Cultural Anthropolpgical Insights On Mongolian Names

Not only are names a set of special signs that people resort to distinguish themselves from others, but they are inalienable constituents of a certain national culture. Elements of relative aspects, such as Mongolian history and politics, culture and convention, aesthetics and beliefs, composed Mongolian names which also reflects the phenomena of multi-national communication.On the basis of three generations of pupils’names of Borhot Primary School (Ongniud Banner, Chifeng Municipality) and the statistics collected by Mongolian Study School of MUIM (Minzu University of Inner Mongolia) during these four decades, analysing the stamps of times, this paper tells cultural changes alongside different periods of China through the changes of Mongolian names.This paper is composed of three parts, i.e., Introduction, Text (Chapter One to Chapter Four) and Conclusion. In Chapter Two, the author will research into the meaning of Mongolian names before1949, and then the author will divide them into three categories, i. e., names of the good wished from their parents, names of animals and plants or relative substitutes in the nature, and the last, names of certain kinds of colors that the Mongols believes to be lucky.In Chapter Three, the author will investigate into the characteristics of Mongolian names from1950s to1970s (from the found of the New China till the end of the Cultural Revolution) and interpret the special thought pattern during that time, i. e., name-changing and continuity of clan.In Chapter Four, the author will introduce the great changes in names and economy, society and culture. Furthermore, the author will point out the reason of those changes.To make a conclusion, the author will summarize different characteristics of Mongolian names in different periods.