Onomastics and Its Uses

Historians have been slow to embrace the field of onomastics, finding it too technical, too specialized, and not readily applicable to typical questions and avenues of inquiry. But two recent works that span the ages from prehistoric times through the early medieval period and into the nineteenth century use names and naming to detect patterns of migration, mobility, marriage, social identity, and demographic assimilation. In most studies, names function primarily as labels, rarely as causative agents or clues to deeper social or cultural realities. But names can also help to trace people across space and time and demonstrate the significance of relationships within and between classes and families.