> I am looking for information on the changing of Native names to
> anglicized ones during the residential school experience, the effects
> thereof, and any information on how names are being "reclaimed." This
> is for a short graduate seminar and any help would be appreciated.
Actually there may be two questions implied here. One may be related to
missionaries and others giving Anglo names to American Indians and the other
may pertain to anglicizing the names. Regarding the former, a person would
simply be given an Anglo name such as Smith or Jones. Regarding the latter,
a person's name would be translated into English such as Spotted Eagle.
Although I have reviewed documents where American Indian were intentionally
changed to English names, I have never seen a discussion of the actual
effects of the changes. I have known only one person who actually told me
his name was changed by BIA school officials but the practice apparently was
widespread. Clearly, many family names now are a result of changes made as
early as the 1820's among some tribes and perhaps further back among others.
I too would be interested in knowing how names are being reclaimed. I
notice that some people have "reclaimed" names by giving themselves the
English version of an American Indian language name. Obviously, a
longstanding practice among some tribes has been to give children "Indian"
names in addition to their anglo or anglicized ones. Another practice has
been to give children Indian language names of their own, sometimes names
that are titles in the tribal organization and other times names that are
chosen in ways similar to the way they were chosen before the European
invasion. Obviously, American Indian language names were not allowed on
birth certificates in some states until relatively recently. That
prohibition undoubtedly resulted in the loss of many traditional names.
In any case, I too am interested in responses to the original question.
Grayson Noley
University of Oklahoma
gnoley@ou.edu