Naming and identity: a cross-cultural study of personal naming practices

HRAF Press • New Haven • Published In • Pages: ??•
By Alford, Richard

Abstract

This book examines naming practices cross-culturally. The author posits that naming practices help to both reflect and create conceptions of personal identity. Several correlations between name meanings and practices and various sociocultural variables are presented.

Samples

Sample Used Coded Data Comment
Probability Sample Files (PSF)Researcher's Own
HRAFResearcher's own

Hypotheses (14)

HypothesisSupported
Naming institutions which confer social legitimacy will be positively associated with societal size, complexity, and use of unilineal descent (32).Supported
Naming institutions which confer parenthood will be positively associated with societal size, complexity, and use of unilineal descent (32).Supported
More extensive naming ceremonies will be positively associated with societal complexity, population, use of patrilineal descent, and presence of high gods (47).Supported
'Given name' as the only component of the complete, personal name will be negatively associated with societal size and complexity (52).Supported
Names with semantic meaning will be negatively associated with societal size and complexity (60).Supported
Protective-derogatory naming will be positively associated with societal size, complexity, and stratification (64).Supported
Sex-typing of names will be positively associated with societal size and complexity (67).Supported
Name uniqueness will be negatively associated with societal size, complexity, and stratification (70).Supported
Occurrence of nicknames will be negatively associated with uniqueness of names (83).Supported
Total number of name changes in an individual's lifetime will be negatively associated with societal complexity and size (86).Supported
Teknonymy will be positively associated with variables which indicate either age-grading, highlighting of individual status, respect for children, respect for equals, or emphasizing parental roles (92).Not Supported
Address by kin term will be positively associated with kin-centered societies in which personal names lack surnames, patronym, or clan/lineage names (100).Supported
Taboos on the use of personal names will be negatively associated with societal complexity (109).Supported
Taboos on using the name of the deceased will be positively associated with name uniqueness, and negatively associated with belief in reincarnation, ancestor worship, societal size, and societal complexity (114).Supported
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: Megan Farrer  jack.dunnington