Conclusion and Findings of Project

Conclusion:

There were four key questions that participants were asked that zeroed in on answering the project’s essential questions.

• What are your thoughts on naming and its power?
• Have you ever thought about if you had a different name or nickname?
• Do you feel that your name or nickname has an impact on your identity?
• Is there an intricate connection between your name and how it fits within your identity?

All of the participants agreed that there is power in naming, both on the giving end and on the receiving end. However, there was no concrete yes or no answer to the project’s essential questions. Ultimately, it depends on the person and how they see themselves in relation to their name.

There were a few themes that emerged in the interviews that were also evident in “Names and ‘Doing Gender'” by Jane Pilcher and Parts III and V of The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming respectively.

Key Themes

Names as a Suit: “I look like a [insert name here]”

Two participants discussed how they “look” like someone with their names, which mirrors the discussion of the relationships between names and identity in “Names and Identity” by Emilia Aldrin in Part V of the Oxford Handbook. Aldrin notes that there is not a singular concrete onomastic theory that ties names together with identity, but does bring up several different popular theories around the topic. (Aldrin 2016) One of such is Claudio Longobardi’s idea that names are merely suits that people are born in and grow into throughout their lives. (Longobardi 2006)

Gender Presentation and Resistance

The idea of one’s name being a suit also connects with several participants’ statement that they feel that their name just “fits” them as a person, which leads to the next theme of names as a form of performance and resistance against ideas about names and how gender is presented through them.

With participants with chosen names and/or nicknames, one of the common ideas was how the name is associated with gender. Two participants discussed how they chose their name or nickname because of its androgyny and the way that it resisted gender norms. This is discussed in Pilcher’s article, where she states that forenames “can be recognized as tools of resistance to the doing of sex and gender as binaries.” (Pilcher 2017) Two participants discussed the unique spelling of their names and talked about how that also captured their essence as a person.

Names and Genealogy

Genealogy and familial connection play a role in the naming habits of all people. Three participants discussed how their given names stem from a family member’s name as a way to honor them. In “Given Names in European Naming Systems” by Katharina Leibring in Part III of the Oxford Handbook, Leibring discusses naming transmission and transfer, which are the terms used in onomastics for the naming of children after older relatives and godparents. (Leibring 2016)

Several of the participants discussed how their name was derived from a relative’s name. One stated that they kept their middle initial the same when changing their name to continue to honor the relative who they were named after. Another discussed how their name was derived from the name of their mother’s favorite grandmother.

Names and the Internet

Since the creation of the Internet, the phenomenon of Internet names has existed. In “Nicknames and Bynames” by Eva Brylla in Part III of the Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming, the author states that when a person is choosing a username to be identified by on the Internet, it usually is not one’s official name. (Brylla 2016) Brylla also references the work of Jonas Carlquist and his assertation of the three important functions that internet names have. Internet names, and names in general, are “emotive and ideological tools” used for communication and the creation of social kinship. (Carlquist 2005) This chapter does not discuss the adoption or the relationships that Internet names have on those who use them, likely due to the lack of research in that specific niche of onomastics.

Two participants had discussed playing with their names through the use of the Internet names. One participant discussed how she liked being referred to a shortened version of their gamertag and felt that it fit her better than her given name. There is a dearth of research on the specific connections between one’s internet name and their identities outside of gender.

Naming and Respect

With identity being created in relation to others, it has been found that the perception that others have of one’s name determines one’s own relationship with their name. Aldrin gives the example of a person being more likely to like their name if others also like it. (Aldrin 2016) Several participants interviewed for this project discussed how they didn’t like their name or used a different name because others would mispronounce it. Eventually, the participants had a newfound appreciation for their names, and used their full names instead of a nickname.

The respect of names through correct pronunciation and its impact on identity is also not widely researched and is not covered in the Oxford Handbook. However, it is an important aspect of names and naming that should be further explored.