PERSONAL NAME AS A SIGH OF ETHNIC IDENTITY

Abstract

Besides onomastic, ethnology deals as wel with the meaning of personal name as a sign of ethnic identity. For linquists, personal name is a verbal tool used by individual in order to identity, or calls himself.

The choice of name is usually made by parents, and is most often influenced by religious or national feelings, family reasons, practical, or other causes. Although personal motives are prevailing, the influence of environment conservativity is as well present in choosing the name for the child. In sellecting the name, attention is paid to be „good“ and well sounding.

The origin of each name varies a lot. Personal names are formed according to creatures and appearances in the nature (animals, herbs, natural phenomenons, materials and objects). The apothropic and teoforic ones are intended to symbolise various virtues and militant charecteristics of the bearer, the human ideal, or apstract concept.

The old Slavic names belong to the group of Indo-European, composed of two roots. From the begining of XVI century they are replaced on Catholic territories by the names of sents, especially Biblical. Accordingly, personal name is as well marking confessional belonging, which in Yugoslavia corresponds to ethnic identity.

This paper deals with tradition and innovation in sellecting personal names among mixed environments in our country, especially in ethnically heterogenous marriages. A tendency of transfering names from one ethnic, cultural and language environment to the other, at certain intervals of time, must be specially pointed aut.