Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews eISSN: 2395-6518, Vol 8, No 4, 2020, pp 1522-1534 https://doi.org/10.18510/hssr.2020.84140 1522 |https://giapjournals.com/hssr/index © Aliakbarovа et al. EVOLUTION OF ANTHROPONYMS: TRANSFORMATION IN THE NAMING OF NEWBORN BABIES AND ITS ROLE FOR SOCIETY IN THE PERIOD OF LINGUISTIC TRANSITION Aigerim Aliakbarovа 1* , Gulmira Madiyeva 2 , Chen Xiao 3 1* Senior Lecturer, Ph.D. student, Department of General Linguistics and European Languages, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan; 2 Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor, Department of General Linguistics and European Languages, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan; 3 PhD student, Department of General Linguistics and European Languages, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan. Email: 1* alyakbarova.a@kaznu.kz, 2 madyeva.Gulmyra@kaznu.kz, 3 xiaoxiao9046@gmail.com Article History: Received on 13 th July 2020, Revised on 25 th September 2020, Published on 4 th October 2020 Abstract Purpose of the study: The study is aiming to show that name is a kind of social identification code, i.e., the names serve important social and legal functions that contribute to the identification of the person in society, allowing joining various social institutions. The functioning of personal names plays a significant role in the lives of every member of society. Methodology: The authors of the research article offer an empirical exploration of the transformation of naming newborns in the Republic of Kazakhstan. More specifically, the paper utilizes a grounded theory research procedure to investigate the transformations in the naming of newborn babies in Kazakhstan from the pre-Soviet times to the present. Main Findings: The authors indicated that from the pre-Soviet times, the changes in naming systems in Kazakhstan have been consistent with the socio-cultural and political events of each era recognizing, appreciating, and accommodating Kazakh identities, histories, languages, and cultures. The names should serve as beacon lights that imbue in them self-esteem, health, and wellbeing on the path of their adulthood. Applications of this study: The factual material, scientific results, and conclusions can be widely used in onomastic research, special courses on the theory of onomastics, on Kazakh anthroponymy, comparative onomastics, in lectures on semantics, word formation, lexicography. The results of the research can provide an opportunity for linguists, sociologists, psychologists, cultural scientists, etc. to draw appropriate conclusions on the formation of the national language and national consciousness. Novelty/Originality of this study: The paper carries implications for contemporary anthroponyms. It is important to consider traditional thought as a viable knowledge source for naming newborns and conceptualizing research in anthroponyms, this does not mean the denunciation of newborn naming practices borrowed from other cultures in favor of traditional naming practices. Every newborn is named by the parents for a purpose and a reason. Keywords: Anthroponym, Transformation, Normative Structures, Naming of Persons, Self-Esteem, Health and Wellbeing. INTRODUCTION In this context, the current pattern of naming newborns, particularly in traditional, non-Western societies appears to provide evidence of some change away from previous naming patterns (Agyekum, 2006 ; Al-Qawasmi & Al-Haq, 2016) . In other words, the naming of newborns has depended on name borrowing, emphasizing selective socio-culturally- related patterns that somewhat take away the identities of people (Agyekum, 2006 ; Naumova, 2014 ; Wykes, 2017 ; Zhao & Biernat, 2018 ). The formation and evolution of a naming system depend on the development of the state, legal institutions (Jarvis et al., 2020 ), and the level of socio-economic transformation. Anthropological data indicates that the authors can judge the quality and level of national consciousness through the naming system of a country. The transformation of the Kazakh naming system can be divided into several historical periods. According to Zhanuzakov (1971) , the first period dates back to the origin of Kazakh personal names between the 5 th and 8 th centuries when people believed in the powerful spirit of tengri, the moon, the sun, natural phenomena, birds, wild animals, for instance, Tanirbergen (given by tengri), Aikun (moon + sun), Aitoldy (full moon) and so on. In these ancient times, blue wolf and blue bull were perceived as totemic symbols, and their names were given to newborns, like Boribai (bori – wolf + bai – rich), Bukabai (buka – bull + bai - rich). The second-period dates between the 10 th and 17 th centuries when the spread of Islam began to transform the Kazakh naming system borrowed from the Arabic language and the formation of Kazakh khanate in 1465. Names were semantically and grammatically similar, but rather different in structure, for example, Аbu Bакr – Әбубәкір, Beegzan – Бекжан, Mahmud – Махмұт, Таbdu – Табылды. There are several appellative variants of the Prophet Muhammad changed in the form: Маhmud, Маhanbet, Мuhambet, Мuhametkali, Мuhametkanafia, Маmbet, Маmet, Маhmet (EDKL, 2008 ).