ABSTRACT
Naming Practices I mentioned in the preceding chapter that all human societies include social institutions that connect people to one another. One way to do this is to identify individual members through personal names and group membership. In all societies, personal names are governed by rules that specify how and when to address people directly and refer to them indirectly. In Western culture, we are familiar with people bestowing a rst, given name on children and the father’s last name; in many Muslim countries, a child is also given the rst name of the father. Some societies, like the Ka’apor Indians of Brazil, have a special naming ceremony for infants, but only aer they are a few months to a few years old: before that time, they are just called ta’ĩ-ta (“infants”). At the naming ceremony, infants are given the rst of several names. e names given in infancy usually refer to plants and animals or other naturally occurring things such as smoke, noise, wind, and color. Increasingly, infants are given Brazilian Portuguese names. Everyone gets two names: one given by the parents, and the other given by an uncle or aunt. e name given by the parents is a secret name, not to be used. e one given by the uncle or aunt is used until a person marries and has a child. Aer that, he or she acquires the name of the rst-born child, such as “father of so-and-so” or “mother of so-and-so.” is practice of renaming parents aer their children is called teknonymy, and it is common cross-culturally. Among the Muyuw of the Woodlark Islands, Melanesia, children’s nicknames are also applied to their fathers. According to ethnographer Fred Damon, “Effectively these names name the father, or the relationship between the father and the child.” Interestingly, the Muyuw, like the Ka’apor, have a taboo on uttering the names of the recently deceased. When a father dies, his name and the names and nicknames he bestowed on his children are taken out of circulation. is requires that people be renamed.
