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Naming children happens with the father, grandfather or imam from the mosque whis- pering the azan (call for prayer) and the child’s name into a baby’s ears during its first three days. In the pre-Soviet period, when women gave birth at home, people arranged the practice of the azan to the baby the day after he or she was born. However, as this is one of the religious rites of passage connected with birth and children, and was most subject to scrutiny during the Soviet period when women delivered their babies in hos- pital, it was not easy to arrange for someone to visit to call the azan to the baby. There- fore during the Soviet period the practice did not disappear, but simply went under cov-
er and people started performing it at home discreetly. After independence, as with other religious practices, people started performing it openly.
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The example of mother-of-two Gulnora, thirty years old, illustrates the mix of tradition- al, Islamic and developing rituals surrounding childbirth. When she arrived home with her first son from hospital, the whole family met her with a hired band of musicians, a video recorder and many guests. On the following day, the family arranged for an azan for the baby. The imam asked the baby’s mother to stay on the praying carpet (jay-
namoz) with the baby in her arms. He recited the azan for the baby, then called his
name. Sometime later, after the baby’s tummy button had dried up and the umbilicus had dropped off, the baby was bathed by the two grandmothers who also cut his hair during his chilla. After every ritual, a table was set, food was cooked, the grandmothers or elders of the family made a duo (supplication) for the child and the family and guests talked about everyday life. Although Gulnora managed all of this for her firstborn, she was unable to carry out some rituals with her second (daughter), because her mother-in- law was sick at that time, so it was difficult and not appropriate to celebrate.
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The name given to each child has its own importance, for each has a meaning and histo- ry. According to Firshtein (1978) in northern Khorazm, the custom was to name a male child after his grandfather. During my fieldwork in Tashkent, I observed that family el- ders - usually the grandparents - chose the names of firstborn children. Younger chil- dren were named by their parents, or by other members of the family. People choose names according to family status. Generally, boys’ names give a quality normally as- sumed to be masculine (Jasur, - Brave, Gairat - Zealous, Energetic, Olim - Scholar) or
to convey strength (Temur - Metal, Pulat, - Iron, Toshmat - Stone). Some boys’ names start with a suffix or prefix, which represents the position, status, generation or history belonging to their family. Names starting with Saeed (Saeed, Saeedakbar, Saeedolim etc.) mean this family are descended from the prophet; names with the suffix Haji (Ho-
jimurod, Hojiakbar, etc) mean the family has religious, saintly, or pure blood. Most
girls’ names mean things like beauty, state of the soul, love or happiness (Lola - Tulip,
Barno - Beautiful, Malika - Princess, Guzal - Beautiful, Mehribonu - Kind, Yulduz -
Star). Some common names start with a suffix or prefix Gul or Dil, which means flower or heart/soul (Gulchehra, Gulnoza, Dildora, Bahtigul, Dilorom).
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The state, period of time and political system can also affect children’s names. During the Soviet period some Uzbek people adopted names for their children which were not common. Frishtein (1978) mentioned that Uzbek people started naming their children with names from other neighbouring Soviet republics. Another Soviet ethnographer, Karmisheva (1969), mentioned that instead of naming their children after their grand- parents, young Uzbek couples had started giving their children different, new names such as Klara or Tamara, which were not traditional Uzbek names. She also said that Uzbeks used their fathers’ names as family names and in her research she found that Uzbeks had started changing their fathers’ names into patronymic (otchestvo) names, which was the specific structure to Russian naming. One of my friends was named
Damir during the Soviet period, which is a short version of ‘long live peace’ (Daz- dravstvuy mir). I would argue that these changes were adopted by Uzbek people to
blend in with the ‘Russian’, ‘modern’ life and were a step towards adopting the ‘Soviet’ identity.
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However, after independence and with the rise of Islamic consciousness and change of identity, the trend in naming children has changed. Uzbek people have started calling their children by the names of the prophets or other religious people, for example,
Muhammad Amin, Omar, Ibrohim, Yusuf, Muso, Abdulloh, Maryam, Robia, Hadicha
and Aisha; or after significant figures in Uzbek history, such as Ulugbek, Temur, Alisher and Bobur.
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Sometimes, under different circumstances, people change their children’s names. As thirty-eight-year old Mohira said, a name can also change the child’s character. The original name of her daughter was Nargiza, but then Mohira was told that Nargiza is a flower that grows in hell. She changed her daughter’s name to Muslima (Muslim fe- male), and said that after that, her daughter’s character changed. This might also happen if a child keeps getting ill or has other problems. Forty-year-old Karima was advised to change her son’s name from Bobur to Abdulla because he kept getting ill. She agreed that her son’s original name, a historical person’s name, was ‘too heavy’ for her little son to carry.
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The naming of children is an important process for every parent, and the period of seclusion for forty days known as chilla is practiced immediately after birth.