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Ethnic personal names and multiple identities in Anglophone Caribbean speech communities in Latin America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 October 2002

Michael Aceto
Michael Aceto
Affiliation:
Department of English, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina 27858, acetom@mail.ecu.edu
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Abstract

This study investigates the generation and maintenance of multiple personal names in an Anglophone Creole-speaking community of Panama. Nearly every Afro-Panamanian resident of the island of Bastimentos has two given names, one Spanish-derived and the other Creole-derived. The Creole or “ethnic name” is virtually the exclusive name used locally for reference and address. It is argued that these ethnic names are preferred for reference and address because they reflexively define who members of this speech community are in terms of culture and ancestry. A typology of nicknames and pseudonyms as well as a brief cross-cultural presentation of multiple or alternative personal names is provided. Ethnic name usage in Bastimentos is discussed within an acts of identity framework.

Keywords

CreolePanamaethnicitynicknamespseudonymsidentityonomastics
Type
Research Article
Information
Language in Society , Volume 31 , Issue 4 , October 2002 , pp. 577 - 608
Copyright
2002 Cambridge University Press

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