There has always been a need for the identification of people, assigning them names so that individuals can be distinguished. The choice of a personal name is influenced by the climate and culture in which the individual is born and lives. There is something special about personal names, the significance given to them, the need to give each individual something that sets them apart, makes them unique in some way.
The meaning of names in some cultures is extremely important because there is a belief that a name with strong meaning can ensure a good and long life for the individual. It provides them with the necessary tools as a shield against all evils. Or it offers protection to a weak child.
The linguistic branch of anthroponomastics deals with the study of personal names, their meanings and origins. By researching the origins of names, we can establish where a certain name was mentioned for the first time and how that name was transmitted from one culture to another until present day.
The beginnings of record-keeping among European peoples are associated with the spread of Christianity and the keeping of registers of baptized, married, and deceased individuals. In addition, there was a need for reliable verification of kinship relationships in order to avoid marriages among close relatives.2
According to the beliefs of the ancient Near Eastern peoples, a name was equivalent to the essence of the named individual, and knowing someone’s name was seen as knowing their being. The phrase “to have a name” meant the same as “to exist”, while “to have no name” meant non-existence.
In the earliest period of the Roman Republic, Romans only had one name. Later, during the time of the Roman Empire, Roman citizens were allowed to have three names (tria nomina). The first name, or praenomen, was the personal name. The second name, or nomen, corresponded to today’s surname, while the cognomen was actually a nickname that was mostly based on the physical or psychological characteristics of the individual. In the late 2nd century, Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus introduced the obligation to register newborn children and thereby record their personal names. Newborn child. The provision was in place to prove the citizen’s free status and determine their personhood. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the custom of triple naming slowly disappeared, and it was only the desire of medieval nobility to preserve their privileges through their name that conditioned the upper social classes to add a nickname to their given name, which later evolved into a surname. This tendency is visible among Frankish nobility during the 8th and 9th centuries (for example, Charlemagne, Pepin the Short, Charles the Bald, or Louis the Pious), but it only became more common in the 11th century and among lower social classes, primarily in northern Italy, and then in France, Spain, and some cities in Dalmatia. According to precisely documented tax data from the golden age of Florence during the 15th century, only one out of every three taxpayers had a specific family name, that is, a surname. In other parts of Italy, this ratio was even smaller in the same period (around twenty percent of citizens, mostly from the artisan and merchant class). In the urban environment, it was common for every person to have a family name, while in rural areas only one in ten peasants, mostly wealthier ones, could boast a family name.
Among the people, personal names were more important than surnames, as seen in the expression “ime i prezime” (name and surname), where name comes first and surname means “over the name”, more like a nickname.
Material and spiritual life, close connections and dependencies on plants and animals, natural phenomena, religion and superstition, were the world in which the impulse for the origin of the first names was found. In certain communities, the name was a constant companion and symbol of personality. It was identified with the “soul”. Various customs were associated with the giving of names in the past, and in some places we find name changes during one’s life. The name received at birth, called the “milk name”, was replaced by the “school name” when starting school, and the third name, the “marriage name” or the name taken upon reaching adulthood, was given at the time of marriage or coming of age.
Parents usually chose the names. Sometimes, family or a priest influenced the choice. Often, a dream, event, circumstance, or the time of birth would play a role in the selection. For personal names, natural phenomena, animals, celestial bodies, and meteorological events were used. In some communities, we find cases connected to the totem culture, one of the earliest forms of religion that emerged simultaneously with tribal organization and religious beliefs that everything has a spirit and soul. By giving a child a name of a totem animal, plant, or the name of an object or phenomenon considered to possess magical power, it was believed that the child would enjoy their protection and possess mysterious abilities.
Linguistic origin and characteristics of some names
We find names based on animal names in names like Vuk (wolf), Jelenko (little deer), Zec (hare), Srna (roe deer), and the Greek name Melita (bee). Names derived from plant names include the Hebrew name Suzana and the Slavic names Ljiljana (lily), Ružica (rose), Smilja (sage), and Nevena (marigold). Celestial bodies are the basis for the origin of the Persian name Ester (star), the Latin name Stelle (star), and the Slavic name Zvezdana (star). Dear Danica, Sunčica, Zvjezdana. The Latin Aurora (dawn), Hebrew Abel (wind), Slavic Vatroslav, Ognjen, Lahorka point to various natural phenomena. Slavic names such as Zlatan, Srebrenka, Biserka have evolved from the names of various materials and objects. Children were given names that contain the name of God or some special deity (theophoric). This is how the Greek Theodor and Doroteja, Slavic Božidar were born. Among Semitic peoples, names often represented whole sentences: Michael meant “Who is God”, Daniel “God is my judge”, Ivan “God is merciful”. Virtues that a child should possess are expressed in names such as Celtic Donald (brave), Latin Justus (just) and Filomena (beloved), German Willibald (bold-willed), Arabic Emin (faithful), and our own Srećko, Milan, Vjeran, Krasna. Sometimes a name sounds the same as a word that represents a human ideal or abstract concept, for example, Latin Justitia (justice), Greek Sophia (wisdom), German Minnie (love), and Slavic Vjera, Nada, Slava. Let Names indicate coincidences like Latin Agrippa (wrongly born) or Hebrew-Aramaic Toma (twin). Names are often composed of two root elements, for example, Greek “Theo+doros”, Slavic “Boži + dar”, German “Gott+lieb”.
There are about eighty main root elements in old Slavic names. For example, “Beri” (Berislav), “Brani” (Branislav), “Budi” (Budimir), “Dom” (Domagoj), “Trpi” (Trpimir), “Drži” (Držislav), “Kazi” (Kazimir), “Vladi” (Vladimir), “Stani” (Stanislav). Endings often include -mir, -slav, -god, -dar, -ko. Many old Slavic names have remained in their full or shortened forms to this day. Among Catholics, they are sometimes less common because saint names, especially biblical ones like Ivan, Matija, Marko, Luka, Marija, Josip, Magdalena, Petar, Pavao, Jakov, were more frequently used. Throughout history, including today, the choice of names was subject to fashion, popular taste, or the influence of widely read literature. This can be attributed to the fact that names are often influenced by current trends, popular tastes, or the impact of widely read literature. Some domestic and foreign names that are quite common today are: Gordana, Jasenka, Višnja, Zoran, Boris, Bruno, Meri, Tomi. Names of tribes and nations
In some tribes, the national name was identical to the word meaning “man”, for example, in the case of Roma, while “Deutsche” comes from “the people”. The name of the Celtic Kymra comes from “combrogi” meaning “natives”, distinguishing them from Alobroga (foreigners). The common name Slaven (Sloven) derives from the root “slav” and signifies people who “slove, speak”. The Slavs called their neighbors Germans, which means “mute”, while the Greeks referred to all non-Greek peoples as “barbarians” (from Sanskrit “balbala” = stammerers). Many tribal and national names can be traced back to roots that mean “free”, “brave”, “strong”, “elevated”, “great”, expressing awareness of their own superiority. Names like “Romani” (from Rome), Pomorjani (by the sea), Poljani (from the field), Neretljani (by the Neretva river), Drevljani (from the forest) originated from geographical names, and many warrior tribes were sometimes named after weapons. Various cultures and civilizations have different customs of naming, both in ancient history and today. Personal name is the most important component of one’s identity. It dates back to prehistoric times when tribal structures collapsed and there was a growing need for individualization of people. More organized societies introduced population censuses, and since then we can trace the influence, origin, and formation of names. The linguistic branch of anthroponomastics helps us trace the origin of names from the culture in which they originated to the cultures that adapted the names to their linguistic environment up to the present day. The use of different weapons, such as the long spear by the Lombards or the sword by the Herusks, is an example of the cultural differences among these communities.