Vol. 67 No. 2 (2019)
Article

Re-using the names of newborns: symbolic reincarnation in an age of infant mortality

PDF
  • Stephen J. Bush
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00277738.2018.1536186

Published 2019-04-03

Copyright (c) 2019 American Name Society

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The naming of a newborn for a deceased relative is a means by which a meaningful connection can be maintained with the dead. This study analyses the birth, marriage and death records of England and Wales to highlight a historic naming custom–that should a child die shortly after birth, their name could often be re-used for a later sibling.

This re-use of names in response to child bereavement is considered in the context of historic and cross-cultural naming customs offering pragmatic responses to infant mortality, such as apotropaic (protective) naming, and within the theoretical framework of ‘continuing bonds’, whereby namesakes can facilitate a post-mortem social life for the deceased. By considering the intricate relationship between one’s name and one’s personhood, the re-use of a name in full, shortly after death, could be interpreted as the symbolic reincarnation of an individual, rather than simply as a commemorative act.

PDF

References

  1. Alia, Valerie. 2009. Names and Nunavut: Culture and Identity in the Inuit Homeland. 1st ed. New York, USA: Berghahn Books.
  2. Atkins, P.J. 1999. “Milk consumption and tuberculosis in Britain, 1850-1950.” In Order and Disorder: The Health Implications of Eating and Drinking in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, ed. A. Fenton, 83–95. Edinburgh, UK: Tuckwell Press.
  3. Barry, Herbert, and Leonora M. Paxson. 1971. “Infancy and Early Childhood: Cross-cultural Codes 2.” Ethnology 10:466–508.
  4. Bell, Frances, and Robert Millward. 1998. “Public Health Expenditures and Mortality in England and Wales, 1870–1914.” Continuity and Change 13:221–249.
  5. Bush, Stephen J., A. Powell-Smith, and T.C. Freeman. 2018. “Network Analysis of the Social and Demographic Influences on Name Choice within the UK (1838-2016).” PLoS One 13:e0205759.
  6. Crespo-Fernández, Eliecer. 2006. “The Language of Death: Euphemism and Conceptual Metaphorization in Victorian Obituaries.” SKY Journal of Linguistics 19:101–130.
  7. Crespo-Fernández, Eliecer. 2013. “Euphemistic Metaphors in English and Spanish Epitaphs: A Comparative Study.” [Metáforas Eufemísticas En Epitafios Ingleses y Españoles: Un Estudio Contrastivo]. Atlantis 35:99–118.
  8. Dasen, Véronique. 2011. “Childbirth and Infancy in Greek and Roman Antiquity.” In A Companion to Families in the Greek and Roman Worlds, ed. Beryl Rawson. New Jersey, USA: Blackwell Publishing.
  9. Dirbas, Hekmat. 2017. Thy Name is Deer. Animal names in Semitic Onomastics and Name-giving Traditions: Evidence from Akkadian, Northwest Semitic and Arabic. PhD, Humanities, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands.
  10. Fang, Hanquan, and J. H. Heng. 1983. “Social Changes and Changing Address Norms in China.” Language in Society 12:495–507.
  11. Foster, Terrah L, Mary Jo Gilmer, Betty Davies, Mary S Dietrich, Maru Barrera, Diane L Fairclough, Kathryn Vannatta, and Cynthia A Gerhardt. 2011. “Comparison of Continuing Bonds Reported by Parents and Siblings after a Child's Death from Cancer.” Death studies 35:420–440.
  12. Guemple, D. L. 1965. “Saunik: Name Sharing as a Factor Governing Eskimo Kinship Terms.” Ethnology 4:323–335.
  13. Irwin, Melissa D. 2015. “Mourning 2.0: Continuing Bonds between the Living and the Dead on Facebook.” OMEGA: Journal of Death and Dying 72:119–150.
  14. Jonsson, Annika. 2015. “Post-mortem Social Death: Exploring the Absence of the Deceased.” Contemporary Social Science 10:284–295.
  15. Klass, Dennis. 1993. “Solace and Immortality: Bereaved Parents’ Continuing Bond with their Children.” Death Studies 17. no. 4:343–368.
  16. Klass, Phyllis R. Silverman, and Steven Nickman, eds. 1996. Continuing Bonds: New Understandings of Grief. Philadelphia, PA: Taylor and Francis.
  17. Králová, Jana. 2015. “What is Social Death?” Contemporary Social Science 10:235–248.
  18. Lee, K.S. 2007. “Infant Mortality Decline in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries: The Role of Market Milk.” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 50:585–602.
  19. Lieberson, Stanley, Susan Dumais, and Shyon Baumann. 2000. “The Instability of Androgynous Names: The Symbolic Maintenance of Gender Boundaries”. American Journal of Sociology 105:1249–1287.
  20. Macdonald, Charles. 2009. “Inuit Personal Names. A Unique System?” In Orality in the 21st Century: Inuit Discourse and Practices. Proceedings of the 15th Inuit Studies Conference. ed. B. Collignon and M. Therrien. Paris: INALCO.
  21. McCormick, Albert E. 2010. “Infant Mortality and Child-Naming: A Genealogical Exploration of American Trends.” The Journal of Public and Professional Sociology 3:2.
  22. McCormick, Lisa. 2015. “The Agency of Dead Musicians.” Contemporary Social Science 10:323–335.
  23. Mendels, D. 2007. On Memory: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Peter Lang.
  24. Mitterauer, M. 1993. Ahnen und Heilige: Namengebung in der europäischen Geschichte. München: Beck.
  25. Ogden, Charles Kay, and Ivor Armstrong Richards. 1946. The Meaning of Meaning. San Diego, USA: Harvest Book.
  26. Okehie-Offoha, Marcellina Ulunma, and Matthew N. O. Sadiku. 1995. Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Nigeria. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
  27. Root, Briana L., and Julie Juola Exline. 2014. “The Role of Continuing Bonds in Coping with Grief: Overview and Future Directions.” Death Studies 38:1–8.
  28. Samuel, Edgar R. 1969. “New Light on the Selection of Jewish Children’s Names.” Transactions & Miscellanies (Jewish Historical Society of England) 23:64–86.
  29. Scheper-Hughes, Nancy. 1992. Death without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil. Berkley: University of California Press.
  30. Seeman, Mary V. 1983. “The Unconscious Meaning of Personal Names.” Names 31:237–244.
  31. Stroebe, Margaret, and Henk Schut. 2005. “To Continue or Relinquish Bonds: A Review of Consequences for the Bereaved.” Death Studies 29:477–494.
  32. Toplean, Adela. 2015. “To Resist or to Embrace Social Death? Photographs of Couples on Romanian Gravestones.” Contemporary Social Science 10:296–309.
  33. Tremearne, A. J. N. 1914. The Ban of the Bori: Demons and Demon-dancing in West and North Africa. London, UK: Routledge.
  34. Tremearne, Major A.J.N. 2014. Hausa Superstitions and Customs: An introduction to the Folk-lore and the Folk. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
  35. Vickio, Craig J. 1999. “Together in Spirit: Keeping Our Relationships Alive when Loved Ones Die.” Death Studies 23:161–175.
  36. West, Jevin D., Jennifer Jacquet, Molly M. King, Shelley J. Correll, and Carl T. Bergstrom. 2013. “The Role of Gender in Scholarly Authorship.” PLoS One 8:e66212.
  37. Williams, Victoria. 2016. Celebrating Life Customs Around the World: From Baby Showers to Funerals. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.