The Karakalpak Name-Giving Tradition Related to the Loss of Children in the Family (Cases of Karakalpakstan, and the Navoi and Samarkand Regions)

Abstract

The article is based on my long-term scholarly research, fieldwork, and data drawn from ethnographic literature. Drawing primarily on evidence from the twentieth century and the first quarter of the twenty-first century, I examine Karakalpak naming traditions associated with the birth of premature infants and with children born after several consecutive infant deaths within a family among Karakalpaks living in the Republic of Karakalpakstan and the Navoi and Samarkand regions of Uzbekistan. The article also discusses the Islamic tradition of reciting adhan (call to prayer), followed by the naming ceremony, as well as customs and rituals involving magical practices, taboos, and beliefs intended to ensure a child’s survival. Thus, the meaningful name Iytemgen (“fed with a dog’s milk”) indicated that previous infants in the family had died and that the newborn’s first feeding was symbolically carried out by a dog rather than by the mother. I further describe the symbolic ritual of “buying” a child, reflected in the name of Satypaldy. The fieldwork data confirmed the continued use of traditional names such as Tursynbay, Tursyn, and Tursungul, which continue to be given to children today. Nevertheless, under the influence of globalization, cultural integration, and technological and telecommunications developments, many traditional names of this kind are gradually falling out of use and are being replaced by more modern ones. Referring to the previous scholarly studies, I note that the replacement of traditional, highly conservative naming practices with new names started in the 1930s; and by the beginning of the twenty-first century, names common both in Western and in Eastern countries became increasingly widespread.