"On Name-Giving" - The Stakes Involved In Name Attribution At The Family And Social Levels In Russia

In Russia, a person's identity is indicated by several elements which vary both in nature and according to the rules governing their attribution and use. The present article, which is based on an ethnographic survey conducted in the region of Iaroslavl', focuses on the stakes involved in first-name (imia) and patronymic (otchestvo) attribution in the context of the family, and investigates the rules and strategies leading to onomastic recurrences. It seems indeed that in Central Russia, the name-giving process is part of a strategy which consists in providing a basis for the construction of a family's identity by giving prominence to a founding ancestor (rodonachal'nik). Once belonging to a filiation is marked by name attribution, it then guarantees an individual's integration in the larger social context.