Names: A Study of Personal Names, Identity, and Power in Pakistan

by Tariq Rahman

This book is the first scholarly study of personal names in Pakistan and is based on an analysis of names from all over the country, both from the early years and from the contemporary period. The only earlier study was by Sir Richard Temple in 1883 and the data for that came from East Punjab, now in India. Thus there was only one chapter on Muslim names in it.
This work describes beliefs about names, onomastic practices, and changes in names during the last sixty years or so. Names are indexed with identity and reflect a personas religion, sect, class, region (urban or rural), degree of modernization, and ethnic origin. They may be markers of social worth or stigmas. In some situations they may well be dangerous and people may conceal their names or take up new names to avoid persecution. This study of names, therefore, provides insights into the way identity, ideology, and power are inter-related in Pakistan.

Genres: Pakistan, Nonfiction

244 pages, Hardcover

First published July 28, 2015

About the author

Tariq Rahman PhD is presently Dean, School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at the Beaconhouse National University, Lahore. He is also HEC Distinguished National Professor and Professor Emeritus at the National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. Dr Rahman has been a guest professor in Denmark and Spain, and a Fulbright research scholar (1995-96) at the University of Texas at Austin, USA. He was also the first incumbent of the Pakistan Chair at U.C. Berkeley (2004-05). He has been a research fellow at the Oxford Centre of Islamic Studies and the South Asia Institute at the University of Heidelberg. He has been given several awards: the Presidential Pride of Performance (1994), HEC lifetime achievement award, the highly prestigious Humboldt Research Award (2012) from Germany, and the Sitara-i-Imtiaz in 2013. He was awarded a higher doctorate (D.Litt) by the University of Sheffield for all of his published research in 2014.

Reviews

[Abdul Moiz Abbasi · Rating 5 out of 5]

What's in a name?

This book is the first of its kind that I have read and the first of its kind that the author has written. It is a seminal work which will inform further study of names in Pakistan for years to come.

It is essentially a book-sized research paper and I would think is written mostly for academics; why do I say that? Well, it assumes that you already have some understanding of how data collection (e.g. surveys) work and some background in both sociology (e.g. cultural capital) and philosophy (Some social action theory which would allow you to understand the philosophical viewpoints on names). Fortunately, I have been exposed to all three of them thanks to our A level sociology teacher, so I barely managed to not to have it go over my head. The jargon and dose of philosophy gets heavy during both the introduction and conclusion but I don't think that should be a problem for academics. Though I found it a bit annoying when he could have used indicate instead of 'index' and desired instead of 'desiderated'. But, on second thought, this is just academic nuance (specialized vocabulary convey more complex/precise meanings). There are a lot of references and literature the other cites and he describes exactly how he did his research along with the difficulties he faced-which I think would be appreciated by sociologists. One flaw in the study (which shouldn't stop you from reading the book) is the sampling bias that the author himself admits: 'the sample has more educated than uneducated people, whereas the reality of the country is otherwise. This is sampling bias because it is easier to get people in educational institutions than to find them in other places' (pg19).

Personal names are badges of group identity, indicators of lineage, socio-economic class, level of modernisation, etc. (pg3)

The chapter immediately after the introduction is about the beliefs regarding names in Pakistan: People's beliefs about the evil eye, 'bhari' (heavy--inauspicious) names, and the debates about whether names have any effect on personalities.

"A man asked another his name. Upon being told he killed him" (pg34)

There are three naming trends mentioned and explained in the book: 1)Islamisation 2)Arabisation 3)'The search for novelty'. The second chapter deals with the with first two. What personalities do people want to project when they give certain names to their children e.g. Saddam/Osama, Muawiya/Yazid?

"I should not be simply murdered for my parents' short-sightedness for not foressing that 30 years later this name could get their child killed" (the person's name was Hussain-a sunni baloch journalist) [pg49]

Something you ought to know: the study is about 140 pages long, the other half is statistics and a glossary of names, their meanings and identities associated with them.

[Too lazy to finish the review]
[Even if it's a tangential interest in the book, get it and read it!]

[Zainab Mughal · Rating 5 out of 5]

#bookreview : Names - a study of personal names, identity and power in Pakistan by Tariq Rehman.

So I am done with this book. This was a unique research based book, because there is very little or no ontological research which is based on Pakistan and Pakistanis nomenclature. I enjoyed reading it as it not only covered names but also anthropology, sociology, history, geography, religion!!! Never knew a name can represent so much.
The research done is quite extensive. The indexes at the end are quite detailed. I would recommend it to people who enjoy nonfiction to have a read!!!

PS : according to the book, the most popular male names in Pakistan are Muhammad, Ali, Hussain and Hassann. And most popular female names are Aminah, Fatima, Ayesha, Maryam. 😁

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