Resumen de Projecting the Ethnic Identity of Romanian Gypsies/Roma through Contemporary First Name-giving Practices
Nadia Nicoleta Morarasu, Luminita Druga
Our study is grounded in the hypothesis that the ethnic identity of Romanian Gypsies/Roma was achieved through self-identifying anthroponymic devices (ways in which names such as Roma or Romani are endogenously assigned and used within the ethnic group) and maintained through social classifying devices (images projected on others, when individuals who are exogenously called Gipsies/Gypsies are positioned in a system of classification in terms of social, ethnic and geographical groups). In analysing official first names of children of Gypsy/Romani origin from two Romanian counties in terms of their identifying and classificatory potential, we intend to prove that, in addition to conferring sacred or secular names derived from ancient languages or from more recent historical sources, there is a specific practice of giving fancy or odd names, often recorded in the national mass-media and exposed to public mockery for their comic and derisive connotations.
