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Names Between Invention and Convention Imena Med Invencijo In UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI FILOZOFSKA FAKULTETA ODDELEK ZA ETNOLOGIJO IN KULTURNO ANTROPOLOGIJO ANA SVETEL Names between invention and convention Naming practices among mixed families in Iceland Imena med invencijo in konvencijo Prakse poimenovanja pri mešanih družinah na Islandiji Magistrsko delo Mentor: izr. prof. dr. Jaka Repič Študijski program: KREOL – kulturna raznolikost in transnacionalni procesi Ljubljana, 2016 I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Jaka Repič and Anna Wojtyńska from University of Iceland. Ta naloga najbrž še lep čas ne bi ugledala luči sveta brez vzpodbude in pomoči mame, atija, sestre, Ines, Katarine in Tobiasa – hvala! Izvleček V nalogi se ukvarjam z vprašanjem osebnih imen ter patronimov in matronimov na Islandiji. Imena umeščam v širši kontekst jezikovnih praks, politik in ideologij, ki so jih ključno zaznamovale narodnobuditeljske težnje. Islandščina, islandska imena in sistem patronimov so igrali pomembno vlogo pri nacionalizaciji kulture. Diskurz čistosti in potrebe po ohranjanju in zaščiti sega tako v sfero kulture – predvsem formalnih in neformalnih regulacij glede jezika in imen – kot v sfero narave in okolja. Jezikovni protekcionizem, predvsem na področju zakonskega omejevanja osebnih imen, sproža na Islandiji številne javne polemike. V nalogi predstavim nekaj tovrstnih medijsko izpostavljenih primerov, v nadaljevanju pa se posvetim praksam poimenovanja otrok v mešanih družinah na Islandiji. Te – zanje velja nekoliko manj strogo omejevanje izbire imen – predstavljajo zanimivo liminalno skupino, nacionalna identiteta obeh staršev namreč pomembno vpliva na izbiro imen. Etnografsko gradivo, zbrano med terenskim delom na Islandiji, kaže, da pri poimenovanju starši upoštevajo dvojno naravo imena – to posameznika hkrati individualizira in ga umešča v številne skupnosti (družinsko, etnično, nacionalno, jezikovno). Tovrstna dvojna vloga imena se zrcali tudi v praksah poimenovanja, kjer starši lovijo ravnovesje med inventivnostjo in upoštevanjem družbenih konvencij. Ključne besede: osebna imena, antropologija imen, Islandija, otroci, mešane družine Abstract In the thesis I bring forth the question of personal names and patronyms/matronyms in Iceland. I place personal names in the wider context of language practices, politics and ideologies. They were strongly influenced by nation-building tendencies. Icelandic language, names and the system of patronyms have been playing an important role in the 'nationalization of culture'. The discourses of purity and the need to preserve and protect, concern both: the sphere of culture – especially formal and informal regulations about the language and names – and the sphere of nature and environment. Language protectionism, mostly on the realm of legislation on personal names, triggers numerous public polemics in Iceland - I present some of those cases, exposed by the media. I continue with the naming practices among mixed families in Iceland. As less rigid name regulations apply for them, they represent an interesting liminal group – the national identities of each parent influence the decision for the name. Ethnographic work I collected during my fieldwork in Iceland shows the parents' awareness of the double nature of a name – it individuates and collectivises the person at the same time. This double role of a name reflects also in the naming practices, as parents balance between inventiveness and recognition of the social conventions. Key words: personal names, anthropology of names, Iceland, children, mixed families Contents 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 2 Historical overview ......................................................................................................................... 4 3 Notes on Icelandic Nationalism ....................................................................................................... 5 3.1 Cocktail parties or family reunions? ........................................................................................ 6 3.2 Nationalism, purity and gender ............................................................................................... 9 3.3 Short excursion to Icelandic kinship ..................................................................................... 12 4 Language ....................................................................................................................................... 16 4.1 Language Purism ................................................................................................................... 18 4.2 Language and class ................................................................................................................ 21 4.3 Names in Icelandic language ................................................................................................. 22 5 The Phenomenon of Names........................................................................................................... 29 5.1 Convention vs essention, denotation vs connotation, sense vs reference .............................. 31 5.2 (Violent) power of names ...................................................................................................... 34 5.2.1 Names and newcomers in Icelandic context .................................................................. 34 5.2.2 Naming in Nunavut, Canada ......................................................................................... 39 5.2.3 Power of names in literature .......................................................................................... 42 5.2.4 Literature and names in Iceland .................................................................................... 46 6 Naming as a ritual of passage ........................................................................................................ 49 6.1 Naming practices across the world ........................................................................................ 53 6.2 Naming as a cultural DNA .................................................................................................... 57 6.3 Between invention and convention: naming practices among mixed families in Iceland ..... 59 6.3.1 First names .................................................................................................................... 59 6.3.2 Last names ..................................................................................................................... 72 6.3.3 Travelling with names ................................................................................................... 76 7 Namesakes ..................................................................................................................................... 78 7.1 Namesakes in Iceland ............................................................................................................ 80 8 Names and gender ......................................................................................................................... 88 9 Addressing and referring ............................................................................................................... 97 9.1 Addressing and referring of children of mixed couples in Iceland ..................................... 101 10 Nicknames ............................................................................................................................... 112 11 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 117 12 Povzetek .................................................................................................................................. 120 13 References ............................................................................................................................... 123 1 Introduction We inhabit a named world. From planets to pets – and everything in between, is bestowed with a name. Anything that a human can have a relation with, is named. And anything that a human can have a relation with, can be of anthropologist's interest. Of course there are significant differences between proper and common names. In this writing we will focus mainly on proper names. Proper names have been the object of numerous influential philosophical works (Russell 1911; Frege 1952; Derrida 1967; Mill 1974; Kripke 1980; Plato 1997). The questions of names and naming were touched by anthropology as well, but they are often found scattered in ethnographies, seldomly being their main focus. In contemporary anthropology, the issue of names and naming has been a micro field. It is somehow puzzling why it did not get more attention. The cornerstone of the field in the last decades, however, has been the volume Anthropology of names and naming (vom Bruck and Bodenhorn 2006), which is also one of the the main references in this thesis. Names and naming have the potential to put a new light in questions of ethnic and national belonging, gender issues, personhood studies, kinship studies, linguistic anthropology, etc. In the context of Slovenian ethnology and cultural anthropology, few authors have done research on names and naming among their other interests (Hudales 1994; Telban 1995; Kotnik 1996; Makarovič 2001; Ivančič Kutin 2006; Smerdel 2009; Piko-Rustia 2012; Hazler 2013 etc). Having a name is a culturally universal phenomenon even though the manifestations
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