12 ms·

> Kazakh names are typically unique planet-wide. Really? What kind of structure do their names have? I think even cultures that used full-sentence names tended

> Kazakh names are typically unique planet-wide. Really? What kind of structure do their names have? I think even cultures that used full-sentence names tended to have some conventional ones. And certain name ideas are very common cross-culturally, as witness Bogdan / Nathaniel / Theodore (and older Diodorus / Apollodorus / Herodotus / etc) / Dieudonné / Atallah... Going to something I know better, Chinese names can be unique, and I know someone who tells me her father specifically attempted to ensure that nobody shared her name, but I wouldn't go as far as saying that being unique is the typical case. Some names (小丽, 国强) have an attractive meaning and are used with identical spelling by large numbers of people; other names (Xīnyuè, Sījiā) show a lot of spelling variation while always being pronounced identically.

Aspos 2y ago
There are quite a few pre-Islamic taboos some of which persist to this day. For example, can't give a child a name of a living person parents know of. This of course includes extended family, friends and even acquaintances. This restriction alone enforces creative naming. Typically names consist of 1-5 elements which can be combined arbitrarily. There are literally thousands of such elements though. Last name often is a first name of an ancestor a few generations deep and it is likely to be unique too. So as a result first+last name combinations are quite unique. Urbanization is changing all this of course but some traditions are still strong. In my entire life I've met just 3 people with the same first name as mine.
- thaumasiotes 2y ago
  > Typically names consist of 1-5 elements which can be combined arbitrarily. Out of curiosity, are those elements meaningful or just pure sounds?
  - Aspos 2y ago
    Yes, they are meaningful. For example: Adjective + some natural phenomena + some flower = girl name.

Aspos 2y ago

There are quite a few pre-Islamic taboos some of which persist to this day. For example, can't give a child a name of a living person parents know of. This of course includes extended family, friends and even acquaintances. This restriction alone enforces creative naming. Typically names consist of 1-5 elements which can be combined arbitrarily. There are literally thousands of such elements though. Last name often is a first name of an ancestor a few generations deep and it is likely to be unique too. So as a result first+last name combinations are quite unique. Urbanization is changing all this of course but some traditions are still strong. In my entire life I've met just 3 people with the same first name as mine.

thaumasiotes 2y ago
> Typically names consist of 1-5 elements which can be combined arbitrarily. Out of curiosity, are those elements meaningful or just pure sounds?
- Aspos 2y ago
  Yes, they are meaningful. For example: Adjective + some natural phenomena + some flower = girl name.