Den Spitznamen (SpN) als einer spezifischen Art der Benennung wurde im Allgemeinen große Aufmerksamkeit gewidmet. Mehrere Autoren beschäftigen sich mit Struktur, Motivation und Klassifikation nach den verschiedensten Kriterien. Mit MATEJCIK diskutierten wir in den Seminararbeiten über SpN, jedoch schenkte ich Ihnen kaum Aufmerksamkeit, weil mir dieser Bereich schon genug erforscht schien - doch dann interessierte ich mich für die SpN in den slowakischen Dörfern. Durch den Vergleich verschiedener SpN traten allmählich gewisse gemeinsame und unterschiedliche Eigenschaften hervor, und es kamen viele Fragen auf, die ich zu beantworten versuchte.

Nazi ideology marked a new dimension of the political use of place names in Germany - not only in terms of the huge number of renamed places, but also with regard to the quality of the changes. In the 1930's thousands of place names were changed in the Eastern provinces of the Third Reich. The aim underlying these changes was to cleanse the map by erasing Slavonic (Sorbian, Polish) and Baltic historical elements present in those place names. Most of the changes took place in Eastern, Prussia, Upper Silesia and Eastern Pomerania, which today are Polish and Russian territories. Less known is the fact, that there was a considerable number of changes in those territories, that after the Second World War constituated the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany (1949-1990 the German Democratic Republic), especially in the region of Lusatia inhabited by both Germans and Sorbs. Based mainly on archive material, the article looks at the historical background for the ideological use of place names in two totalitarian systems: Nazi Germany and the Stalinist Soviet-occupied zone of Germany. It tries to give an answer to the following questions: Which parts of the territory in question were most affected by the Nazi renaming action? How did Nazi authorities manage to implement the place name changes? How can we classify the changes from an onomastic point of view? How can we explain that only 55% of the Nazi renamings were cancelled after the end of the Second World War? How can we explain the difference between Saxony on the one hand (where nearly 80% of the historical names were restored after the war) and Brandenburg on the other hand (where most of the Nazi names are still official names today)? The central issue for both the implementation of Nazi name changes in the 1930's and for the question of maintaining or rejecting Nazi place names after 1945 seems to be the minority problem, i.e. the German-Sorbian relations. What is most striking for us today is the contrast between official East German antifascist propaganda and the tacit admission of Nazi language symbols to live on not only on the place name signs of towns and villages, but also in the consciousness of the people.

The street names of Bayreuth from the Middle Ages to present days are examined in the context of cultural history. Medieval street names reflect the mentality of the time, the way people viewed the reality of their town. In contrast to modern times, street names were always related to a distinctive feature that proved to be relevant to the people in everyday communication. Street names were not officially given, they were rather „found out', i.e. they emerged from a collective agreement among the users as to what was important for orientation, traffic or trade (Haupt Gaße 'Main Street', Marktgasse 'Market Street', Praytte gaß 'Broad Street', Ochsengasse, after a house owner). A new paradigm that has remained dominant until nowadays appears in the l8th century. Street names are no langer the result of collective perception. They are given by national or local authorities in order to honour distinguished persons (kings and princes, politicians, generals, poets, artists, composers, benefactors) or to remind people of relevant facts (e.g. military victories). Street names, also supported by their fixation in street signs, acquire a new dimension. They are intended to reinforce cultural memory as well as political propaganda. As a reaction to the strong ideologization during the Nazi regime, the street names given in Bayreuth after World War II show, in general, an unpolitical tendency. Numerous street names referring to Richard Wagner, his family and his works clearly reveal the significance of the famous composer for Bayreuth's cultural identity.

Proper names have their history, but they are also a mirror of history. This is especially clear in relation to brandnames. Therefore, they stand in the focus of observation. For example, this can be gathered from the 'Rügener Badejunge” (bathing boy) who appeared on the Camembert chees of recent German history. Invented in Stolp (today's Poland), produced on the Island of Rügen and later the leading brand in die GDR (German Democratic Republic), suspended after the reunification of Germany, and after a renaissance, a renowned brand. The skin cream 'Nivea' had to be renamed 'Skin Cream Containing Fat' in 1943. Lifestyle products such as Kombucha are typical of the present day. The use of food supplements is however, controversial. Other types of names also stand in the context of the times. This becomes especially clear in giving first names. This was marked for its individualization and internationalization by Karlheinz Hengst. In this way, the son of a married couple who were artists, was given the name Liam (the Irish shortform for 'William') and Taj (Sanskrit for 'The wisdom of God'). In addition, in the style of giving first names, one can observe the principle of 'dosed discrepancy' (Jürgen Gerhards): Phonetically similar sounding names are prefered (Christian, Christopher, Christoph, Chris). Greetings an congratulations are transmitted in special columns of daily newspapers. Pet names used in these are of significance, which, in part, are derived from the animal world (Maus, Bär). Such notices ar especially frequent on St. Valentine's Day (14 February). Names used in jokes on the entertainment pages have changed. The traditional figure of jokes 'Fritz' has become rare. Names of the middle generation are more frequent. This essay is dedicated to Karlheinz Hengst, the first Professor of Onomastics in Germany (Leipzig). He also occupied himself in his works with the tendencies in giving modern first names.

The article deals with several problems that are connected with proper names in the translation of literary texts and analyzes translations of J.K. Rowling's bestseller 'Harry Potter'. The results of our investigations respectively comparisons show that it is nearly impossible to preserve all functions of a literary name in a target language text.

This is the second in a series of interviews with Italian writers on literary names. The purpose of this series is to complement the indirect approach of investigating strategies of literary naming in literary texts by directly questioning those who give names to literary characters or places. The interviews are to provide evidence of tendencies in literary naming in contemporary Italian writers. General conclusions will in due course be drawn from the material to be presented in the series. The present interview with Maurizio Maggiani was conducted in Hamburg on 26 April 2002.

With the evaluation of numerous sources for personal and place names in the Niederlausitz (Lower Lusatia) new information also was gained to shed further light on three place names in the Leipzig area. The Niederlausitz place name Kolkwitz and the Leipzig place name Kulkwitz, wich have a very similar historical documentation, originally were traced back to *Kolkovici, from the personal name *Kolk, and also to *Kolkovica, from an appellative *kol, respectively, the diminutive *kolk 'pile, peg, stick, pole'. A more likely possibility is probably *Golkowici, from the personal name *Golk, which has been verified as a frequent family name in Lower Lusatia. Until now one presumed that the hybrid place name Meusdorf was derived from the Sorbian personal name *Mič< Nikolaus. The oldest historical forms- 1245 Mitisdorf, 1254 Mitisdorf, and only in 1339 Miczdorf - would seem to indicate a derivation from a personal name *Mět or *Mětiš. Both are common as family names in the Lausitz. One traced the name Schkölen, a place not far from Leipzig, on the basis of *skol < *sьkolь,, back to kol 'pile' and arrived at the meaning of a 'settlement near or with a palisade rampart', also because there is a circular rampart in the vicinity of the village. We have traced back the Niederlausitz place names Schollen and Schuhlen, which based on a chain of evidence closely correspond to Schkölen, to *Skolin, from the personal name *Skola, which was often used as a family name in the Niederlausitz. This interpretation is most probably also valid for Schkölen. This article once again demonstrates the close relationships between personal names and place names.

There may be different reasons for choosing another name instead of the native family name. The examination covers a large number of pseudonyms of singers in terms of the relationship between the pseudonym on the one hand and the native names on the other. One reason for giving up the original name is the triviality of the family name, as in the case of Schultze, Schwarz, or Krause. Another important reason is that a name may provoke ridicule, as in the case of Krzywonos [crookes nos], Koslowa [goat], Ochsenbein [ox leg], Sülzenfuß [brawn foot]. The names in the last group are so-called 'Schmähnamen', i. e., names, which can be used to defame a person.

Examination of anthroponymic material of Jews from Bialystok shows that surnames of typically nickname charakter include surnames describing man's behaviour, his character, faults and virtues as well as surnames alluding to his physical appearance or physical infirmity. They also include insulting surnames devised by clerks to humiliate. Other surnames made on the basis of an appellative lexis usually relate to biblical events, animal, plant and material symbols and metaphors or serve to hide identity. To establish their nickname nature, unequivocal information about motivation, choice and conferment of such names is necessary.

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