Traditions in onomastics have become a marginal topic in the German-speaking academic landscape, often associated with a long history of research, but also with outdated methods and resources, as well as publication and access options that are not always up to date. This linguistic discipline hardly plays a role in academic life anymore, which is reflected not least in the disappearance of onomastic teaching content from university curricula. Even many digitally based projects achieve only limited visibility. Over time, however, a number of interesting research environments have emerged that process material relevant to onomastics for both academia and the interested public. Volunteers who make their knowledge available for onomastic research are also regularly involved in citizen science activities. Examples of relevant projects include the German Family Name Atlas (DFA) for family name research and the Swiss platform ortsnamen.ch for place name research, as well as field name portals in Thuringia, Hesse and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, among others.

In view of the developments described above, a proposal for a review of the current situation and a reorientation will be made during the Bremen conference. The focus is on new methods of onomastics, research perspectives, current topics, external presentations and the updated processing/development of existing resources and research results. While the presentation of digitally based projects from all areas of onomastics is desirable, studies on names in the digital space, for example, can also be presented. The important thing is the connection to digitality, which encompasses the following possibilities:

1. Digitality of onomastic research methods
2. Digitality of storage, access and publication media for onomastic research results and resources
3. Digitality of media, discourses and forms of communication that produce onomastic subjects or subject areas

Based on this, the following topics are conceivable, for example:

• Presentations of digitally conducted name projects
• Evaluations based on digital projects
• Methods of digital data collection
• Lectures from related disciplines such as computer science, digital humanities, history or geography
• Proposals for technical solutions, especially with regard to the networking of different platforms, and/or visualisation
• Lectures on studies of names in the digital space (websites, chats, forums, etc.), on pseudonyms and (fictitious) toponyms in online multiplayer games or e-sports, on product names for software products/apps, etc. or for technical products associated with access to the digital world
• Metalinguistic discourses, semantic struggles and linguistic landscapes with regard to the (re)naming of public places and streets
• The influence of online collections of first names on the choice of given names
• Digital constructions and negotiations of identity in connection with names and designations (e.g. in the context of postcolonialism, language criticism or minorities)
• Multimodal name constructs and name logos (text-image references, city and region marketing, etc.)

We therefore welcome contributions that present internet portals and databases, as well as studies on names in the digital space and discursive negotiations of naming and designation.

We are planning 20-minute presentations + 10 minutes of discussion. We also want to offer a platform for young academics and cordially invite graduates of relevant degree programmes to present their onomastic topics (even if not related to digitality) in poster form.

We look forward to receiving your topic proposals and ask that you submit an abstract (maximum 300 words, including references) by 31 December 2025 via email to onodig26protect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de.

Further information will follow.