and document local name inventories, such as natural and land-use names.
Vice-President: Peter Jordan
Dr. Peter Jordan, associated with the Austrian Academy of Sciences since 2007, brings his expertise in cultural and political geography, especially of Eastern Europe, and toponomastics. His extensive publication record includes over 430 scientific works, and he continues to teach at the University of Klagenfurt.
Vice-President: Yolanda Guillermina Lopez Franco
Dr. Lopez Franco, a full-time professor at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, specializes in socio-anthroponymy, lexicology, and sociolinguistics. Her dedication to the didactics of creative and academic writing underpins her contributions to onomastic studies in the Spanish-speaking world.
Treasurer: Johanna Othén
Johanna Othén serves as an expert in place name research at Lantmäteriet, Sweden’s mapping, cadastral, and land registration authority. Her focus on Swedish toponymy ensures the financial management of ICOS is in capable hands.
Vice-Treasurer: Daniel Solling
Daniel Solling, a research archivist at the Institute for Dialectology, Onomastics, and Folklore Research in Uppsala, supports the team with his expertise in archival research and his commitment to the study of names in Swedish culture.
Secretary: Tiina Laansalu
Tiina Laansalu, Head of the Department of Language History, Dialects, and Finno-Ugric Languages at the Institute of the Estonian Language, takes on the role of Secretary. Her leadership in Estonian language research brings valuable perspectives on Finno-Ugric linguistics and name studies.
Webmaster and Information Officer: Žaneta Dvořáková
Dr. Dvořáková, who completed her PhD in literary onomastics, brings a wealth of experience to her role as Webmaster and Information Officer. Her research into minor place names and Czech surname etymology is complemented by her work as executive editor of Acta onomastica and her popular radio broadcasts on Czech surnames.
Postgraduate Representative: Milla Juhonen
Milla Juhonen, a Doctoral Researcher at the University of Helsinki, represents the next generation of onomastic scholars. Her work, supported by grants, spans Finnish, Finno-Ugrian, and Scandinavian studies, ensuring the voices of young researchers are heard within ICOS.
Non-Executive Members:
The non-executive members further enrich the board with global expertise:
Fatemeh Akbari (Vienna, Austria) specializes in Persian terminology and language projects.
Erzsébet Győrffy (University of Debrecen, Hungary) brings insights from Hungarian linguistics.
Chrismi-Rinda Loth (University of the Free State, South Africa) contributes research in linguistic landscapes and toponymy in Africa.
Márcia Sipavicius Seide (Unioeste, Brazil) offers a deep understanding of Portuguese linguistics and onomastics.
Together, this distinguished board is poised to guide ICOS toward continued excellence in onomastic research and knowledge-sharing across linguistic and cultural borders. We look forward to the innovative projects and scholarly collaborations that will emerge under their leadership.
