Vol. 49 No. 1 (2001)
Research Article

The Naming of Gaming

PDF
  • Pauliina Raento,
  • William A. Douglass
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/nam.2001.49.1.1

Published 2001-03-01

Copyright (c) 2001 Maney

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Abstract

The naming of casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada, is an essential ingredient in the design of the city's entertainment landscape. More than 300 names have been used in the naming of gaming in Las Vegas since 1955. They occur in seven dominant patterns: 1) luck and good fortune, 2) wealth and opulence, 3) action, adventure, excitement and fantasy, 4) geography, 5) a certain moment, era, or season, 6) intimacy and informality, and 7) “power words” commonly used in the naming of businesses. The categories are described and analyzed from the perspective of the evolution of Las Vegas. Regional variations between the Las Vegas Strip, Downtown Las Vegas, and suburban Las Vegas are also discussed. The names provide a powerful means of evoking senses of place, images, and identities for the casinos. They underscore the interpretative subjectivity and plurality of the relationship between people and commercial urban environments.

PDF

References

  1. Azaryahu, Maoz. 1996. “The Power of Commemorative Street Names.” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 14: 311–30.
  2. Azaryahu, Maoz. 1997. “German Reunification and the Politics of Street Names: The Case of East Berlin.” Political Geography 16: 479–93.
  3. Berg, Lawrence D., and Robin A. Kearns. 1996. “Naming as Norming: ‘Race’, Gender, and the Identity Politics of Naming Places in Aotearoa/New Zealand. ” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 14: 99–122.
  4. “Ciao Venezia.” CBS News 60 Minutes XXXI: 80 (2000). Transcript. Pp. 14–19.
  5. Clark, Thomas L. 1986. “Noms de Felt: Names in Gambling.” Names 34: 11–29.
  6. Cohen, Saul, and Nurim Kliot. 1992. “Place-names in Israel’s Ideological Struggle over the Administered Territories.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 82: 653–80.
  7. Eco, Umberto. 1986. Travels in Hyper Reality: Essays/Umberto Eco. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
  8. Findlay, John M. 1986. People of Chance: Gambling in American Society from Jamestown to Las Vegas. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  9. Findlay, John M. 1990. “Suckers or Escapists? Interpreting Las Vegas and Post-War America.” Nevada Historical Society Quarterly 33: 1–15.
  10. Gottdiener, Mark. 1997. The Theming of America: Dreams, Visions, and Commercial Spaces. Boulder: Westview.
  11. Gottdiener, M., Claudia C. Collins, and David R. Dickens. 1999. Las Vegas: The Social Production of an All-American City. Oxford: Blackwell.
  12. Hausladen, Gary J. 1995. “Murder in Moscow.” Geographical Review 85: 63–78.
  13. Hausladen, Gary J. 2000. Places for Dead Bodies. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.
  14. Hopkins, A. D. 1997. “Benny Binion: He Who Has the Gold Makes the Rules.” The Players. The Men Who Made Las Vegas. Ed. Jack Sheehan. Reno: Univ. of Nevada Press,48–67.
  15. Irsfeld, John H. 1997. “Cowboys, Crooks, and Corporations: How Popular Literature Has Treated Las Vegas.” The Players. The Men Who Made Las Vegas. Ed. Jack Sheehan. Reno: Univ. of Nevada Press,183–99.
  16. Kant, Candace C. 1990. “City of Dreams: Las Vegas in the Cinema, 1980–1989.” Nevada Historical Society Quarterly 33: 1–12.
  17. Kong, Lily. 1995. “Popular Music in Geographical Analyses.” Progress in Human Geography 19: 183–98.
  18. Moehring, Eugene P. 1989. Resort City in the Sunbelt: Las Vegas, 1930–1970. Reno: Univ. of Nevada Press.
  19. Moody, Bill, and A. D. Hopkins. 1997. “Jackie Gaughan: Keeping the Faith on Fremont Street.” The Players. The Men Who Made Las Vegas. Ed. Jack Sheehan. Reno: Univ. of Nevada Press,120–32.
  20. Nevada Gaming Almanac. 1995. Reno: Nevada Gaming Publishing.
  21. Nevada Gaming Almanac. 1999. Reno: Nevada Gaming Publishing.
  22. Nevada Gaming Control Board: Abbreviated Report of Locations in Clark County. 15 March 2000.
  23. Las Vegas Visitor Profile Study. 1998. Las Vegas: GLS Research and Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
  24. Casino Business Directory, North American Edition. 1999. Reno: Nevada Gaming Publishing.
  25. Nuessel, Frank 1992. The Study of Names. A guide to the Principles and Topics. Westport: Greenwood.
  26. Nuessel, Frank 1994. “Objectionable Sport Team Designations.” Names 42: 101–19.
  27. Porteous, J. Douglas. 1985. “Smellscape.” Progress in Human Geography 9: 356–78.
  28. Porteous, J. Douglas. 1990. Landscapes of the Mind. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press.
  29. “Problem gamblers 7% of Vegas residents?” 1999. Casino Journal 12: 7, 36–37.
  30. Raento, Pauliina, and Kate A. Berry. 1999. “Geography’s Spin at the Wheel of American Gambling.” Geographical Review 89: 590–95.
  31. Room, Adrian. 1982. Dictionary of Trade Name Origins. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
  32. ‘“San Francisco’ resort set for LV Strip.” 2000. Casino Journal 13: 2, 33–34.
  33. Sheehan, Jack. 1997. “Sam Boyd’s Quiet Legacy.” The Players. The Men Who Made Las Vegas. Ed. Jack Sheehan. Reno: Univ. of Nevada Press,104–99.
  34. Smith, Susan J. 1994. “Soundscape.” Area 26: 232–40.
  35. Spanier, David. 1995. “Art & Craft: Creative Fiction and Las Vegas.” Journal of Gambling Studies 11: 77–102.
  36. Tuan, Yi-Fu. 1975. “Space and Place: Humanistic Perspective.” Progress in Geography 6: 211–52.
  37. Venturi, R., D. Scott Brown, and S. Izenour. 1972. Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form. Cambridge, MIT Press.
  38. Wilhelm, Albert E. 1988. “Pretty Is as Pretty Says: The Rhetoric of Beauty Salon Names.” Names 36: 61–68.
  39. Wolfe, Tom. 1965. The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flaked Streamlined Baby. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
  40. Zagat Survey: 2000 Las Vegas Restaurants. 1999. Ed. Muriel Stevens. New York: Zagat Survey.
  41. Zelinsky, Wilbur. 1967. “Classical Town Names in the United States: The Historical Geography of an American Idea.” Geographical Review 57: 463–95.
  42. Zelinsky, Wilbur. 1980. “North America’s Vernacular Regions.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 70: 1–16.
  43. Zelinsky, Wilbur. 1983. “Nationalism in the American Place-Name Cover. ” Names 31: 1–28.

Most read articles by the same author(s)