This is a collection of essays selected with the purpose of presenting a picture of the concerns and state of onomastics in America in the closing decades of the 20th Century. Onomastics is the serious study of names and naming. Names are used in all cultures to designate particular persons, places, events, and ideas. This study helps show both universal aspects of human culture and differences between cultures over time and space. The study of names as used in America is relevant for investigating universal patterns and tendencies, as most places in America were named more recently than the older, earlier-settled parts of the world.