Seit Jahren steige ich am Magdeburger Hauptbahnhof ein und aus. Wenn dann die Ansage kommt, man sei in Magdeburg, kann man immer wieder bei einigen Fahrgästen ein ironisches Grinsen erkennen. Warum? Nun, in dem bei der Deutschen Bahn offenbar zentral erstellten Ansagetext wird Magdeburg mit langem -a- gesprochen, so wie auch das Wort Magd im Allgemeinen im Hochdeutschen artikuliert wird. Dieses kleine Beispiel ist für die Frage nach der Herkunft und Bedeutung des Ortsnamens Magdeburg von einiger Bedeutung, zeigt es doch, dass der Ortsname natürlich mit dem Wort Magd in Verbindung gebracht wird. Man spricht in derartigen Fällen bekanntlich von volksetymologischen Umdeutungen oder – vor allem in der Leipziger Onomastik – von (scheinbarer) sekundärer semantischer Motivierung. Im Fall von Magdeburg ist die Annahme, es liege das Wort Magd zugrunde, in fast einmaliger Weise seit Jahrhunderten nachgewiesen.

The names of the months corresponding to December in the Gothic calendar – jiuleis, in the English calendar as described by Bede – Giuli, and in the Old Icelandic semester-reckoning (misseristal) calendar – Ýlir, are cognates. I suggest that this occurrence is not a coincidence. I propose that certain features found in those calendars raise the possibility they are descendants of the Jubilees calendar, as formulated in the pseudepigraphical books of 1 Enoch and Jubilees.

The question “What is a name?” is often answered in different ways and out of extreme positions (from: names are “meaningless marks” unto: names have “the greatest number of attributes”). In this article the formal and semantic aspects of a name are discussed in comparison with those of a word. Name-giving and name-usage are subjects of consideration and ‒ in addition to that ‒ the traditional sentence “nomen est omen” is discussed.

The term distinctive signs refers to trademarks, geographical Indications and appellations of Origin, Domain and other Names. EU law only provides rules on trademarks and geographical indications. All other characteristics and distinctive signs are subject to the national legislation. European trademark law and harmonized national trademark law in principle permit the registration of any sign as a trademark. In particular, all kinds of words, including personal names have the general capacity to constitute a trademark. The protection afforded by registration is however dependent on whether the concrete sign shows distinctiveness to which products or services it relates and alludes to its business origins. General terms or descriptive terms do not always provide sufficient distinctiveness to a sign. The combined use however of those general terms with descriptive terms can indeed be registered because they constitute a distinguishable identity. Artistic terms contrarily are mostly advantageous. Upon registration of a certain sign the owner obtains an exclusive right and as proprietor is the only one permitted to use said sign for labelling his / her products or services with the terms provided at registration. Trademark law stipulates use of a sign not only in relation to its respective product / services but also in relation to similar products / services where there is a likelihood of confusion to the consumer. Famous trademarks are in addition protected from measures of image transfers. The owner of the trademark can take actions against both the actual usage of identical signs or signs which induse confusion, and / or to achieve removal of a violating sign which is itself registered as a trademark. It is still possible to use one’s own name in business operations although a third party has previously registered it as a trademark or as a part of a trademark, as long as it is only used within reasonable habits of trade so that the identity or similarity will not be misused to gain the reputation of said third party’s trademark. It is possible to use third party trademarks to for the purpose of identifying or referring to goods or services as those of the proprietor of that trade mark, in particular, where the use of that trade mark is necessary to indicate the intended purpose of a product or service, in particular as accessories or spare parts.

Surnames can be analyzed from three perspectives: as a linguistic sign (M+o+z+a+r+t), as a feature related to an individual (Leopold Mozart), or as a feature of a group (Leopold, Wolfgang, Konstanze Mozart). In this article, juridical regulations concerning these three aspects are discussed with special focus on the linguistic perspective. It is shown in which way juridical regulations influence the identification function of names and how they can lead to the impoverishment or the extension of a language’s surname inventory. From a linguist’s viewpoint, it is advisable to relax the strict juridical regulations relating to the use of personal names. Introducing personal numbers would facilitate this process.

Until the 18th century the name of a natural person was not a legal issue in Germany. The determination of a person’s name – first and family name – was rather a matter of custom. According to Roman tradition which German law adopted generally it was allowed to change the name without any involvement of the State – no person was legally bound to his or her previous name. The article describes the development to a legal regulation of personal names by the State and describes the rules currently in force in Germany. It is shown that the first name of a child is determined by the (relatively) free choice of the parents, while the child himself is bound to the given name normally through all his life. A change of name is allowed only on the basis of an administrative decision of an authority which requires the person to show an important reason for the change of his or her name. The family name is also set by law. Traditionally, the name of the husband was transferred to the wife. This approach violated the principle of equal rights of men and women guaranteed by the German constitution of the 20th century. The article reports on legal reforms which introduced step-by-step a rather surprising freedom of choice for married couples in the determining their marital name.

British personal names from a linguistic perspective. ‒ On the Continent, names have been heavily regulated since the 19th century. In Great Britain, on the other hand, acquiring and changing a name are governed by custom rather than law, although some legal rules exist for the names of legal entities. In its first part, this article considers how natural persons acquire (1.1.) and change (1.2.) their name in Great Britain. It also discusses three – potentially conflicting – interests that might be affected by a change of name, i.e. the interests of the public and in particular the state; the interests of other persons bearing the same name; and the interests of parents in the case of a minor child’s change of name (1.3.). In its second part, the article deals with the names of legal entities (2.). It concludes with a short resumé.

I present the essentials of my thinking about names over the last 20 years, stimulated mainly from a historical linguistic point of view to think about the question of how expressions which are not names etymologically come to be used as names. The resultant theoretical approach, The Pragmatic Theory of Properhood (TPTP), is intended to be valid for names in all categories: place-names, personal names, business names, and so on. As regards the law, personal names and business names form the most interesting categories, but I draw most of my examples from the categories of names applying to persons. I set out what seem from the perspective of TPTP to be the most important linguistic questions about the nature of names that may have legal implications, and the answers to which may vary in different jurisdictions. These questions are framed with personal names in mind, but some may apply also in the case of businesses.

Using examples taken from historical name inventories, focusing on Portugal and France, this paper delineates mechanisms of name-giving (or better naming) as a result of administrative practice without any legal basis. An analysis by social classes (middle and under classes, aristocracy, foundlings, among others) demonstrate significant differences.

This article deals with problems related to the tradition of name evidences in written documents. Those written sources functioning as mediating medium for the variant types of the names, have a specific context of origin and tradition, which makes its use for the etymological derivation problematic. Taking the example of the written evidences cited in the German Book of Water Names edited by Albrecht Greule for the rivers Milde, Biese and Aland, the importance of a source-critical analysis for every single document used there shall be shown. The aim of the study is not only to provide new insights into the etymological derivation of the river names in the Altmark, but also to illustrate the importance of an interdisciplinary approach in onomatology.