Iradi name

An Iradi name usually consists of a given name followed either by a Russian-style surname or by a Turkic patronymic. Urban Iradis in the Irad Special Economic Zone (ISEZ) mostly carry surnames ending in -ov or -ev (feminine -ova, -eva), a form fixed by Soviet civil registration, as in Erlan Toktarov or Anara Toktarova. Since the 1990s rural and tribal Iradis have used patronymics formed from the father's given name and uulu ("son of") or kyzy ("daughter of"), as in Bektur Zhumabek uulu and his sister Klara Zhumabek kyzy. The two systems follow the divide between town and countryside that the 2007 partition later fixed: in 2019 registry data more than 90 percent of adults in the three cities carried Russian-style surnames, while in the Autonomous Tribal Regions (ATR) the patronymic form is almost universal.^[1]^[2] Given names come from Turkic, Christian, Persian and Arabic, and Russian sources.

Structure

Patronymics

In the traditional form, a person is identified by a given name and the given name of the father, followed by uulu for a man or kyzy for a woman. Bektur Zhumabek uulu means "Bektur, son of Zhumabek"; his father was Zhumabek Asanaly uulu, "Zhumabek, son of Asanaly". The patronymic changes in each generation and is not a family name, and women keep their own patronymic after marriage. In everyday speech people are addressed by their given name, and older men respectfully as aksakal.^[1]

Clan membership is expressed separately. Each person belongs to a clan (uruk), and genealogies (sanjyra) record the paternal line. Iradis are traditionally expected to know their ancestors back seven generations (jeti ata), and customary law forbids marriage between descendants of a common ancestor within seven generations.^[3]

Surnames

Russian-style surnames were formed in the Soviet period by adding -ov or -ev (feminine -ova, -eva) to the given name of the father or grandfather at the time of registration: Toktarov from Toktar, Bekzatov from Bekzat, Alimbekov from Alimbek. Once registered, the surname passed unchanged to later generations. Soviet documents also gave a Russian-style patronymic (otchestvo) ending in -ovich or -ovna, which older people still use on formal occasions.^[1]

Some younger urban professionals have dropped the suffix since the territorial period. Lieutenant Governor Aidar Maksat, registered at birth as Maksatov, has used the shortened form since his student years.

Given names

Iradi given names come from several layers:^[1]^[4]

Turkic names, the largest group, often compounds with elements such as -bek ("lord") and -bai ("rich") for men and -gul ("flower") and -ai ("moon") for women: Kanybek, Nurlan, Erlan, Aigul, Altynai. Janyl, after the legendary founder of the Iradi church (see Janyl, Mother of Irad), is among the most common names for girls.
Christian baptismal names, used in forms derived from Syriac rather than from Greek or Latin: Yuhanna (John), Toma (Thomas), Luka (Luke), Maryam (Mary), Gewargis (George). Examples include the translator Father Luka Ayyubov, the 17th-century priest Father Toma Alimbek and Sister Maryam Janyl. Saints and institutions follow the same forms, as in St. Luka, St. Yuhanna and St. Maryam. Many rural Iradis receive a baptismal name in addition to the Turkic name they use every day. Bishops take a religious name with the Syriac title Mar, as in Mar Timotheos Alimbekov and Mar Ephrem.
Persian and Arabic names, common among the Muslim Kyrgyz, Uzbeks and Kazakhs and found among Iradis as well, such as Fatima, Amina and Anara (from Persian anar, "pomegranate").
Russian and European names, which became common in the cities in the Soviet period, especially among Russians, Ukrainians and the Koryo-saram, who usually combine Russian given names with Korean surnames, as in Oleg Kim and Elena Kim.
English names, given by some urban families since the territorial period and widespread among Iradi Americans, such as the commentator Jason Ilyasov.

Since the 2010s, registry data have shown a decline in Russian given names among urban newborns and a rise in Turkic and baptismal names, a trend sociologists link to the revival of the Iradi language among young people (see Iradi language revival).^[5]

History

Before 1917

Before Russian rule, Iradis were known by a given name and the father's name, and by clan. Kokand and Russian imperial records rendered these names inconsistently, often adding Russian suffixes for official purposes. Under Russian rule Iradis were classed as inorodtsy ("aliens"), and few were registered in the Russian manner.^[1]

Soviet period

Russian-style surnames became general through Soviet registration, schooling and military service in the 1920s and 1930s. Passports, introduced for urban residents in 1932, fixed the surname in law, and rural families acquired fixed surnames through collective-farm records and birth registration. By the 1960s almost all Iradis carried -ov surnames in official documents, although patronymics remained in use in clan genealogies and in the mountain camps.^[1]

De-Russification since 1992

After 1992 naming became part of the wider de-Russification of public life. A civil registration act of the Territorial Legislature of Irad in 1994 allowed residents to register names in the traditional patronymic form or to drop Russian suffixes, ended the requirement for a Russian-style otchestvo and introduced American-style documents with given name, middle name and surname fields. Names in official documents have since been written in the Latin alphabet fixed by the 1995 Latin Orthography Revision.^[2]

The response divided along the line between town and country. Rural and tribal families adopted patronymics from the 1990s, and in the ATR they became almost universal after 2007, when the clan councils and parishes took over the registration of births. Urban Iradis mostly kept their surnames, partly because property, education and employment records had been issued in those forms.^[1] Tribal leaders who were registered under Russian-style surnames in Soviet records now use patronymics: Bektur Zhumabek uulu appears in Soviet documents as Bektur Zhumabekov. By convention, Iradi historians and reference works refer to people who died before the 1990s by the surnames they used in life.

Romanization

In the Iradi Latin alphabet, names are written with the letters ı, ö and ü and the digraphs of the 1995 orthography. English-language usage often follows Russian-based romanization with ch, sh and zh. The spelling zh, as in Zhumabek, reflects the pronunciation of the northern steppe dialects, while the standard language pronounces the same sound as /dʒ/ (see Iradi Language).^[6]

Legal status

In the ISEZ, births, marriages and name changes are registered by the civil registry offices of the city governments and district administrations. Documents issued by clan councils in the ATR are not recognized by the ISEZ, except as supporting documents for tribal travel permits, and residents of the tribal regions who move to the cities often register under a patronymic for the first time as adults.^[2]

References

^ Central Asian Demographic Review (2019). 'Surnames and Patronymics in Post-Soviet Irad.' Vol. 12, pp. 41–60.
^ Journal of Central Asian Linguistics (2022). 'Orthographic Reform and Toponymic Restoration in Irad.' Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 88–104.
^ Talas State University Press (2018). Clan and Kurultai: Governance in the Autonomous Tribal Regions. Talas.
^ Temirbekova, Ainura (2014). The Church of the Star: A History of the Syro-Iradi Catholic Church. Talas: Talas State University Press.
^ Central Asian Cultural Studies Review (2022). 'The Iradi Linguistic Spring: Youth Culture in the ISEZ.' Vol. 14, pp. 45–64.
^ Talas State University Press (2023). Descriptive Grammar of the Iradi Language. Talas, pp. 112–148.