Re: Do you have a middle name?

Here are some facts about naming in some other cultures, they don't imply nothing but a spirit to share and widen the scope of the interaction a little bit.

In parts of southern and sub-Saharan Africa, they have two names, a baptismal Christian name and an African traditional name, they use the Christian name for their passports and official papers and the traditional name in social gatherings and functions. Out of curiosity to understand how this system works I wondered if that doesn't give a room for identity swapping because those who aren't Christians would have only African names corresponding to their culture or names from their religion so a country institution can have a less uniform and more flexible naming system in provision for adopting all the various naming schemes, it really takes an insider to comprehend the difficulty of implementing such a system, I gave up and satisfied by only admiring the agility and vibrant ways of these different cultures...

In much of the Middle East parts, they have a naming system that is a chain starting with your name, your father's name, your grandpa's, great grandpa's, great great grandpa's...etc till the name of the one the entire tribe sprang out of and to whom the name of the tribe belongs... all these in a sequence so you know where you exactly is from...For practicality in official papers it is sufficient to write the first four or five names and optionally followed by the tribe name..This can make a lot easier the process of building a family tree IMHO and tracking ancestry relationships for some previous hundred years...

In India, they can tell from the surname, in much of the cases, the social order (caste position) of someone, I don't know how it works exactly, but that seems to apply for everyone, historically this has caused much prejudice against those of castes considered to be lower in the social order scale they were outcasts till they made constitutional provisions for them and got them under a criteria of 'scheduled castes / tribes' and reserving quotas for them in Education and restoring them much of the rights denied by their 'surname's still, there are some who vindicate against inter-caste marriages and interactions, this provides grounds for some communal unrest, suicides and other unpleasant things...

These are just quick facts from here and there, just to share and thanks for the interesting poll...take care everyone...

Excellence is an Endeavor of Persistence. Chance Favors a Prepared Mind.

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Re^2: Do you have a middle name? by LanX (Saint) on Dec 02, 2009 at 20:51 UTC
In much of the Middle East parts, they have a naming system that is a chain starting with your name, your father's name, your grandpa's, great grandpa's, great great grandpa's... Which can cause an endless loop, like in the case of Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Boutros is an Arabized form of Petros, and it seems his family loves to baptize the eldest son after Saint Peter... 8) Cheers Rolf	[reply]
Re^3: Do you have a middle name? by ambrus (Abbot) on Dec 03, 2009 at 08:14 UTC
I think it can lead to actual loops, because Gilgamesh has traveled back in time and became his own grandfather – at least they say he's two thirds part god and one third part mortal, and I can't think of an easier way how that's possible.	[reply]
Re^4: Do you have a middle name? (temporal incest) by LanX (Saint) on Dec 03, 2009 at 21:06 UTC
at least they say he's two thirds part god and one third part mortal, and I can't think of an easier way how that's possible. it's unlikely but possible, since chromosomes can be trippled! I think it can lead to actual loops, because Gilgamesh has traveled back in time and became his own grandfather Mathematician inside joke? ;-) x= 1/4 x + 1/4 a + 1/4 b + 1/4 c 3x= a+b+c So "grandpa" Gilgamesh's wife (a) was mortal and his son (or daughter) in law was the divine offspring of 2 gods (b & c),,, Nice! I always wondered how to construct a sci-fi character who is 1/pi Klingon, clearly TI (= temporal incest) is the answer opening the occasion for plenty of new seasons of soa-fi (= soap fiction)! XD Cheers Rolf	[reply]
Re^4: Do you have a middle name? by Anonymous Monk on Dec 03, 2009 at 14:44 UTC
It's possible only as a myth, that was a time when the earliest ever of civilizations formed in Northern Iraq, which wasn't Arabic yet. Gilgamesh was Sumerian, and he lived in 2700 BCE. Arabic seems to have come around from Aramaic and has a semitic origin, it appeared much later than the time of Gilgamesh and it appeared in Jordan AFAIK...So there's a mix-up in your statement but many myths were attributed to Arabs when they were rather of other origins because that part of earth was like a cocktail of many different interleaving cultures and influences along the passage of history...	[reply]
Re^2: Do you have a middle name? by Anonymous Monk on Dec 03, 2009 at 08:32 UTC
Mc- Mac- -son -sen -ić all these pre/suf-ixes common for surnames literally mean "son of" (Boutros ibin Boutros, Boutros son of Boutros)	[reply]
Re^3: Do you have a middle name? by Anonymous Monk on Dec 03, 2009 at 14:56 UTC
this is an 'AHA' moment, I wondered why McDonald's was named McDonald's so it is Son of Donald's :P.. Macintosh is son of 'Intosh'.. My imagination is taking me somewhere with McB**ch...	[reply]
Re^4: Do you have a middle name? by Anonymous Monk on Dec 03, 2009 at 20:29 UTC
Ó - Gaelic for "male descendant of" Ní - Gaelic for "female descendant of" Mac - Gaelic for "son of" Nic - Gaelic for "daughter of" These were anglicized to Mac/Mc- and Ó- for both sexes...	[reply]


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