Full Title: Migration Onomastics: Personal Names in the Context of Migration Movements // Migrationsonomastik: Personennamen im Kontext von Wanderungsbewegungen

Date: 29-Sep-2025 - 01-Oct-2025
Location: Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz, Germany
Contact Person: Anne Rosar
Meeting Email: [email protected]
Web Site: https://www.namenforschung.net/tagungen/migrationsonomastik-personennamen-im-kontext-von-wanderbewegungen/

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics; General Linguistics; Historical Linguistics; Sociolinguistics; Translation
Subject Language(s): English (eng)
German (deu)

Call Deadline: 31-Mar-2025

Meeting Description:

We invite you to the 10th Mainz Name Conference "Migration Onomastics" which will take place from September 29 to October 1, 2025, at the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz. The goal is to examine anthroponyms in connection with linguistic biographies and migration processes. (A full version of the following Call for Papers is posted on our website.) // Wir laden zur 10. Mainzer Namentagung „Migrationsonomastik“ ein, die vom 29.9.–1.10.2025 in der Akademie der Wissenschaften stattfindet. Ziel ist, Anthroponyme in Verbin-dung mit Sprachbiografien und Migrationsprozessen zu untersuchen. (Der vollständige Call for Papers in deutscher Sprache findet sich auf unserer Website.)

Call for Papers:

Questions related to migration have increasingly become an established field of linguistic research in recent years (see the 2024 introduction "Migration Linguistics"). The focus is on multilingualism, variation, and language contact. However, personal names have so far been overlooked, despite their central role in migration processes: During migration, given and/or family names are retained, adapted, or abandoned. Thus, names tell individual or group-specific migration stories. Anthroponyms can act as markers for migration, potentially leading to stereotyping or discrimination, e.g., in the job market or in housing searches. The conference builds on the results and research perspectives of the international workshop "Personennamen in Migration" which took place at the University of Münster in 2023. The aim is to discuss grammatical adaptation processes, transliteration, situational-pragmatic variation, or changes in given, family, or both:

- Grammatical Integration Processes: What adaptations have personal names undergone in language contact areas such as Alsace, Silesia, Bohemia, or the Sorbian settlement area? How can the geography of names shed light on migration movements? What changes occur with the transfer to another script system (e.g., from Cyrillic or Greek to the Latin alphabet)? How are Chinese characters transferred? Are foreign graphemes or diacritics retained or replaced (İlkay Gündoğan vs. Ilkay Gündogan)? What adaptations does the full name undergo when moving from a three-name to a two-name or even a single-name system? Are Eastern Slavic patronyms such as Ivanovich/Ivanovna (‘son/daughter of Ivan’) retained or discarded? How is the typical Chinese name order (family name before given name) handled? How are gender-marked family names treated? (e.g., Greek Zervakis/Zervaki) What characteristics do personal names in German varieties outside Europe exhibit, such as Namdeutsch in Namibia (Zimmer 2021), Pennsylvania Dutch in North America, Volga German in Argentina, or Riograndenser Hunsrückisch in Brazil?

- Situational Variation or Complete Name Change: Under what conditions does a name change occur during migration? According to what criteria is a new name chosen? How do characteristics of the source and target languages and their name inventories influence this decision? What given names do migrants give their children? Do the old and new names coexist, are they varied situationally? Do personal names become in-group/out-group markers? For example, migrants of Russian-German origin were encouraged to adapt or change their names in the 1980s and 1990s (e.g., Jewgenij > Eugen). The old name often continued to exist within the family, while the new one was used for external communication. Which family name do intercultural couples choose upon marriage? What influence do national or ethnic origin and other social distinctions like gender have? What family name do children receive? To what extent does a name change mark a break in a personal (linguistic) biography?

- Legal or Ideological Framing: To what extent do names act as markers of ethnicity or migration? Is a name change intrinsically or extrinsically motivated? What role do strategies to avoid discrimination play? What language or naming ideologies are evident in the context of migration? How common are adaptations imposed by authorities? How do legal regulations influence name changes and name choices (cf. the mandatory name change when becoming an Icelandic citizen until 1996)?

Abstracts (maximum 400 words) should be submitted by March 31, 2025, to [email protected]. Presentations (30 minutes + 10 minutes discussion) can be held in German or English.