• Celebrate Your Name Week Update
• MON Original Research Begins to Map Workplace Impacts
• Disappearing Naming Rights - Just A Tagging Gag?
• Upcoming Events

Have You Celebrated Your Name Lately?

In early March, communities across North America and the UK marked Celebrate Your Name Week, an annual invitation to reflect on the stories, meanings, and experiences carried by names.

Celebrate Your Name Week started as an initiative of Jerry Hill, an American name enthusiast. In the early days of the internet, Jerry created a mindbogglingly extensive website celebrating names - and in the days before social media, spread the holiday worldwide through sheer exuberance!

This year, the Museum of Names partnered with the Names Alliance to create a library resource packet designed for easy use in schools, libraries, and community settings. What came next? In the month prior, it was downloaded by dozens of libraries in the U.S., Canada, and the UK. With activities ranging from storytelling to author talks to pronunciation practice, these libraries sparked invaluable community conversations.

We’re already receiving requests for updates for next year. Mark your calendars for March 7-13, 2027!

And if you missed it - you don’t have to wait. Take some time and celebrate your name today!

MON RESEARCH REVEALS:

Names Mean More in the Workplace than You Might Think

We announced the Museum of Names LinkedIn page in the last issue of the Big Name, and already important patterns and surprises are starting to emerge from its growing collection of firsthand accounts.

Some of the findings confirm what you might expect:

• Mispronunciation can make people feel othered in the workplace - and in the English-speaking world, particularly burdens people with non-English names;

• Marital name change continues to impose invisible professional challenges, particularly upon women;

• Traditional ideas of ownership and authorship are being challenged by AI, as professionals grapple with what signing their name to something really means.

But there are also encouraging signs of change. Take the recent note by a Canadian barrister who delightedly posted a photograph of a government form to register her upcoming trial appearance. The form provided space for all parties to share their name pronunciation - demonstrating how easy it can sometimes be to make our workplaces more inclusive.

Other patterns are more surprising. One emerging theme is the extent of friction between names and technology. From database constraints to autofill errors to system-imposed “corrections,” digital environments shape and sometimes distort names, often in ways that go unnoticed until something goes wrong.

Individually, these moments may seem minor. Taken together, they point to something larger: names are not just personal—they are infrastructure.

And we are only just beginning to map the terrain.

Do you have any workplace name stories to share? Please do! Reply to this newsletter or connect with the Museum LinkedIn page.

Name Your Price - Or Price Your Name?

AS SEEN ON LINKEDIN TODAY - April 1, 2026

It’s all for sale.

What if for just a small donation, or smidge of coercion, you could establish your legacy, demonstrate your power, and see your name in lights?

You can, of course. That’s the power of a name.

A Museum of Names April Fool’s joke on LinkedIn seeks to make exactly that point. For one day only, readers can impose a name on Museum property, such as:

• 𝗧𝗵𝗲 [𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙉𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙚] 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗱𝗲 (𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘺) •

• 𝗧𝗵𝗲 [𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙉𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙚] 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 (𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘣𝘰𝘹) •

• 𝐓𝗵𝗲 [𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙉𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙚] 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 (𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳) •

• 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝘂𝗹𝗳 𝗼𝗳 [𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙉𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙚] (𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥!)

“Take up your metaphorical spray can and tag profusely,” I invited. “Mark your territory like my dog.”

Strangely, no one has taken me up on it… yet.

But this April Fool’s Day gag serves as a reminder that names are an axis of power - and that’s no joke.

COMING UP . . .

Recent presentations by the Museum of Names have included the American Camp Association Northeast Conference and the Brandeis National Committee Miami-Dade Chapter. The Museum makes keynote presentations and workshops available in person and via Zoom. If you have a group that might benefit, reach out!

Next up:

🎟️ Name Fluency Mini-Workshop (Zoom) (Free)
🗓️ Thursday, April 7, 2026 | 1:00–1:45pm EST
🧠 Learn how names shape trust, identity, and belonging
👉 Reserve Your Free Spot

THANK YOU!

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