INTEGRATION THROUGH NAMING PRACTICES AMONG WOMEN of TURKİSH ORIGIN in NORTHEASTERN FRANCE

Abstract

For immigrants and their descendants, naming practices represent a way of integrating into the host society. The following interviews reveal that younger generations women of Turkish descent in Northeastern Alsace employ three important criteria in selecting first names: 1) adequate length, 2) pronunciation in French, and 3) the meaning in Turkish of the chosen names. Turkish names with a bad connotations in French are not used at all. Employing the semistructured interview approach, I demonstrate that naming decisions can allow integration into another society. The findings of the study suggest that there is an important naming decision to show integration, even while the Turkish heritage is retained in choosing a first name. This research contributes to studies on onomastics research among immigrant community and integration.