Names Tell Stories: What do yours say?

What do the names around you make you feel or imagine? Place names aren’t just signposts – they carry the languages, histories, and cultures that have shaped a community. Street names might recall battles or coronations, honour local people, or follow themes like flowers and trees. Everywhere you look, names tell stories about belonging and identity. This session invites you to pause and notice the names around you – and consider how they shape our understanding of the places where we live. The workshop will consist of a short quiz where you can show off your local knowledge, followed by a talk on the histories and cultures these names reflect, with time for questions and discussion.

Dr Maggie Scott is Associate Dean Academic for the School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology at the University of Salford, where she has taught English Literature and English Language since 2008. She formerly worked as a lexicographer for the Historical Thesaurus of English at the University of Glasgow, the Oxford English Dictionary, and Scottish Language Dictionaries in Edinburgh. She was editor of Nomina, the Journal of the Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland, from 2008-2013, and has written the ‘Onomastics’ section for the Year’s Work in English Studies since 2015. Her research interests include Onomastics (name studies), the History and Lexicography of English and Scots, and contemporary uses of the Scots Language, and she regularly publishes on these topics.

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