Anthroponymy (also anthroponymics or anthroponomastics, from
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
ἄνθρωπος ''anthrōpos'' / 'human', and ὄνομα ''onoma'' / 'name') is the study of ''anthroponyms'', the
proper names of
human beings, both individual and collective. Anthroponymy is a branch of
onomastics
Onomastics (or, in older texts, onomatology) is the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. An ''orthonym'' is the proper name of the object in question, the object of onomastic study.
Onomastics can be helpful in data mining, w ...
.
Researchers in the field of anthroponymy are called ''anthroponymists''. Since the study of anthroponyms is relevant for several other disciplines within
social sciences and
humanities, experts from those disciplines engage in anthroponymic studies, including researchers from the fields of
anthropology,
history,
human geography,
sociology,
prosopography
Prosopography is an investigation of the common characteristics of a group of people, whose individual biographies may be largely untraceable. Research subjects are analysed by means of a collective study of their lives, in multiple career-line an ...
, and
genealogy.
Anthroponymists are required to follow certain principles, rules and criteria when researching anthroponyms. The methods used for research are divided into two major categories: the collecting of anthroponymic information and the analysis and interpretation of anthroponyms. The collection of anthroponymic information includes: inscriptions, documents,
onomastics
Onomastics (or, in older texts, onomatology) is the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. An ''orthonym'' is the proper name of the object in question, the object of onomastic study.
Onomastics can be helpful in data mining, w ...
-tax records, dictionaries, phone books,
monographs, and websites, which are used afterward for mapping purposes. The analysis and interpretation of anthroponyms take into account the processing of the collection of the information gathered, which consists of
linguistic analysis, comparative-historical method,
geographical method, and
statistical
Statistics (from German: ''Statistik'', "description of a state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a scientific, industria ...
method.
Anthroponymy of individual and family names
Anthroponymy of individual and family names, and their mutual correlations, includes the study of:
Anthroponyms of individuals can also be classified according to
gender. Names of human males are called ''andronyms'' (from
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
ἀνήρ / man, and ὄνομα / name), while names of human females are called ''gynonyms'' (from
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
γυνή / woman, and ὄνομα / name).
Anthroponymy of group and population names
Anthroponymy of group and population names includes the study of
demonym
A demonym (; ) or gentilic () is a word that identifies a group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, province, ...
s (names of localized populations),
ethnonym
An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...
s (names of ethnic groups), as well as
tribal names and
clan names.
Anthroponymy and culture
Anthroponymy is a socio-cultural tool that can be used to find out about an individual’s
culture
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these grou ...
. Through the name of a person, their
nationality, as well as their
history, can be traced. Anthroponyms have both a national and cultural significance as they guarantee the preservation of
linguistics,
cultural
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...
, and
historical
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
information.
Related terms and processes
There are several specific terms and processes related to anthroponymy, like:
* ''anthroponymization'', a process when an anthroponym is formed from an
apellative, like when a surname is created from the name of ones occupation, thus forming an
occupational surname. Such surnames are common in most languages, including English: ''
Smith'' (from
smith), ''
Miller'' (from
miller), ''
Thatcher'' (from
thatcher), ''
Shepherd
A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...
'' (from
shepherd
A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...
), or ''
Potter'' (from
potter).
* ''deanthroponymization'', a process when an anthroponym becomes an
apellative, like when the surname of the inventor
Louis Braille was used to create a name for the writing system for the visually impaired persons (
braille).
* ''transonymization'' of anthroponyms into
toponyms, a process when a human proper name is used to form a
toponym (proper name of a locality; place name), thus creating an ''
anthropotoponym'', like when the name of
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
was used to create several ''astionyms'' (city names), including name for the newly created city of
Alexandria in the ancient
Hellenistic Egypt, or when the surname of
Christopher Columbus was used to create several ''choronyms'' (region names), including names for Southamerican state of
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
, and Canadian province of
British Columbia.
* ''transonymization'' of toponyms into anthroponyms, a process when toponyms (place names) are used to form human names (anthroponyms), thus creating various ''topoanthroponyms''.
Gary Lefman (2013): Internationalisation of People Names
/ref> Many surnames
In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community.
Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name, ...
are created in that way, and they are known as toponymic surnames. Most demonym
A demonym (; ) or gentilic () is a word that identifies a group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, province, ...
s (names for localized populations) are ''topoanthroponyms'' by formation, since they are usually created from toponyms, and also some ethnonym
An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...
s are ''topoanthroponyms'' too (those that are formed from toponyms, and thus referred to as ''topoethnonyms''). For example, geographic designations for the region of ''Black Mountain'' ( Montenegro) and frontier region of ''Ukraina'' ( Ukraine) were used to create not only demonyms for general populations for those regions, but also ethnonyms for modern ethnic Montenegrins
Montenegrins ( cnr, Црногорци, Crnogorci, or ; literal translation, lit. "Black Mountain People") are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group that share a common Culture of Montenegro, Montenegrin culture, History of Montenegro, histor ...
and ethnic Ukrainians
Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian. The majority of Ukrainians are Eastern Or ...
.
See also
References
Sources
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Onomastics
Human names
Anthropology
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