KURDISH PERSONAL NAMES AND IDENTITY: HOW THE KURDS THINK OF THEIR PERSONAL NAMES
Keywords:
Anthropology, Kurds, Kurdish personal names, personal names and national identity, Sociolinguistics
Abstract
This research discusses Kurdish personal names in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and emphasizes the significance of names in Kurdish culture. The research examines Kurdish names from an anthropological and sociolinguistic point of view. It views names as sociocultural identifiers with sociocultural roles and meanings rather than arbitrary and superficial markings. The importance of one's own name has been greatly emphasized by the Kurds for generations. The study's aims are, first, to determine whether there is a relationship between Kurdish names and their national identity; second, how the Kurds perceive their names as representative of their identity; and third, what naming practices the Kurds employ when giving names to their children. In order to achieve these aims a close–ended and open-ended items questionnaire consisting of 19 items was given to 100 Kurdish families in the area of Duhok province in Kurdistan of Iraq. The study has found that there is a relationship between Kurdish names and national identity since they have always attempted to give their children Kurdish names that reflect their national identity, Kurdish human experience, lifestyle and history. Furthermore, the study found that Kurdish names were popularized after 1992 when people started to utilize names that reflect their history, national identity, and feeling of independence. Finally, the parents were mainly those who were responsible for the practice of naming within the Kurdish families under study
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References
REFERENCES
Agyekum, K. (2006). The sociolinguistic of Akan personal names. Nordic journal of African studies, 15(2).
Albarany, L., Albamarni, A., & Shareef, D. (2011). Kurdish Personal Names in Kurdistan of Iraq: A Sociolinguistic Perspective. Journal of University of Duhok., Vol.14, No.2 (Humanities and Social Sciences), Pp 29-40, 2011
Al-Dilaimy, H. (1998). Reference in English and Arabic: A contrastive study (Doctoral dissertation, Council of the College of Arts, University of Baghdad).
Aldrin, E. (2011). Namnval som social handling: val av förnamn och samtal om förnamn bland föräldrar i Göteborg 2007–2009 (Doctoral dissertation, Institutionen för nordiska språk, Uppsala universitet).
Alford, R.D. 1988. Naming and Identity: A Cross-Cultural Study of Personal Naming Practices. New Haven, CT: HRAF Press.
Algeo, J. (1992). Onomastics. The Oxford companion to the English language, 727-729.
Algeo, J. (2006). Is a theory of names possible?. Names, 58(2), 90-96.
Babbie, E. (1990). The essential wisdom of sociology. Teaching Sociology, 18(4), 526-530.
Basso, K. H. (1996). Wisdom sits in places: Landscape and language among the Western Apache. UNM Press.
Beidelman, T. O. (1974). Kaguru names and naming. Journal of Anthropological Research, 30(4), 281-293.
Benwell, B., & Stokoe, E. (2006). Theorising discourse and identity. Discourse and identity, 17-47.
Bhandari, P. (2021). An introduction to quantitative research. Retrieved 16 June 2022, from https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/quantitative-research/
Bodenhorn, B., & Vom Bruck, G. (2006b).’”Entangled in Histories”: An Introduction to the Anthropology of Names and Naming’, in Gabriele vom Bruck, and Barbara Bodenhorn (eds.), The Anthropology of Names and Naming. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Bodenhorn, B., & Vom Bruck, G. (Eds.). (2006a). The anthropology of names and naming. Cambridge University Press.
Brendler, S. (2012). Identity of name (s) as a crucial problem in name studies, or: Towards the recognition of onymic identity as a principal onomastic concept. Names and Identities, Oslo Studies in Language, 4(2), 29-44.
Bucholtz, M., & Hall, K. (2005). Identity and interaction: A sociocultural linguistic approach. Discourse studies, 7(4-5), 585-614.
Carmines, E. G., & Zeller, R. A. (1979). Reliability and validity assessment. Sage publications.
Crystal, D. (1989). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge University Press.
Crystal, D. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge.
De Klerk, V., & Bosch, B. (1996). Naming practices in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Names, 44(3), 167-188.
Dornyei, Z., 2007. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Eckert, P. (2008). Variation and the indexical field 1. Journal of sociolinguistics, 12(4), 453-476.
Edwards, J. (2009). Language and identity: An introduction. Cambridge University Press.
Edwards, R., & Caballero, C. (2008). What's in a name? An exploration of the significance of personal naming of ‘mixed’children for parents from different racial, ethnic and faith backgrounds. The sociological review, 56(1), 39-60.
Ellison, P. T. (2003). Energetics and reproductive effort. American Journal of Human Biology, 15(3), 342-351.
Erwin, Philip (1995). ‘A Review of the Effects of Personal Name Stereotypes’, Representative Research in Social Psychology 20 (7): 41–52.
Esman, M. J. (1994). Ethnic politics. Cornell University Press.
Field, A. (2013). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics. sage.
Finch, J. (2008). Naming names: Kinship, individuality and personal names. Sociology, 42(4), 709-725.
Gebauer, J. E., Riketta, M., Broemer, P., & Maio, G. R. (2008). “How much do you like your name?” An implicit measure of global self-esteem. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44(5), 1346-1354.
Geertz, C. (1973). Deep play: notes on the Balinese cockfight. The Interpretation of Cultures. Selected Essays, 412-453.
Gengenbach, H. (2000). Naming the Past in a" scattered" Land: Memory and the Powers of Women's Naming Practices in Southern Mozambique. The International Journal of African historical studies, 33(3), 523-542.
Ghauri, P., Grønhaug, K., & Strange, R. (2020). Research methods in business studies. Cambridge University Press.
Hanks, P., Hodges, F., & Hardcastle, K. (2006). A dictionary of first names. Oxford University Press.
Hinton, P. R., Brownlow, C., McMurray, I., & Cozens, B. (2004). SPSS explained. Routledge.
Hymes, D. (1974). Foundations in Sociolinguistics. Phila delphia. Pennsylvania: University of Penn.
Joireman, S. (2003). Nationalism and political identity. A&C Black.
Joseph, J. (2004). Language and identity: National, ethnic, religious. Springer.
Laskowski, K. A. (2010). Women's post-marital name retention and the communication of identity. Names, 58(2), 75-89.
Lombard, C. G. (2008). An ethnolinguistic study of Niitsitapi personal names (Doctoral dissertation, University of South Africa).
Longobardi, C. (2006). The meaning of first name in children's developmental psychology. In Internation Congress of Onomastic Sciences (pp. 189-199). Sprak-och folkminnesinstitutet.
Markey, T. L. (1982). Crisis and cognition in onomastics. Names, 30(3), 129-142.
Miller, N. (1927). Some aspects of the name in culture-history. American Journal of Sociology, 32(4), 585-600.
Moore, J. H. (1984). Cheyenne names and cosmology. American Ethnologist, 11(2), 291-312.
Morice, A. G. (1933). Carrier onomatology. American Anthropologist, 35(4), 632-658.
Moser, C. A., & Kalton, G. (1985). Survey methods in social investigation Aldershot. UK: Gower.
Moyo, T. (1996). Personal names and naming practices in Northern Malawi. Nomina Africana, 10(1), 10-19.
Musere, J., & Byakutaga, S. C. (2000). African names and naming. Ariko Publications.
Neethling, B. (2005). A minibus taxi by any other name, would it run as sweet?. Names, 53(1-2), 3-19.
Nicolaisen, W. F. (1978). Are there connotative names?. Names, 26(1), 40-47.
Nuessel, F. (1992). The study of names: a guide to the principles and topics. Greenwood.
Onukawa, M. C. (1998). An anthropolinguistic study of Igbo market‐day anthroponyms. Journal of African Cultural Studies, 11(1), 73-83.
Reisæter, G. (2012). Immigrants in Norway and their choice of names: continuation or adaption?. Oslo Studies in Language, 4(2).
Robinson, J. (2010). Triandis' theory of interpersonal behavior in understanding software piracy behavior in the South African context (Doctoral dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand).
Rymes, B. (2000). Names. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 9(1/2), 163-166.
Salomon, F., & Grosboll, S. (1986). Names and peoples in Incaic Quito: Retrieving undocumented historic processes through anthroponymy and statistics. American Anthropologist, 88(2), 387-399.
Sapir, E. (1924). Personal names among the Sarcee Indians. American Anthropologist, 26(1), 108-119.
Schottman, W. (2000). Baatɔnu personal names from birth to death. Africa, 70(1), 79-106.
Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language (Vol. 626). Cambridge University Press.
Skhosana, P. B. (2005). Names and naming stages in southern Ndebele society with special reference to females. Nomina Africana, 19(1), 89-117.
Spencer, S., & Taylor, G. (Eds.). (2004). Social identities: Multidisciplinary approaches. Routledge.
Sue, C. A., & Telles, E. E. (2007). Assimilation and gender in naming. American Journal of Sociology, 112(5), 1383-1415.
Taherdoost, H. (2016). Sampling Methods in Research Methodology; How to Choose a Sampling Technique for Research. International Journal of Academic Research in Management. 5. 18-27. 10.2139/ssrn.3205035.
Underhill, R. M. (1979). The Papago and Pima Indians of Arizona. Filter Press.
Van Dijk, T. A. (2009). Society and discourse: How context controls text and talk. Cambridge University Press.
Velikonja, M. (2003). Religious separation and political intolerance in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Texas A&M University Press.
Walliman, N. (2010). Research methods: The basics. Routledge.
Wan, E., & Vanderwerf, M. (2009). A Review of the Literature on Ethnicity, National Identity, and Related Missiological Studies.
Watson, R. S. (1986). The named and the nameless: gender and person in Chinese society. American ethnologist, 13(4), 619-631.
Whitley, B. E. 2002. Principals of Research and Behavioural Science, Boston, McGraw-Hill.
Wieschhoff, H. A. (1941). The social significance of names among the Ibo of Nigeria. American Anthropologis, 43(2), 212-222.
Anderson, J. M. (2007). The grammar of names. Oxford University Press.
Blanar, V. (2009). Proper names in the light of theoretical onomastics. Namenkundliche Informationen, 95(96), 89-157.
Schlücker, B. (2009). Theory and Typology of Proper Names, by Willy Van Langendonck.
Agyekum, K. (2006). The sociolinguistic of Akan personal names. Nordic journal of African studies, 15(2).
Albarany, L., Albamarni, A., & Shareef, D. (2011). Kurdish Personal Names in Kurdistan of Iraq: A Sociolinguistic Perspective. Journal of University of Duhok., Vol.14, No.2 (Humanities and Social Sciences), Pp 29-40, 2011
Al-Dilaimy, H. (1998). Reference in English and Arabic: A contrastive study (Doctoral dissertation, Council of the College of Arts, University of Baghdad).
Aldrin, E. (2011). Namnval som social handling: val av förnamn och samtal om förnamn bland föräldrar i Göteborg 2007–2009 (Doctoral dissertation, Institutionen för nordiska språk, Uppsala universitet).
Alford, R.D. 1988. Naming and Identity: A Cross-Cultural Study of Personal Naming Practices. New Haven, CT: HRAF Press.
Algeo, J. (1992). Onomastics. The Oxford companion to the English language, 727-729.
Algeo, J. (2006). Is a theory of names possible?. Names, 58(2), 90-96.
Babbie, E. (1990). The essential wisdom of sociology. Teaching Sociology, 18(4), 526-530.
Basso, K. H. (1996). Wisdom sits in places: Landscape and language among the Western Apache. UNM Press.
Beidelman, T. O. (1974). Kaguru names and naming. Journal of Anthropological Research, 30(4), 281-293.
Benwell, B., & Stokoe, E. (2006). Theorising discourse and identity. Discourse and identity, 17-47.
Bhandari, P. (2021). An introduction to quantitative research. Retrieved 16 June 2022, from https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/quantitative-research/
Bodenhorn, B., & Vom Bruck, G. (2006b).’”Entangled in Histories”: An Introduction to the Anthropology of Names and Naming’, in Gabriele vom Bruck, and Barbara Bodenhorn (eds.), The Anthropology of Names and Naming. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Bodenhorn, B., & Vom Bruck, G. (Eds.). (2006a). The anthropology of names and naming. Cambridge University Press.
Brendler, S. (2012). Identity of name (s) as a crucial problem in name studies, or: Towards the recognition of onymic identity as a principal onomastic concept. Names and Identities, Oslo Studies in Language, 4(2), 29-44.
Bucholtz, M., & Hall, K. (2005). Identity and interaction: A sociocultural linguistic approach. Discourse studies, 7(4-5), 585-614.
Carmines, E. G., & Zeller, R. A. (1979). Reliability and validity assessment. Sage publications.
Crystal, D. (1989). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge University Press.
Crystal, D. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge.
De Klerk, V., & Bosch, B. (1996). Naming practices in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Names, 44(3), 167-188.
Dornyei, Z., 2007. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Eckert, P. (2008). Variation and the indexical field 1. Journal of sociolinguistics, 12(4), 453-476.
Edwards, J. (2009). Language and identity: An introduction. Cambridge University Press.
Edwards, R., & Caballero, C. (2008). What's in a name? An exploration of the significance of personal naming of ‘mixed’children for parents from different racial, ethnic and faith backgrounds. The sociological review, 56(1), 39-60.
Ellison, P. T. (2003). Energetics and reproductive effort. American Journal of Human Biology, 15(3), 342-351.
Erwin, Philip (1995). ‘A Review of the Effects of Personal Name Stereotypes’, Representative Research in Social Psychology 20 (7): 41–52.
Esman, M. J. (1994). Ethnic politics. Cornell University Press.
Field, A. (2013). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics. sage.
Finch, J. (2008). Naming names: Kinship, individuality and personal names. Sociology, 42(4), 709-725.
Gebauer, J. E., Riketta, M., Broemer, P., & Maio, G. R. (2008). “How much do you like your name?” An implicit measure of global self-esteem. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44(5), 1346-1354.
Geertz, C. (1973). Deep play: notes on the Balinese cockfight. The Interpretation of Cultures. Selected Essays, 412-453.
Gengenbach, H. (2000). Naming the Past in a" scattered" Land: Memory and the Powers of Women's Naming Practices in Southern Mozambique. The International Journal of African historical studies, 33(3), 523-542.
Ghauri, P., Grønhaug, K., & Strange, R. (2020). Research methods in business studies. Cambridge University Press.
Hanks, P., Hodges, F., & Hardcastle, K. (2006). A dictionary of first names. Oxford University Press.
Hinton, P. R., Brownlow, C., McMurray, I., & Cozens, B. (2004). SPSS explained. Routledge.
Hymes, D. (1974). Foundations in Sociolinguistics. Phila delphia. Pennsylvania: University of Penn.
Joireman, S. (2003). Nationalism and political identity. A&C Black.
Joseph, J. (2004). Language and identity: National, ethnic, religious. Springer.
Laskowski, K. A. (2010). Women's post-marital name retention and the communication of identity. Names, 58(2), 75-89.
Lombard, C. G. (2008). An ethnolinguistic study of Niitsitapi personal names (Doctoral dissertation, University of South Africa).
Longobardi, C. (2006). The meaning of first name in children's developmental psychology. In Internation Congress of Onomastic Sciences (pp. 189-199). Sprak-och folkminnesinstitutet.
Markey, T. L. (1982). Crisis and cognition in onomastics. Names, 30(3), 129-142.
Miller, N. (1927). Some aspects of the name in culture-history. American Journal of Sociology, 32(4), 585-600.
Moore, J. H. (1984). Cheyenne names and cosmology. American Ethnologist, 11(2), 291-312.
Morice, A. G. (1933). Carrier onomatology. American Anthropologist, 35(4), 632-658.
Moser, C. A., & Kalton, G. (1985). Survey methods in social investigation Aldershot. UK: Gower.
Moyo, T. (1996). Personal names and naming practices in Northern Malawi. Nomina Africana, 10(1), 10-19.
Musere, J., & Byakutaga, S. C. (2000). African names and naming. Ariko Publications.
Neethling, B. (2005). A minibus taxi by any other name, would it run as sweet?. Names, 53(1-2), 3-19.
Nicolaisen, W. F. (1978). Are there connotative names?. Names, 26(1), 40-47.
Nuessel, F. (1992). The study of names: a guide to the principles and topics. Greenwood.
Onukawa, M. C. (1998). An anthropolinguistic study of Igbo market‐day anthroponyms. Journal of African Cultural Studies, 11(1), 73-83.
Reisæter, G. (2012). Immigrants in Norway and their choice of names: continuation or adaption?. Oslo Studies in Language, 4(2).
Robinson, J. (2010). Triandis' theory of interpersonal behavior in understanding software piracy behavior in the South African context (Doctoral dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand).
Rymes, B. (2000). Names. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 9(1/2), 163-166.
Salomon, F., & Grosboll, S. (1986). Names and peoples in Incaic Quito: Retrieving undocumented historic processes through anthroponymy and statistics. American Anthropologist, 88(2), 387-399.
Sapir, E. (1924). Personal names among the Sarcee Indians. American Anthropologist, 26(1), 108-119.
Schottman, W. (2000). Baatɔnu personal names from birth to death. Africa, 70(1), 79-106.
Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language (Vol. 626). Cambridge University Press.
Skhosana, P. B. (2005). Names and naming stages in southern Ndebele society with special reference to females. Nomina Africana, 19(1), 89-117.
Spencer, S., & Taylor, G. (Eds.). (2004). Social identities: Multidisciplinary approaches. Routledge.
Sue, C. A., & Telles, E. E. (2007). Assimilation and gender in naming. American Journal of Sociology, 112(5), 1383-1415.
Taherdoost, H. (2016). Sampling Methods in Research Methodology; How to Choose a Sampling Technique for Research. International Journal of Academic Research in Management. 5. 18-27. 10.2139/ssrn.3205035.
Underhill, R. M. (1979). The Papago and Pima Indians of Arizona. Filter Press.
Van Dijk, T. A. (2009). Society and discourse: How context controls text and talk. Cambridge University Press.
Velikonja, M. (2003). Religious separation and political intolerance in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Texas A&M University Press.
Walliman, N. (2010). Research methods: The basics. Routledge.
Wan, E., & Vanderwerf, M. (2009). A Review of the Literature on Ethnicity, National Identity, and Related Missiological Studies.
Watson, R. S. (1986). The named and the nameless: gender and person in Chinese society. American ethnologist, 13(4), 619-631.
Whitley, B. E. 2002. Principals of Research and Behavioural Science, Boston, McGraw-Hill.
Wieschhoff, H. A. (1941). The social significance of names among the Ibo of Nigeria. American Anthropologis, 43(2), 212-222.
Anderson, J. M. (2007). The grammar of names. Oxford University Press.
Blanar, V. (2009). Proper names in the light of theoretical onomastics. Namenkundliche Informationen, 95(96), 89-157.
Schlücker, B. (2009). Theory and Typology of Proper Names, by Willy Van Langendonck.
Published
2023-04-16
How to Cite
HAJI, A. M. S., & BARANY, L. K. (2023). KURDISH PERSONAL NAMES AND IDENTITY: HOW THE KURDS THINK OF THEIR PERSONAL NAMES. Journal of Duhok University, 26(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.26682/hjuod.2023.26.1.1
Section
Humanities and Social Sciences
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