Име и идентичност – наблюдение върху особеностите на именната система в района на Мики (Мустафчево), Помакохория, Северна Гърция
Name and identity – observing the characteristics of naming system in the region of Miki (Mustafchevo) Pomakohoriya, Northern Greece

Summary/Abstract: Today within the Northern Greece still can be heard an old Rhodopy dialect, which is not spoken long ago, even in Bulgaria. Bearers of this language are more than 11 500 inhabitants. The area is known as Western Thrace, West Rhodopes mountain areas of Northern Greece or increasingly popular name Pomakohoriya – i.e. Pomak villages (translated from Greek). The “minority”, as it is called, according to official government terminology, speaks “pomatski”.Common practice today is even separate neighborhoods to be called by the names of their inhabitants. These names are coming often from family names, kinship or paternal (patronims), and differ from the official names and surnames, used from the subjects of the Hellenic Republic.134 Back in time, little more than fifty years, the names were given and chosen in several ways. The most common was the name of grandparents or other close relative of the child – “to do not forget the name” or with the following custom: “Take five-six wooden spoons and assign a name to each, put them in the river and which spoon overtake, give this name of the child. Few days after birth or on the fortieth day, the child is brought to the imam who read him prayer and whispers in his ear three times the name that will bear”.Old, traditional names are only five or six and to distinguish individuals, are used illustrative or household names that often are coming from the kinship name and much less from the official family name. These names are most commonly associated with the name of the father (i.e. middle name) or the mother, the name of the village or the craft of the kinship or the man, so that it cannot be confused easily.For various reasons, mostly health related, the name of the newborn can be changed, which believes to lead the child to better luck and will help his normal growth.Concerning middle (second) names, can be noted that in Pomako¬horiya is observed similar to that process, described by Olga Zirojevic in “Islamization of South Slavic world” of the Balkans. In Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a rare case only the personal name of the newly con¬verted to be Muslim and father’s name to remain the old, like here com¬monly used patronim as a sign of belonging: Ahmet Yusufov – Ahmet, the son of Yusuf, or Djemile Raffia (Rafin) – Djemile, the daughter of Rafia, Mehmetali Hoxha – Mehmetli, the son of the imam (hoxha).Here is how in the real world, we found a different, parallel universe, which has its own laws and rules.

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