Abstract

This article analyses narratives by persons who have changed their name and/or bear different names in different social spaces by discussing two interview studies. After introducing social indexicality as a theoretical basis for the observed variation, the first case study is discussed: one-to-one-interviews with informants from communities of Russian colonists of the 18th and 19th centuries (“Spätaussiedler”)., whose families historically migrated from Germany to areas later incorporated in the Soviet Union. They were recognized as co-ethnic by German administration when they migrated to Germany in late 20th c., and were encouraged to adopt “Germanized” names. The second case study discusses focus groups with members of rural communities in Germany who use special name forms linked to rural dialect, genealogy, and topography within the village. In both interview conditions, informants discussed factors determining the choice of name variants as well as attitudes towards name variants and name change. The analysis is selective and qualitative with special focus on the informants’ use of spatial relations in their narrations about name use and name change. In an outlook, the two cases are compared regarding spatial reference and indexicality of name variants.