Rich Names, Poor Names: Social Status and Naming Patterns in the Middle Ages: CFP

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Rich Names, Poor Names: Social Status and
Naming Patterns in the Middle Ages
Call for Papers
Leeds International Medieval Congress
11 - 14 July 2011
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Onomastics, the study of names and naming practice, has long provided
a useful window into cultural behavior, including differences in
wealth, power, and social standing. In light of the special thematic
focus
"Poor...Rich" for the 2011 International Medieval Congress in Leeds, we
are soliciting paper proposals for inclusion in a session exploring the
relationships between social status and naming patterns in all areas
and times of medieval Europe. Questions which we hope to address in
this session include, but are not limited to:

* How did the names of poor people differ from the names of rich people?
* How did naming patterns disperse from the metropolitan centers into
the country side?
* How did one's occupational status affect one's names?
* How do names express differences in wealth and power?
* What shifts in names and naming practices can we see as people rise
in social rank?
* What effect did (change of) ownership have on names of places?

We are interested in proposals which cover not only personal names, but
also names of places and other non-personal names such as names of
guilds, military companies and orders, ships, university colleges,
clans, heraldic titles, etc.

Proposals for papers (max. 1 page) on any of these or related topics
should be submitted to Sara L. Uckelman at S.L.Uckelman@uva.nl by 15
September 2010. Authors will be notified whether their paper has been
selected for inclusion in the session proposal by 25 September 2010.
Note that papers will only be selected for inclusion in the session
proposal; the final decision of the inclusion of the session rests with
the Congress organizers and will be announced sometime in early November
2010.

For more information about the Leeds Medieval Congress, see
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ims/imc/index.html