Choosing a Name = Choosing Identity? : Towards a Theoretical Framework

• This article presents a theoretical framework for applying an identity approach to personal naming. It also presents some results from a doctoral thesis project in which this framework has been applied in an analysis of parents’ choices of first names for their children. Questions discussed in this article include: To what extent do choices of first names function as acts of identity? Which aspects of first names are used as resources for identity creation? Which kinds of identities are created? To what extent are traditional sociolinguistic variables (such as age, education, etc.) able to account for the social variation of naming today? To what extent is the identity creation of naming negotiated from moment to moment? The discussion is based on results from two component studies: a written survey (with 621 participants) and group discussions (with 23 participants) conducted in Göteborg, Sweden 2007–2009.

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Studier av enskilda språk (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- Specific Languages (hsv//eng)

Keyword

identity

naming

first names

theory

anthroponomastics

socio-onomastics

onomastics

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kon (subject category)