Onomastics

The Town That Fought Over Its Apostrophe

What happens when a local council tries to erase a single punctuation mark from a place name? In the English…

5 days ago

The Telegram That Named a Country

The name "Pakistan" is famously an acronym for the homelands of Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, and Sindh. But a fascinating, debated…

5 days ago

The Butcher, the Baker, the Candlestick Maker

Ever wonder why so many English surnames sound like old jobs? This dive into linguistic history reveals how surnames like…

5 days ago

When Did We Agree on Place Names?

Ever wondered why Bombay became Mumbai, or why The Netherlands is no longer called Holland? The names on our maps…

1 month ago

The Lexicon of the Lab: Inside Scientific Latin

Ever wonder why scientists use a "dead" language to name living things? Scientific Latin is more than just a tradition;…

1 month ago

The Denali Name War: A Mountain’s Identity

For over a century, North America's tallest peak was at the center of a linguistic and cultural war. This is…

4 months ago

The Sailor Who Mistook a Word for an Island

Explore the strange case of "I-da-no", a phantom island that appeared on Japanese maps for decades. This wasn't a sailor's…

4 months ago

Voicing the Gods: A Lost Celtic World

We often encounter Celtic myths in English, but this is like seeing a vibrant world in black and white. The…

4 months ago

The People Who Became Words: A Guide to Eponyms

From 'boycott' to 'sandwich', our language is full of words that were once people's names. This fascinating guide to eponyms…

4 months ago

Why Your Chinese Friend Has an ‘English’ Name

Ever wondered why your friend from Beijing introduces herself as 'Cynthia' instead of 'Xinyi'? This phenomenon is more than just…

4 months ago

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