RU | EN
Submenu

Kaziev S., Mogunova M. National Identity and the Naming of Children in Interethnic Marriages of Kazakhs in the North Kazakhstan Region of the Republic of Kazakhstan

S. Kaziev
Manash Kozybayev North Kazakhstan University
Petropavlovsk, Republic of Kazakhstan
ORCID: 0000-0002-1613-1211
E-mail: sattarkaz@mail.ru

 

M. Mogunova
Manash Kozybayev North Kazakhstan University
Petropavlovsk, Republic of Kazakhstan
ORCID: 0000-0001-9341-0102
E-mail: M_mogunova@mail.ru

 

 Download  |  Go to Issue #4. 2025

 

ABSTRACT. This study examines the role of naming practices in interethnic marriages among Kazakhs in the North Kazakhstan region, with a particular focus on their impact on national identity formation and evolving gender dynamics. While naming is often assumed to be linked to national identity and affected by modernization and changing family structures, limited research has examined how national boundaries are actively negotiated within interethnic marriages. Traditional perspectives tend to view intermarriage as a driver of cultural blending, erosion of national distinctions, and eventual assimilation. This study argues that name selection is not merely a conventional act of choosing from a predefined set of names, but a socially complex process that reflects an individual’s cultural positioning within society. It is shaped by ethnocultural influences and the degree of societal modernization, making naming a critical tool enabling self-identification within a broader societal context. In the context of interethnic marriages, naming also reveals negotiations within gender relations between parents. Moreover, the chosen names can signal the emergence of hybridized identities. Drawing on empirical methods, which included surveys and participant observation, the study investigates identity dynamics and competition in naming practices within mixed families. It also examines family strategies that either reinforce or weaken core markers of Kazakh national identity, such as genealogical lineage, tribal affiliation, gendered norms, and traditional family practices. The findings suggest that naming practices in interethnic Kazakh families reflect a broader transition from primordial to symbolic foundations of national identity.

 

KEYWORDS: naming, Kazakhs, Russians, interethnic marriage, assimilation, identity

 

DOI 10.31250/2618-8600-2025-4(30)-178-199
UDC 392:316.361.13(574)

 

REFERENCES 

  • Beisembaev S. Fenomen kazakhskogo natsionalizma v kontekste segodnyashney politiki: ot otritsaniya k ponimaniyu [The phenomenon of Kazakh nationalism in the context of today’s politics: from denial to understanding]. Available at: https://www.soros.kz/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/kazakh_nationalism.pdf (accessed: 15.04.2025). (In Russian).
  • Espaeva K. S. [Lexico-semantic types of anthroponyms in the epic “The Way of Abai” by M. Auyezov]. Tyurkskaya onomastika [Turkic onomastics]. Alma-Ata: Nauka Publ., 1984, pp. 229–234. (In Russian).
  • Geertz C. The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic Books, 1973, 479 p. (In English).
  • Jankowiak W. R. Mongolian interethnic marriage, ethnic relations, and national integration in the PRC. Genealogy, 2024, vol. 8, iss. 2, article number 65. (In English).
  • Kaziev S. Sh., Starchenko R. A., Mogunova M. V. [Marriages of urban Kazakhs and Russians in Petropavlovsk, Northern Kazakhstan: current trends and prospects]. Vestnik arkheologii, antropologii i etnografii [Bulletin of Archeology, Anthropology and Ethnography], 2022, no. 3 (58), pp. 174–184. (In Russian).
  • Keyes Ch. F. The dialectics of ethnic change. Ethnic Change. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1981, рp. 4–30. (In English).
  • Lévi-Strauss C. The savage mind. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1966, 290 p. (In English).
  • Madiyeva G. B., Hoffmann E., Aliakbarova A. T. Linguistic attribution of modern kazakh anthroponyms. Eurasian Journal of Philology, 2020, vol. 117, no. 1, рp. 78–85. (In English).
  • Stasevich I. V. [Rites and rituals of the life cycle]. Kazakhi [Kazakhs]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 2021, pp. 508–552. (In Russian).
  • Temirgazina Z. K., Aselderova R. O. [Kazakh compound anthroponyms with a verbal element: Propositional structure]. Voprosy onomastiki [Problems of Onomastics], 2022, vol. 19, no. 2, рр. 48–65. (In Russian).