Brittnee Leysen
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6859-6291 
University of Glasgow

https://doi.org/10.4467/K7501.45/22.23.18063

Socio-onomastics is a growing field of research which began as a sub-discipline in onomastics, where we consider the social, cultural, and situational field in which names are used (Ainiala, 2016). Although the methodology of socio-onomastics often overlaps with well-known methods in anthropology, such as the use of ethnography for qualitative data, it is important to recognise other methods and theories that anthropology can offer onomastic studies. A discussion of the use of trans-cultural diffusion versus anthropo-geographic points of view from the anthropological perspective can provide deeper insight into the cultural impact of toponyms, for example. In this paper, I will seek to engage with the work of founding anthropology scholars, such as Franz Boas, Bronislaw Malinowski, and Claude Levi-Strauss, whose methodology and theories will be evaluated for their value in toponymic study. Specifically, this paper will focus on the Otago region of New Zealand’s South Island to demonstrate anthropological perspective in the study of toponyms. Using anthropological methodology, including anthropo-geographic methods, this paper is concerned with what new information we can glean from the Otago namescape about toponym formation. On a larger scale, what can a combined approach of anthropology and onomastics offer us in the way of new theories to evaluate, classify, and interpret toponyms, particularly in a multicultural setting? By engaging with these concerns, we aim to better understand how the anthropological perspective can enhance our understanding of toponyms, and of Pākehā-Māori cultural contact, in colonial New Zealand.

Keywords anthropology, Aotearoa New Zealand, toponyms, methodologies