Branch of onomastics, study of the names of human beings
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Anthroponymy (also anthroponymics or anthroponomastics, from
Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος anthrōpos / 'human', and ὄνομα onoma / 'name') is the study of anthroponyms, the
proper names of
human beings, both individual and collective.[1] Anthroponymy is a branch of
onomastics.
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-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 method.[6]
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 ἀνήρ / man, and ὄνομα / name),[7] while names of human females are called gynonyms (from
Ancient Greek γυνή / woman, and ὄνομα / name).[8]
Anthroponymy of group and population names
Anthroponymy of group and population names includes the study of
demonyms (names of localized populations),[9]ethnonyms (names of ethnic groups),[10] 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. 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, and
historical information.[citation needed]
Related terms and processes
There are several specific terms and processes related to anthroponymy, like:
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).[12]
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 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, and Canadian province of
British Columbia.[13]
transonymization of toponyms into anthroponyms, a process when toponyms (place names) are used to form human names (anthroponyms), thus creating various topoanthroponyms.[14] Many
surnames are created in that way, and they are known as
toponymic surnames. Most
demonyms (names for localized populations) are topoanthroponyms by formation, since they are usually created from toponyms, and also some
ethnonyms are topoanthroponyms too (those that are formed from toponyms, and thus referred to as topoethnonyms).[15] 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 and
ethnic Ukrainians.[16]
See also
Look up anthroponymy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
^Boamfa, Ionel (2017).
"RESEARCH METHODOLOGY". 4th International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conferences on Social Sciences & Arts SGEM 2017: |page=8 – via Research gate.