Naming a New Self

Identity Elasticity and Self-Definition in Voluntary Name Changes

Bibliographic Data

ID10305995
AuthorsCelia Emmelhainz (0000-0001-8853-8574, Nazarbayev University, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume60
Issue3
Pages156-165
Publication date2012-07-30
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNames (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0027-7738 • E-ISSN: 1756-2279
PublisherUniversity Library System, University of Pittsburgh (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1179/0027773812z.00000000022
OpenAlexW1980068188
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited14

This article considers how personal name changes are situated within their sociological context in the United States. Reviewing both popular and scholarly texts on names and name changes, I draw on recent work on identity and narrative by Oriana to argue that voluntary personal name changes are made in relation to a sense of narrative elasticity or identity elasticity, and act symbolically to make a shifting identity or self-narrative manifest in the social context. Drawing out these themes through an exploration of name changes for ethnic self-definition or religious purposes, I conclude with a reflection on the unstable social balance between an individual’s interest in self-expression and society’s priority on the stable identification of persons within a given social sphere

Aesthetics · Context (archaeology · Epistemology · Ethnic group · Identity (music · Linguistics · Narrative · Personal identity · Self · Situated · Social group · Social identity approach · Social identity theory · Sociology · Anthropology · Computer Science · Gender Studies · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Names, Identity, and Discrimination Research · Philosophy · Psychology · Racial and Ethnic Identity Research · Social Psychology

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