A Sociolinguistic Study of Naming in Mahabadi

Abstract

This study is an attempt to investigate naming children over a period of 12 years, from 1998 to 2007 in Mahabad. For this purpose 4682 names for those born in mentioned years were collected from various schools in different levels and areas as required by statistical measures. At first, collected names were categorized into four identity groups and then, two of the groups (national and regional), were divided into several sub-categories according to semantic features and origin of the names. In order to collect data, various check lists were prepared by the researchers. Data were analyzed in each group as a whole and also according to gender by applying descriptive and inferential statistics. In descriptive statistics, Excel and SPSS were used and in inferential statistics, chi- square 2 was used for confirming or rejecting hypotheses. The results demonstrated that national identity group had the highest frequencies (1633 names) and religious identical group standing as the second (1333 names). Regional was the third (991 names) and the last group with the least frequencies (725) was transnational identity. The Study of changing tendency for naming via comparing names in two periods of time (74-79) and (80-85) had several conclusions. National and religious names, had a declining procedure while regional names and also transnational names (in female names) had an increasing procedure. Tendency toward choosing archaic names related to national or regional concept, indicated an increase in both genders.

Keywords

• sociolinguistics
• naming
• identity
• gender
• culture