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Lezgîn Baranî, Assistant Professor
Esma Bamernî, Lecturer
Dilgeş M. Şerîf, Assistant Lecturer
Department of English School of Arts University of Duhok
ABSTRACT
The paper tackles personal names among the Kurds in Kurdistan of Iraq and regards naming as an important aspect of the Kurdish society. The paper looks at the Kurdish names within the perspective of linguistics anthropology. It considers names as not being arbitrary labels but sociocultural tags that have sociocultural functions and meanings. It is found out that the Kurds have always given personal naming a great deal of importance generation after generation. They borrow personal names from different cultures due to religious, political and ideological reasons ; however, they have always clothed them in the garments of their national ideology. It is also realized that the Kurdish names after the First World War became the mouthpiece of the Kurds’ call for freedom, independence and revolution. The paper discusses the typology of Kurdish names. These include (1) family names (2) rhyme and rhythmic names, (3) unique names, (4) death prevention and survival names, (5) nature and place names (6) occupational and achievement names, (7) circumstantial names, (8) honorifics names, (9) beauty names, (10) flora and fauna names, and (11) non-Kurdish names.
Keywords: personal names, sociolinguistics, anthropology and Kurdish culture