The Study of Names as Humor in the Thirty–Nine Years of the Journal Names

Abstract

Perhaps as a reaction against the popular emphasis on the humorous aspect of name study, the journal Names has devoted relatively little space to the study of names as humor. Those scholarly studies that have appeared in the journal over the nearly four decades of its existence include name puzzles, wordplay in names, humorous personal names (especially in the South), euphemisms for Hell, and humorous folkore about specific names.