MEMORIA Y CIVILIZACIÓN 24 (2021): 671-674 [1-4] [ISSN: 1139-0107; ISSN-e: 2254-6367]

Felecan, Oliviu & Alina Bugheșiu, Names and Naming. Multicultural Aspects, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2021, 490p. ISBN: 978-3-030-73185-4. 145,59€ &

Notes on Contributors. List of Figures. List of Tables. 1. Introduction (Oliviu Felecan adn Alina Bugheșiu). PART I. NAMING POLICIES, TRENDS AND PRACTICES IN THE CONTEXT OF MULTICULTURALISM. 2. Multicultural Aspects of Names and Naming in the United States (Frank Nuessel). 3. Hamburguesas and Enchiritos: How Multicultural Are American Fast-Food Names? (Laurel Sutton). 4. Policy of Name and Naming: Multicultural Aspects (Justyna B. Walkowiak). 5. Multicultural Aspects of Names and Naming in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church: The Thematic Group “the Names of New Saints” (Halyna Matsyuk). 6. Multicultural Aspects of Name and Naming in Russian Post-Soviet Streetscapes (Marina Golomidova). 7. Multicultural and National Anthroponymicon: Orthodox Name Versus Neo-pagan Pseudonym (Sergey Goryaev and Olga Olshvang). 8. Multicultural Influences on Russian Nicknaming Practices (Anna Tsepkova). 9. Multicultural Patronymic Landscapes of Naming in Russia, France, Germany, Great Britain and Romania (Eugen Schochenmaier). 10. Transylvania – An Anthroponymic Perspective (Oliviu Felecan). 11. Multicultural Aspects of Names and Naming in Hungarian Anthroponymy (Mariann Slíz). 12. Multicultural Aspects of Name and Naming in Pre-conquest Times and Catholic and Protestant Churches from Hungary: A Comparative Perspective. (Andrea Bölcskei). 13. Multicultural Features in Scandinavian Toponymy (Staffan Nyström). 14. Multicultural Aspects of Name and Naming in Contemporary Italian Anthroponymy (Davide Astori). 15. Multicultural Aspects of Name and Naming in a Postcolonial Word (Marie A. Rieger). 16. Onomastic Multiculturalism: Anthroponymy and Toponymy in South Africa (Bertie Neethling). 17. Multicultural Aspects of Names and Naming in the Arab World (Wafa Abu Hatab). 18. The Formation of a Multicultural Society in Japan: An Observation of the Names of Shops and Signboards (Kazuko Tanabe and Yuan Jiang). PART II. NAMING AS A FORM OF IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION IN MULTICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 19. Names and Naming in the Iberian Peninsula. Joan Coromines’ Intercultural Approach in Onomastics (Joan Tort-Donada). 20. Between Cultural Heritage and Marketing: German Place Names in Post-Communist Czechia (Jaroslav David and Tereza Klemensová). 21. Multiculturalism in Polish Toponymy (Barbara Czopek-Kopciuch). 22. Multicultural Aspects of Names and Naming Reflected in German Brands (Angelika Bergien). 23. Italian Brand Names as Mirrors of Multicultural Aspects (Paola Cotticelli-Kurras). 24. Names of Street Food Vendors in Romania: Between Locality and Globality (Alina Bugheşiu). 25. The Contribution of the Greek Catholic Church to the Multicultural Diversification of Transylvanian Anthroponymy (Daiana Felecan and Nicolae Felecan). Multicultural Aspects Names and Naming in Russian Toponymy (Vladislav Alpatov). 27. Multicultural Aspects of Name and Naming in African Cultures: The Case of Kenya and Zimbabwe (Tendai Mangena and Solomon Waliaula). 28. Multicultural Aspects of Name and Naming in Nigeria: A Sociolinguistic Study (Idowu Odebode). 29. Multicultural Aspects of Names and Naming in American Literature (Alleen Pace Nilsen and Don L. F. Nilsen). 30. Multiculturalism in Shakespeare’s Names (Grant W. Smith). Author Index. Subject Index.

Recent years have seen the subject of multiculturalism across several disciplines. The collective work we review, by two renowned specialists in Onomastics, tackles multiculturalism in relation to both names and the act of naming in three different spheres: anthroponyms, toponyms and chrematonyms. Felecan and Bugheșiu have brought together 29 research works from 17 countries. Most of the works are from the field of linguistics, although there is also room for those from an ethnographic, geographic, literary or marketing perspective. The authors are from vastly different environments and generations: from young academics just embarking on their careers to emeritus professors. This diversity explains how, together with the use of traditional sources, the different chapters of the book use other alternative sources, such as names used on social media, the information provided by restaurants on their boards and menus and the Anthroponymy of classical and contemporary literary works. It all allows for an interesting and much needed sharing of perspectives within the subject.

There are also definitions offered by various authors for the very concept of multiculturalism. Barbara Czopek-Kopciuk, in her work on multiculturalism in Polish toponymy, provides two such definitions of the concept offered by P. Sztompka: firstly, as the “multiplicity and heterogeneity of cultures, both in terms of following one another in a historical dimension, as well as coexisting contemporaneously”, and secondly, as “an ideological standpoint that highlights the right of different communities to lead different ways of life and which even goes so far as to advocate full equality between all cultures” (Sztompka 2005: 255, orig. Polish) (p. 331). Several researchers look at the relationship between multiculturalism and multilingualism and multiethnicity; Marina Golomidova, in her chapter on street names in post-Soviet Russia, underlines how “[i]n a multiethnic state, multiculturalism means, first of all, the preservation of the cultural identity of the peoples and ethnic groups living in it”; concluding that “[c]ities become regulators of multicultural relations, as they determine the degree of freedom in expressing the identity of representatives of different cultures” (p. 85). Angelika Bergien, for her part, looks at German brand names, noting that “the disproportionate dominance of English in German brand names […], does not reflect the true multilingualism of the country” (p. 350). Referring to the multiculturalism in Scandinavian toponymy and the growing number of English language elements therein, Staffan Nyström states that “… one language being replaced by another ―English― is hardly, I would argue, a sign of linguistic or cultural diversity” (p. 201).

The act of naming is inextricably linked with the historical, political and cultural processes of a people or country. In this regard, particularly significant moments in the works analysed by Felecan and Bugheșiu are, together with the end of two world wars, the post-colonial phase, the collapse of the communist bloc, and the end of apartheid in South Africa. These events were accompanied by a change in the elites in these countries and, sometimes, changing borders, migration and collectivisation programmes, with the resulting change in cultural references. As a result, sometimes, the scenarios that arise from these processes can be multicultural, multiethnic and multilingual; the new situation often also calls for new names. The volume looks at some examples of “battles for history” that invite us to reflect on similar situations experienced today, or in the past, in other countries. For example, in the wake of the fall of a non-democratic political regime, new toponyms are often assigned in accordance with the new reality, in a process that must be moulded so as not to fall into a game of commemoration and decommemoration.

In contrast with the official nature of anthroponyms and toponyms, chrematonyms are expressed with greater freedom, immediacy and informality, making them indicators of the models and trends at play in society. Particular attention is dedicated to the brand names of certain types of fast food, both in the United States (Laurel Sutton) and in Germany (Angelika Bergien) and Romania (Alina Bugheșiu), as well as retail outlets in Japan (Kazuko Tanabe and Yuan Jiang). The loans and adaptations, successful or failed, allow us to take the pulse of new trends and are undoubtedly an interesting field of study. Bergien describes the German linguistic landscape of brand names very well, discussing brand names and how some could be applied to countries on any continent: “[i]nternationally, English seems stereotyped with a number of associations such as modernity, internationalism or cosmopolitanism, trendiness and success” (pp. 350-351).

Several contributions to this volume also identify the importance of religion as a factor of change, especially in anthroponymy. Examples are those dedicated to Ukraine (Halyna Matsyuk), Romania (Oliviu Felecan; Daiana Felecan and Nicolae Felecan) and Hungary (Mariann Slíz; Andrea Bölcskei). Some of these contributions analyse the impact of Christianisation over a long historical period, and, in some cases, the role played by certain religious denominations on the preservation of national identity. Nor is there any forgetting the phenomenon of secularisation and even neo-paganism as a new religion, as seen in Sergy Goryaev and Olga Olshvang's study of Russia. The consequences of the process of secularisation are clearly felt in the anthroponymy or Russia. According to Goryaev and Olshvang, “[n]eo-paganism is deliberately ethnic, national, and the traditional Russian onomasticon is international, so the adoption of a neo-pagan name, as its bearer thinks, is an act of affirming national culture to spite multiculturalism” (p. 102). Meanwhile, in the case of Hungary, Bölcskei argues that the implementation of a state birth register in 1895 reduced the influence of religious denominations in the naming of newly baptised children; progressive secularisation has ultimately led to the differences between the onomastic habits of Catholics and Protestant followers of the Reformed Church, so markedly clear in the past, being gradually eliminated while at the same time the stock has grown with names from different sources, sometimes from the same Hungarian tradition (pp. 190-192).

The five works dedicated to Africa are worthy of special mention. They reveal the multiculturalism in places like Kenya and Zimbabwe (Tendai Mangena and Solomon Waliaula) and Nigeria (Idowu Odebode), analysed through an interesting collection of sources, including family genealogies (Mangena and Waliaula). Odebode states, citing Soyinka, “naming is a critical business in traditional African society because names comprise meaning and history apart from being intimations of hope and affirmations of origins” (p. 439). The fact that people's names carry meaning, and are in fact rich in information, differentiates these societies from European, although the trend of assigning English names as an element of prestige also reveals the same trend observed on other continents. Mangena and Waliaula also underline the unequal exchange of loan words between western cultures and indigenous African cultures. Many Africans have English names, but it is strange to find examples of where the opposite is the case, and the authors put this in the context of colonial attitudes (pp. 425-426).

In summary then, it is a collection of works that constitutes a great step forwards for the discipline of Onomastics, in subject matter and in terms of the sources and methodology. Multiculturalism is approached from a rich variety of perspectives, in societies that have generally undergone major transformations over the course of the 20th century. It must be noted that Eastern Europe is more represented than Western Europe. Works on Latin America are conspicuous in their absence. It is a continent that has received several waves of migration from the different parts of the world, and one with a wealth of creativity in its onomastic corpus. With the increasing interest of researchers in this region and resulting increase in publications, we can expect that Latin America will receive more attention in works like these in the future.

Oliviu Felecan is Professor of Faculty of Letters at the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. He has written widely in the feld of onomastics including six books as (co-)author, thirteen volumes as (co-)editor, and over a hundred and thirty studies (in journals, proceedings, and books from sixteen countries). As of January 2019, he is Editor-in-Chief of Onoma, the journal of the International Council of Onomastic Sciences. Alina Bugheşiu is Lecturer in the Faculty of Letters at the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Her research interests consist of onomastics, referential semantics, semiotics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, applied linguistics, pragmatics and discourse analysis. Her PhD thesis has been published in the UK: Trade Names in Contemporary Romanian Public Space (Cambridge 2015).

Ana Zabalza Seguín

University of Navarra