2. The connection of name with human life

Question 1

3. Ways of forming names-natural and artificial

Question 1

4. Motivations in giving names

Research on sociological aspect of movies of choosing names is extremely interesting. V.A.Nikonov writes:” Is it good when a name is rare, “as nobody has”, bright, exclusive ,or is it bad? Or may be it is better when the name is silent, the most usual and imperceptible, “as everybody has”. Polish anthroponymist T.Milevsky confirmed that personal names differ from common nouns by full freedom of the choice. However, numerous researchers prove that the choice of personal names is caused by anthroponimical norm.Influence of fashion. Modern fashion on names is a public fashion in which public, not individual taste is shown. On the other hand, the choice of a name is determined by the desire to avoid monotony. For example , in our country the name Nursultan is very popular after the name of the president of our republic.Connection of name with certain social group. So, names Rupert, Benjamin, Alexandra traditionally connect with the representative of the middle class. Socially painted names,as, for example, Abigail which was perceived as traditional name of a servant disappeared.“I really see why you should object to the name of Algernon. It is not at all a bad name, In fact, it is rather an aristocratic name. Half of the chaps who go into the Bankruptsy Court are called Algernon”. ( O.Wilde “The importance of being Earnest”).

Aspiration to avoid difficult, discordant combinations ( for example, Tracey Thomas, Jason Jackson, Paul Hall, Mark Dark, Mark Martin), and longing for sonorous names:

I have a passion for the name of Mary.

For once it had a magic sound to me.

( Byron. Don Juan).

The great value in the choice of a name has the phonological-and-psychological factor which is understood as the occurrence of certain emotional associations caused by various sounds and combinations of sounds.The desire to be considered original forces some parent to give their children rare, unusual names:Charisma, Damask, Bina, Queen. Parents of newborn Afro-Americans especially “sin” with it. So, according to statistics among boys to whom last years in America were given names Cornell, Darius, Deon, Everett, Ivan, Ivory, Kenyatha, Maurice, Myron, Nakia, Roderick, Tyrone and among girls with names Akilah, Briana, Danita, Dionne, Evette, Jamila, Jawanda, Keisha, Kia, Kyra, Malaika, Sabrina, Tamika, Yolanda are in majority among the Afro-Americans populations.Influence of on the choice of a name of positive or negative associations with known historical or cultural figures ( compare full disappearance of the name Adolf from modern English name-book). The American artist of the XIX th century Ch.U. Peale gave to his children names outstanding painters: Rembrandt Peale, Rafaelle Peale, Rubens Peale, Titian Peale.

“People always grow up like their names. It took me thirty years to work off the effects of being called Eric. If I wanted a girl to grow up beautiful I’d call her Elizabeth and if I wanted her to be a good cook I’d choose something like Mary or Jane.”

(George Orwell”Eric Blair”).

Connection with the birthplace. So, name Jenifer was connected with Cornwall, Yorick with the weatern England.

Desire to avoid the names occurring the names in set expressions like Simple Simon, Jack-of –all trades, Every Tom, Dick and Harry etc.

Frequently the name is given in honour of the other person, often close relative. Many fathers act as Mr. Dombey in Ch.Dickens’s novel “Dombey and son” :”He will be christened Paul…of course. His father’s name Mr.Dombey, and his grandfather’s”. Compare also Fielding’s “Tom Jones”: …the little foundling to whom he had been godfather, giving his own name of Thomas..”

Here is a fragment from C.L.emba’s small poem in which the little girl chooses a name for her sister. Many existing rules of selecting names for children can be observed in this extract:

Naming the baby.

Now I wonder what would please her-

Charlotte, Julia or Lousa

Ann and Mary, they’re too common:

Joan’s too formal for a woman:

Jane’s a prettier name beside:

But we had a Jane that died.

They would say, if ‘twas Rebecca,

That she was a little Quaker,

Edith’s pretty, but that looks

Better in old English books

Ellen’s left off long ago:

Blanche is out of fashion now.

None that I gave named as yet

Are as good as Margaret.

Emily is neat and fine.

What do you think of Caroline?

How I’m puzzled and perplexed

What to choose or think of next!

I am in a little fever

Lest the name that I shall give her

Should disgrace her or defame her

I will leave Papa to her.

C.Lamb.

We would like to draw your attention to a consideration of the question more thoroughly on th example of Russian names. We know that names are a part of every culture and that they are of a great importance both to the people who receive and to the societies give names to them.

The choice of a name is determined by customs, at a different nation with different ones, but almost always connected with superstition. According t F.I.Grdeyev, at maris “each loaf of bread is given a name during baking: the name f the best baked laf will be the name of the child”. Muslims during old times found a name by opening Koran on the off-chance. B.O.Dolgikh remarks that the people of the Siberian North have two ways of choosing names:

1. According to the first impression of the newly-made mother after confinement ( if an out of breath person enters the yurta, the child will be given a name Heavybreathing).

2. Or according to the resemblance of the child to one of the died ancestors.

What kind of names are necessary? If a person giving a name to a baby is looking for the most frequent and fashionable one then the loss is provided. In fact , the name is given not for a year.

The opposition of are to frequent is deceptive. In the 70 th of the XX century the girl was given the rarest name Svetlana, and her contemporary the most frequent one Anna, now there are thousands of Svetlanas, and Anna will seldom meet her namesake. The rarest name after decades can only emphasize the age. Original attempts invent unknown names are native.

“Freedom of choice ”is imaginary. Being not restricted by the state intervention the choice of name, as shown in many examples, is subordinated by powerful authority of custom and fashion and those who try to rise above them are rigidly limited by the norms of the language. So, we can assume that neither standard of a name, nor its singularity can guarantee that the name is successful. The most frequent or the rarest name can be both bad and good. To condemn a name for its uniqueness is the name as “to eat on an empty stomach” because in fact any name was once given for the first time and was unique. Choosing good, there is no necessity to strive for “as everybody has” or vice versa “as nobody has “, there is no necessity to be afraid of rarity or frequency.

To consider foreign name as good, and native, on the contrary, as bad is wrongly. Vietnamese names his son in honour of his English friend, and the latter gives his son Vietnamese name. Here we observe high example of internationalism. Absolutely different is to be fascinated by a name from a foreign film. Both borrowed and native names can be pleasant or unpleasant. There is no need to refuse from good name only because it is old, and catch the worth but new. But the opposition of old-new is not identical to that of distinction bad and good.

Novelty is not end in itself. It is necessary to search and stand for a good name notwithstanding new it or old.

It is more difficult to evaluate a name according to its etymology, i.e. to its initial meaning. The majority of our personal names are used without sense.

Almost all Russian personal names are borrowed, they are not connected with Russian common nouns. None of thousand illiterate Alyena knew that her name Elena meant “light”. Today only few people know that Konstantin from Latin means “constant”, Galina from Greek “placid”. And etymologies of such frequently used names, as Nina and Sergey are unknown even to experts.

Various derivative meanings independent of etymology of a name influence on a choice of a name. One of these meaning promoted to the frequency of a name , by means of calling after the names of public figures, art workers, or literary heroes. Other derivative meanings, on the contrary, reduced its common use, for instance, names of negative historical persons or negative literary characters, transference of names on animals. In the hierarchial society the distribution of a name in the “lowest” estates attracts refusal from it in the privileged estates. All these meanings are not inherent in name, they arise, they arise from the use of a personal name, from a public valuation of the bearer of a name.

Each bad name etymological meaning but in the developed anthropological systems it was kept only by few names , and in all others it was faded. The difficulty is on the fact that etymological meanings of names disappear not instantly and simultaneously. Somebody gives name Shamsuddin because of its etymological value “the sun f religion”, others do not know etymology .But they know that the name is connected with religion, a lot of people do not know even this fact , from them it is only the name of the grandfather.

French anthroponomyst P.Lebel wrote, that today a personal name in France is “only a simple label, irrespective to physical and moral qualities of a child or the circumstances of a birth”. He is right , a personal name does not contain such attributes, and not only at the Frenchmen, but at the majority of the nations: moreover etymological meanings were kept only by a small group of personal names. But he is absolutely wrong declaring a personal name by “only a simple label”, it is multiplane.

The correlation of these planes of meanings characterized a name. Their correlation is always concrete and historically changeable. In some cases the etymology of a name attracts or pushes away, in other case etymological meaning quality of a name can not be estimated outside of time and environment. The name taken by itself, out of history, is in general neither well, nor bad. It gets, changes, loses these qualities only in certain conditions.

The evaluation of a name is historically concrete. The name is excellent during one time in a certain environment, but for the other time or other environment can become unpleasant.