Research Information System
NEW PERSPECTIVES ON TURKEY, no.44, pp.161-180, 2011 (SSCI)
Nicknaming is a social practice that presents an area for comparative historical research. From a communal perspective, nicknames can be evaluated as markers of status in social hierarchy. On a personal level, they play a crucial role in defining personal identities. This article evaluates some examples from Ottoman archival documents from these perspectives. It focuses not only on the impact of dynamic elements on local community, as in cases of migration and conversion, but also on the question of how social prestige in a local setting could be perceived through the prism of nicknames.