The aim of the article is to analyse the basic functions of proper names. Their main function is the identifying function. Less common are the expressive and impressive functions of proper names.

The subject of the article is the occurrence of dialectal features in Internet nicknames. The analysis was carried out on the basis of about 2500 nicknames that contained dialectal features. The names were obtained within the years 2012–2015. In the analysis, linguistic areas were indicated in which we may notice the influence of local dialects on that layer of the Internet anthroponymy. The influence of local dialects is visible in the fact that the Internet users reach for traditional folk names as well as name models related to the folk manner of identifying a human being, e.g. Jagatka, Jantecek, Janielka od Genowefy, Cesiek z Tuchowa. Apart from references to folk anthroponymy, the Internet nicknames reflect the influence of local dialect lexis (e.g. gzub, graślok, fusyt), phonetics (janiol, Carownica, lokrutny loptymista), inflection (Śpisok z Łapsof, ciupaga lod tater) and word-formation, e.g. (rzemyszek, cwaniuk).

The article directly and indirectly refers to anthropological and philosophical texts which strive to discover and present the gender factor as important in the light of the humanities. The author refers to “Literackie nie-nazywanie. Onomastykon polskiej prozy wspolczesnej” (Literary Not-naming. Onomasticon of the modern Polish prose) by Magdalena Graf and indicates the femininity factor as a relevant one also in onomastics.

A proper noun as a nomination, identification, delimination and sociopragmatic unit acquires a specific mandate in media communication. Within this communication, proper nouns operate as a vehicle contributing to a reduction of verbal proxemics among a media product, mediator and the audience, which is created through colloquialization procedures. The reduction of proxemics is generally reflected in the media structures that are not based on visual code, considering the genetictypological aspect. From this field a proper noun transits to print in a broader concept, which is not infrequently supported by teletechnologies. In media communication, and also in the segment of serious (non-tabloid) print, we can thus observe reinforcing tendencies of spontaneity, non-officiality, familiarity, joviality, tendencies, (self-)presentation, manipulation and persuasion. All of these tendencies have not occurred in this type of print until recently, or they have been represented only in trace amounts. The aim of this paper is to synergistically outline the sources, manifestations and consequences of the activation of colloquialization of proper nouns in “the media landscape.”

The paper deals with geographical names in Silesia deriving from the names of tree species. An analysis of the names derived from appellatives, allows for a reconstruction of the categorization methods of the world, anthropological conceptualization, and a popular image of reality. Name creators choose names derived from the appellatives which are for certain reasons important and valuable for them, from the existing collection of names. For example, the following names of trees and shrubs become a productive toponymic base: oak, birch, alder; they belong to the basic categorization level and are important for the rural community due to their usable and practical significance (in construction and economy), as well as medicinal and ritual-religious significance. Suffixes, fulfilling the function of creating new words and names, indicate the methods of categorization; they draw attention to categories such as collectivity (e.g. Dębie, Buken), size (Brzezinke, Grabinka), description of the object (Lipica, Birkberg), place and direction (Na Jedlinie, Do Dęba).

The article presents the names bestowed on Polish children in Lithuania after 1990, a topic which merited little scholarly attention to date. First, by way of introduction, the specific Lithuanised written forms of these names are described and compared with their standard Polish and Lithuanian equivalents. The naming trends are then analysed on the basis of three sets of data: the top ten male and female names among Lithuanian Poles (as compared with those in Lithuania and in Poland) in the years 1991, 2000, 2010 and 2013; the names of 1284 students, all born after 1990, from fifteen Polish-language schools in Lithuania; finally, the names given in the years 1991–2011 to children in the municipality of Salčininkai (Soleczniki), where the percentage of Poles is the highest in Lithuania. Interviews with members of the Polish minority in Lithuania, focusing on naming issues, have also been used for fact-finding. The research shows that the name choices of Poles in Lithuania are becoming increasingly different from those in Poland, yet not exactly convergent with Lithuanian trends. Poles almost never use names of Lithuanian origin and prefer instead simple names, not necessarily of Polish origin, that look in writing almost the same in Polish and in Lithuanian. Especially striking among these are Germanic names, such as Edward, Ernest, Eryka, Greta, never particularly popular in Poland.