International Council of Onomastic Sciences

The International Council of Onomastic Sciences (ICOS) is an international academic organization of scholars with a special interest in onomastics, the scientific study of names (e.g. place-names, personal names, and proper names of all other kinds). The official languages of ICOS are English, French, and German.

Members research the origin and history of names, the personal name-systems used by different cultures, the demographic patterns of names in different societies, the use and significance of names of characters in literature, brand-name creation, and many related topics in the naming of persons, places, institutions, works of art, and other miscellaneous objects. They are also involved in practical projects such as the international standardization of geographical names. The aim of ICOS (as opposed to the many national societies for name-study) is the advancement, representation and co-ordination of name-research on an international level and in an interdisciplinary context. To that end, it is engaged in the publication of research and the development of research tools as described below. The Council's members are drawn from disciplines such as linguistics and philology, history, sociology, anthropology, psychology, geography and literary research. This organization has replaced the former International Committee of Onomastic Sciences, which was a closed society consisting exclusively of co-opted representatives of countries. The former body was therefore not open to individual scholars as the present one is.

ICOS publishes the annual journal ONOMA, which is its official publication. ONOMA is managed by a General Editor in conjunction with an Editorial Board. It contains topical research reports as well as basic theoretical articles concerning all areas of scholarly name research. Presently, each issue is thematic, and has a guest editor. ICOS also publishes an irregular newsletter. ISSN 0078-463X.

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