Onomastics (or onomatology) refers to the study of proper names of any kind including the names of people (anthroponyms) and places (toponyms). The purpose of this article is to explain different aspects of onomastics and its related knowledge, as well as its necessity and importance. Scrutinizing onomastics research background and the status of this knowledge in scientific studies of Iran is the other purpose of this article. Since names change with geography, language, religion, and time, studying the process of these changes at different historical periods and geographical areas can answer many questions. In fact, the importance of Onomastics is its secondary functions, such as cultural, social, political, and historical ones, which can have important results. For instance, it can determine the reasons for the changes in the names of people and places in different historical periods as well as the extent of the influence of different languages in a particular geographical area. It is important to consider that onomastics in Iran requires further research in various branches; because most of the studies on names are devoted to the contemporary period and the names before this period have been given less attention.

This article is based on Mithra/Mitra onomastics. The purpose is a qualitative diachronic survey about changes in Mitra and Mehr words in Phonological, etymological, and semantic fields. The domain of research was Old Iranian languages along with Sanskrit,then Middle Iranian languages to New Persian. The analysis showed that Mitra is considered a male deity by grammatical and biological gender in Ṛigveda, Avesta, and other ancient texts. Accordingly, the deixis for Iranian Mitra is “god” and not “goddess’’. Due to phonetic evolution, Mitra became Mehr in the Middle Iranian languages period. Due to the broadening of the meaning, this word accepted a new meaning, “sun”, plus previous meanings (friendship, promise, and treaty). Mehr shows a vast variety in the structure of Middle and New Persian compound personal names. This study showed that methods of compound personal name formation in Hindi and New Persian are similar. Religion, as a non-linguistic element was observed in Mitra onomastics: In contemporary Iran and the Muslim community (Urdu speakers) of India, Mitra is a female name,but in the Hindu community it is unisex. Keywords: Personal Name, Mithra/Mitra, Mehr, gender, Indo-Iranian languages. Introduction Each name consists of a mixed web of beliefs, values, interests, and other items which could be considered as a part of the identity. The connection between names and identity does not only affect people. Names and naming constitute an important part of the work of the building of a nation (Windt, 2012: 275). Names come ready-made with etymological meaning usually unknown to the namer or they derive meaning by association with past and current-day heroes. These sound and meaning associations may be selected to induce wished-for qualities in the child to be named (Seeman, 1983: 239). Mitra is one of the most applied names as a proper name in the different periods of the Persian language as well as Sanskrit and Hindi. According to the various contemporary baby-name dictionaries in Iran, Mitra is a female name. This is opposite to the fact that Mitra as a deity in Iran and India mythology is masculine in gender grammatically and biologically. The purpose of this article is to find out the reason for this contradiction by determining the diachronic evolutions in the etymology and the meaning field for Mitra. Some non-lingual factors consisting of social, cultural, and religious changes during the time, which could affect naming, are also studied in this research. 1. 1. Research Methodology The method is descriptive analysis with a qualitative and comparative approach. At first Mitra’s mythical character in RigVeda and Avesta is introduced briefly. The next step is showing the phonological and etymological evolution of Mitra and Mehr with proper and general function in the three periods of the Persian language as well as Sanskrit. The changes and broadening of the meaning are also shown in the tables. After the linguistic survey, some baby-name dictionaries from different decades of the recent century in Iran were chosen to look up Mitra and/or the combination of Mihr with other names making two-term words. Some non-Iranian online baby-name dictionaries were also searched for the aforementioned names. The final step was to find the non-lingual factor amongst the social, cultural, and religious changes influencing Mitra as a proper name. Discussion A) Mitra etymology and meaning: The etymology of Mitra is uncertain. Since this word means ‘friend’ in the Rigveda, and the kindness of god is often referred in the Rigveda, Mitra and trusteeship even appears as its trait in the Avesta, it must have originally signified ‘ally’ or ‘friend’. This term has later been applied to the god of sun considering his aspect of preserving the nature (Macdonell, 2004: 44). In the etymological dictionary of the Persian language, the root of the word is considered from verb ‘may-/mi-,meaning ‘to fasten’, ‘to hold’ or ‘to exchange’ or according to professor Baily the root is ‘mai-/mi-, ’ meaning ‘to be kind’, ‘to be friends’ (Hassandoust, 2014: 2668). For the first time, in the Middle Persian texts, ‘mihr’ is recorded as a new form of Mitra due to the phonological evolution and has accepted the meaning of ‘sun’, (general word). Both words Mitra and Mihr, as a proper name have survived in the Middle and New Persian language as well as in Sanskrit and Hindi. B) Onomastic studies in India and Iran: Religion is the mainstay of Hindu society. The vast majority of Hindi names are derived from the Hindu religion, particularly Hindu gods and goddesses, saints and philosophers, sacred rituals, and centers of pilgrimage (Mehrotra, 1982: 43). In ancient times, most of the Hindu names were after the names of gods and goddesses. The personal names of Hindus in ancient and medieval periods were mostly of single word structure. These are preserved in their Sanskritized form in the old Sanskrit literature. Since the late nineteenth century, the structure of single-word personal names become less frequent and they were replaced by two-term or compound personal names. The Perso-Arabic borrowed personal names have undergone various phonological changes to conform to the phonetic and phonological structure of the spoken language (Koul, 1995: 1-3). Names of divinity when borrowed for personal names generally tend to follow four patterns (Mehrotra, 1982: 44). These four patterns are similar to the personal name structures applied in the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods of Iran. Conclusion According to the diachronic etymologic survey, Mitra (later changed to Mehr) is an Aryan deity, masculine in grammatical gender. In Iranian and Indian mythology this god is introduced and pictured as a male deity. In the Middle Persian languages, due to the phonological evolutions, the word Mitra is transformed to Mihr. He had been worshipped in Iran as a god in the pre-Islamic era. Mitra and Mihr have survived in Persian vocabulary from the ancient era to the present time. Mitra in RigVeda is the same male deity with almost the same characteristics in Avesta. The etymology of Mitra is uncertain, but according to the various texts analyses, most scientists believe that the main meaning is ‘ally’ and ‘friend’. Later, this word has accepted the meaning of ‘sun’. One of the main reasons for this broadening of the meaning could be the new role of Mitra/Mihr as a sun deity in the New Avesta along with his previous role as the god of light and the one who observes the vows. Considering the importance of Mitra in Iran and India mythology and the presence of this myth during millenniums, it is obvious that this word is used as a personal name in Iran and India. Mitra is a female name for Muslim Indians and is a unisex name for Hindu Indians. The study of the non-Iranian dictionaries indicated that both general and proper meanings of Mitra are considered in baby-naming. As naming is an action mostly performed in the unconscious layer of mind and most of the time without the knowledge of the etymology of the name, it is not possible to determine which meanings of Mitra had been considered for the boy or the girl. In some Indian dictionaries, general meanings were for boys and the proper meaning was for girls. In recent Iran, Mitra is a female name. Two reasons could be guessed: 1. There is a slight possibility that in the unconscious semantic layer, the general meaning of ‘friend’, ‘honey/dear’, and/or ‘sun’ had been considered. 2. According to the etymologic evidence for the Persian and Hindi common structure in the two-term personal name combinations, the more probable scenario is that Mitra as a mighty god is used for personal naming and Mitra for girls is the short form of Mitra-Duxt (Mitra’s daughter). As well, Mitra is just a female name between Muslim Indians. The very long-term common background of Iran and India alongside the influence of the Persian language in India as its formal language and also its second official language for seven centuries could be the reason. In Iran, from the Middle Persian language period onwards, Mihr, as a proper name, is applied in many different combinations for making new girl and boy personal names. It seems that the purpose had been to create a semantic distinction between Mitra as the ancient deity and Mihr as a god of sun.

AbstractOnomastics is the study of personal names and has long been common in Iranian language research. However, social onomastics is a relatively new concept. This term is used both in sociolinguistics and in other fields such as sociology, anthropology and geography. So far, most researches have dealt with the etymology of personal names in these inscriptions. The purpose of this research is to investigate the onomastics of some personal names in Middle Persian and Parthian inscriptions based on Van Langendonck's theory. According to this theory, four categories of ethnicity, nationality, religion, and transnational affairs are considered in the selection of personal names. In this research, considering the nature of names, in addition to the mentioned categories, the category of mythological names was also added to this division. First, a selection of personal names in Middle Persian and Parthian inscriptions was collected and then classified according to the mentioned categories. The research results showed that mythological names had the highest frequency in these inscriptions. Then, in the order of national names, religious names are used the most. This shows that according to one of the most important theories of social nomenclature, myth played a significant role in the Sasanian society.

The aim of this study is investigating the relationship between onomasticon, -as depository of proper names- and mental lexicon and also eponymy –as a mechanism for transforming proper names into common words- from cognitive onomastics perspective. It is a basic descriptive research that collected a corpus of data in library method and seeks to find out whether eponymy is active in Farsi and if yes, which word formation processes create common words. The theoretical framework is adapted from Barcelona's (2003) ideas in demonstrating the role of metonymy in emergence of proper names and their frequent reclassification as common nouns, and class-inclusion model of conceptual metaphors comprehension of Glucksberg and Keysar (1990). The analysis of data revealed that in Farsi, eponymy in the form of word-formation processes like derivation, conversion and combination transforms the proper names into common words. This is justifiable on the basis of cognitive concepts like conceptual metaphor and metonymies. The metonyms "PROPER NAME FOR ITS RELATED OBJECT/ ACTION/ CONCEPT", "AGENT FOR ACTION" and "PROTOTYPICAL MEMBER FOR THE CLASS" and class-inclusion model of conceptual metaphor are involved in introducing eponymy. The successive application and interaction of conceptual metaphor and metonyms, indicates the metaphtonymy at work in this process.

Onomastics is a science that encompasses a wide range of disciplines. This knowledge studies the letters from different social, historical, geographical, linguistic, etc. angles. It also help explain the significance of the names from different aspects. In the realm of language, too, the structure of names can be studied and analyzed from different angles. In the present study, we have examined the names of the main books in the field of rhetoric from the perspective of semantic core, clarity, and opacity in an analytical-descriptive manner. The results show that in names that "Balaghat" is the center of the title of a work and the title has an additional structure, the second component should be considered as the core of the work. this feature is also seen in works in which "Badie" is used,but in many nouns, which are preceded by "She’, r", the core of the compound is the first part. What is very noteworthy in this study are the Arabic names, many of which can be considered as compound adjectives, although these adjectives do not reveal much about the subject or of the rhetoric. In addition, we are dealing with names in this field that should be considered to have no specific core. But in terms of transparency and opacity, it must be noted that in the name of books that have an additional structure, it often overshadows the core, or in other words, the whole combination, and affects it. Even in descriptive combinations, a word is often found that affects the whole structure. In general, the words "Balaghat" (rhetoric), " Sh’, er" (poetry), "Adab" (literature), "Nazm" (verse), etc. are very prominent in these names. However, none of them seem to have made the name transparent,what makes the name transparent is the thematic context of the name or its situational context.

This paper deals with the impact of sociocultural changes on the corpus of personal names in Baneh from a socio-onomstic perspective. Corpus of personal names means the body of names selected by parents in the target society to name their children. The research method is descriptive-analytic and the universe includes the sum of selected names in the target society from 1921 to 2017. Therefore, using descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage), inferential statistics, and SPSS software, we first analyze the changes in naming practices in Baneh based on defined periods, and then we try to provide a comprehensive analysis of the whole era, i. e. the last hundred years. The description and analysis in this research is based on the classification of the names as "religious", "national", "ethnic", and "non-religious names derived from non-Iranian languages". The results of the research indicate that the percentage of religious names has been decreasing in the recent century; on the contrary, the percentage of national and ethnic names has shown a rising trend. However, the percentage of ethnic male names has dropped slowly in recent few years. Conceptual Arabic names have also had a dramatic decline, and in the past few years, especially since the early 1390s, non-Iranian (considering the language family, i. e. Turkish, Hebrew and European languages) names have been used. These changes indicate that in the target society, tendency towards detraditionalization and, as a result, individualism has increased, moreover, the change in people’ s taste in names and naming reflects changes in socio-cultural structures.

This article investigates the historical evolution of the names attributed to Persepolis, one of Iran’s most prominent archaeological sites. The study addresses a central problem in historical and cultural scholarship: how the shifting nomenclature of ancient monuments reflects broader transformations in collective memory, ideology, and identity. The primary aim is to trace how various names—from Pārsih in Achaemenid inscriptions to the popular Takht-i Jamshīd—were shaped by different historical, religious, and cultural discourses over time. Using a multidisciplinary research method that integrates philological analysis, historical contextualization, and archaeological interpretation, the article draws on diverse sources, including royal inscriptions, classical and Islamic historiography, travelers’ narratives, and mythological literature. Special emphasis is placed on the reinterpretation of Persepolis in Persian epic traditions and Islamic texts, where the site was often portrayed as the throne of the mythic king Jamshīd or a symbol of divine kingship.The research highlights a major turning point in the modern period, when advances in archaeology—particularly the decipherment of cuneiform inscriptions—corrected long-standing misconceptions and re-established the site’s original name, Pārsih, as used by its Achaemenid builders. The findings underscore that the naming history of Persepolis is not merely a semantic curiosity, but a vital lens through which societies recall, reinterpret, and reconstruct their past. By situating this onomastic history within broader debates on heritage, memory, and historiography, the article contributes to a deeper understanding of the cultural processes that define and redefine historical identity.

Naming as an inseparable sign of a country’s language has attracted the attention of many linguists to formulate and test hypotheses regarding the culture and language of the people of a certain area. Iran appears like a proper destination for conducting a research focusing on naming based on several factors such as geography or chronology. The present article aims to take a specific look at the impact of political era (sociopolitical factors) in addition to dialect over naming practices. Chronological data is gathered from 5 politically significant consecutive periods. Separately, 5 districts are chosen speaking 4 different native dialects to examine the second hypothesis regarding the influence of dialect on naming. 50 most popular names were collected on the two aforementioned different bases and analysis was conducted by SPSS software. The results revealed that time with concentration on political spans did not form an influential factor except for minor fluctuations. The other hypothesis regarding the factor of dialect is rejected for male names while females do confirm a limited consistency of dialect and name choice in most of the areas.