Socio-onomastics is the study of names through a
sociolinguistic
Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any or all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and society's effect on language. It can overlap with the sociology of l ...
lens, and is part of the broader topic 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 ...
. Socio-onomastics 'examines the use and variety of names through methods that demonstrate the social, cultural, and situational conditions in name usage'. As a discipline, it aims to explore 'the social origin and use of different variants of proper names within various situations and contexts', including both place names and personal names.
The term stems from the German ''Sozioonomastik'' and, first emerging among German thinkers in the early 1970s, it is a much younger subdiscipline of onomastics than many others (e.g.
toponymy
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
).
Research can be contemporary, with data collected through surveys and ethnographical inquiry of modern societies and communities, or historical, based on historical written sources. Methodologically speaking, socio-onomastics focuses on synchronic variation of names over time and space - why are some names given and others not, why are some so popular, why are some remembered by or applied to certain groups of people or places?
Notable scholars
Socio-onomastic study of
nicknames
A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...
has proved particularly productive. James Skipper Jr., Professor of Sociology, focused on the study of nicknames within typically American cultural groups: baseball players and jazz musicians. Alongside Leslie, his ''Toward a Theory of Nicknames: A Case for Socio-Onomastics'', published in the journal ''
Names
A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A persona ...
'', established a number of crucial theoretical concerns.
Further reading
* Ainiala, T., 'Names in Society' in C. Hough (ed.) ''The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming'' (Oxford, 2016).
* Ainiala, T. and Östman, J. R., ''Socio-onomastics: The Pragmatics of Names'' (Amsterdam, 2017).
* Hough, C. and Izdebska, D. (eds.), Names and Their Environments' Proceedings of the 25th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences Glasgow, 25-29 August 2014. Volume 4: Theory and Methodology. Socio-onomastics.'' (Glasgow, 2016).https://www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_576598_smxx.pdf
* Leslie, P. L. and Skipper, J. K., 'Towards a Theory of Nicknames: A Case for Socio-onomastics', ''Names'' 38/4 (1990).https://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/article/view/1253
* Nordic Socio-onomastics Website - https://www.nordicsocioonomastics.org/about-socio-onomastics/
References
{{Sociolinguistics-stub
Onomastics