Ethnology and the Study of Proper Names.

Abstract

0. Proper names, especially personal names, have captured the attention of many ethnographers and a substantial literature on the subject has accumulated. In every society people and places have proper names and ethnographers, no matter what their particular focus, must master the naming system at least informally in order to proceed with their research. In many cases a naming system will have features of special, even urgent, interest. For example, a taboo on the use of personal names is a great inconvenience for the ethnographer and inevitably creates interest in the naming system. In other cases naming may constitute a conspicuously important ceremonial occasion (e. g. Hymes 1966). In a great many instances the selection and bestowal of personal names is closely tied to the kinship system so that an ethnographer interested in the latter is naturally led to a consideration of the former (e. g. Bamberger 1974). The ethnographic literature on proper names is constituted almost entirely of studies done because of the prominence of naming or the inevitability of the ethnographer's encounter with proper names. Relatively little has been written that focuses on the nature of proper names and their role in social life (e. g. Levi-Strauss 1966). This is unfortunate. There are few obvious sociocultural universals and their study provides unique clues to the scope of uniformity and diversity of human life. In this paper I propose that philosophers' discussions of proper names guide ethnologists to the universal characteristics and functions of proper names. Attention to their discussions offers an opportunity to bring some order to the extant ethnological literature on proper names and to provide guidance for further research. In the first part of the paper I review some philosophical discussions of proper names; in the second part I show how the nature and function of proper names revealed in these discussions leads to a set of ethnographic questions about proper names.