The names tag has no wiki summary.
5
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0answers
83 views
Morphology of proper names
I'm wondering if there are any general morphological properties of proper names. If a word is used as a name, it will be constrained by whatever syntactic constraints that language uses from proper ...
1
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1answer
102 views
What is the origin of the name “Condoleezza”?
I wonder whether the original form of this name should be "Condolencia"?
3
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3answers
291 views
Why do Richard and Robert become Dick and Bob?
Is there a phonological reason for this change?
I know there are names where, when clipped, there is /r/ in coda position. For example:
Derek > Der
Sarah > Sar
Harold > Har
So in non-rhotic ...
3
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0answers
85 views
Was there a Greek or Latin name spelled “Jesus” or similarly before the advent of Christianity?
Many of the originally Barbarian names in history were Christianized. Many Christian saints with Slavic/Germanic names were given similar-sounding Greek and Latin names. In this way "Kuzma" ...
5
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1answer
178 views
Why do we call some countries a different name than the people of that country?
For example, in English we say Germany, Japan, and China but they say Deutschland, Nihon, and Zhongguo respectively.
If we change the names because they are difficult to say or spell outside of their ...
3
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0answers
61 views
Correct Alexamenos Graffito Translation
I am researching the "Alexamenos Graffito" from Rome and the various opinions of what the correct translation of the Greek inscription should be.
I know some believe it is "Alexamenos worships (his) ...
15
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2answers
334 views
Are there any languages or cultures that have genderless given names?
In the U.S. where I live it is possible to be right almost all of the time when guessing the sex of a person from his or her given name: Ronald, George (Sand and Elliot notwithstanding), William, ...
8
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1answer
154 views
How to identify character names in a body of text?
I'm trying to research methods of identifying or pattern matching names of characters in a novel or a general body of text, but so far my search has been unsuccessful, since "character" refers to ...
3
votes
3answers
343 views
Gender-based name endings: Are they common?
For instance, if an English name ends in -a, it's likely female. But English has no grammatical gender, and there is no general requirement that nouns in -a refer to women. It seems like in English ...
1
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1answer
86 views
Are Ivar and Álvaro etymologically the same?
I have heard that the Spanish name Álvaro is of Germanic origin. So I began wondering where it might be preserved in the Germanic languages. After some thought I came up with the Scandinavian name ...
21
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10answers
858 views
Articles before the name of a person
In the question “La” or “le” before a person's name? on the French SE site, the asker refers to the phenomenon that in some rural/dialect settings the first name of a person is preceded by the ...
16
votes
4answers
69 views
Why was מֹשֶׁה transliterated as [moʊzɨz]?
How did the name "מֹשֶׁה" come to be transliterated with a [z] at the end?
The OED entry notes that "Moses" derives from Biblical Hebrew "Mōšeh" and that the earliest attestations with a strident ...
