The aim of the project Latvian Anthroponymic Desiderata: diachronic research of unexplored Latvian given names for global integration and open access (LAnDe) (No. zp-2025/1-0125, project lead Renāte Siliņa-Piņķe) is to bring Latvian personal name material into the international scholarly circle through the study of 13th to 16th century sources that have not been linguistically analysed so far. The plan is (1) to excerpt and systematise given names data from 20 to 25 sources or sets of sources dating from the 13th to 16th century, (2) to carry out a study on the development of Latvian given names during this period on the basis of the obtained material and scientific literature; (3) to publish the results of the study as open access in at least three articles and in a minimum of 300 entries of the electronic Historical Dictionary of Latvian Given Names (LPVV); (4) on the basis of the insights and research gaps identified, prepare and submit a new project application to a national research and development project competition, (5) to improve the search engine of LPVV and to develop an educational game. The planned project outputs: at least three Scopus articles, 300 entries in the LPVV (origin, historical development, source examples, parallel forms, etc.), a new project application, and a digital educational game. The overarching aim of the project is to ensure the continuity of the temporarily interrupted research on personal names in line with the National Language Policy Framework Plan 2021-2027, and to develop an innovative solution in the field of digital humanities that would allow for the development of further solutions in historical research on language.
On April 1, the project manager Renāte Siliņa-Piņķe and the lead researcher Sanda Rapa were guests on the radio program Zināmais nezināmajā (“The Known in the Unknown”), where they spoke about the project, its planned objectives, and what has already been accomplished in the previous phase. By providing examples, the researchers offered insight into the investigated origins and diachronic development of certain given names in Latvia, outlined the history of Latvian personal names, and explained how diverse the development and adaptation of foreign-origin given names can be in the Latvian language.
The recording of the programme is available on the website of Latvian Radio, while a description of the recording is available on the Latvian Public Media news website.
The Data Management Plan (DMP) for the LAnDe project has been prepared and published in the Zenodo repository: https://zenodo.org/records/19051526. The document outlines the principles for the collection, processing, documentation, storage, and publication of the research data, in accordance with FAIR data management principles.
On 20 March, the project participants gathered for a regular meeting to discuss the work completed over the past six weeks and to identify upcoming tasks.
One of the first completed tasks was the creation of the project website in Latvian and English. However, at the initial stage of the project, the main focus has been on excerpting personal names from historical sources in order to ensure the broadest possible material base for the development of the dictionary. In total, the project plans to excerpt and systematize data from at least twenty sources or source collections from the 13th–16th centuries that include Latvian personal names. One of the sources already excerpted is Livländische Güterurkunden (LGU). A small portion of the excerpts still needs to be checked for relevance to the project’s aims. At the same time, it should be noted that a collection of document copies used in compiling Livländische Güterurkunden has been found in the Latvian State Historical Archives. This will make it possible to compare the printed personal name forms in LGU with the “original texts” and potentially supplement LGU data with 16th-century material not included in LGU (post-1545).
During this period, several additional tasks were carried out to facilitate further work. For example, entries from Klāvs Siliņš’s Dictionary of Latvian Personal Names (1990) with first attestations from the 9th–16th centuries were compiled; excerpts from the source Die Libri Redituum der Stadt Riga. Nach den Originalhandschriften herausgegeben von J. G. L. Napiersky (1881) were reviewed and supplemented with possible local personal names; several books necessary for research were digitized; and Lithuanian personal name and surname databases were studied, along with relevant academic literature.
At the same time, work continues on writing and editing entries for the Historical Dictionary of Latvian Personal Names (LPVV). Attention has also been given to reviewing, correcting, and expanding already published entries and LPVV guidelines.
To improve the LPVV website, work is underway on developing downloadable PDF versions of dictionary entries.
As one of the project’s goals is to publish research results in open access, the project leader Renāte Siliņa-Piņķe has prepared and submitted a scholarly article to the journal Namenkundliche Informationen, titled “Diatopische Varietäten lettischer Rufnamen im 17. Jahrhundert,” focusing on regional variation in 17th-century Latvian personal names.
Looking ahead, the main focus remains on excerpting, as well as on defining research directions and studying both the literature and the collected source material. Responsibilities for various regular tasks were also distributed during the gathering.
The authors of the Historical Dictionary of Latvian Given Names were invited to introduce their work to the participants and audience of the CLARIN conference Digital Infrastructure for Humanities. We presented the achievements of the project Historical dictionary of Latvian given names: digital approach and open data (LaGiN) and spoke about our plans for the next three years within the project Latvian Anthroponymic Desiderata: Diachronic research of unexplored Latvian given names for global integration and open access (LAnDe). We received both excellent feedback on the work accomplished and valuable suggestions for our future work.
On 23 January 2026, the project participants came together for their first online meeting. During the meeting, the project lead Renāte Siliņa-Piņķe outlined the project’s objectives and key deliverables, introduced the distribution of responsibilities, presented the upcoming tasks and their main contributors, and agreed on the format and schedule of future meetings.
Data collection, compilation, and systematisation activities had already been initiated in the first half of January.
Image: a slide from the project leader’s presentation at the general meeting.
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