A Semantic Study of Iraqi Personal Names and Beyond

Iraqi names are simply one aspect of this investigation. The name selection is done by using a suitable evaluation of the process. In addition, it offers rationality and a purpose beyond them. The influencing factors for name selection are thoroughly described. Only names from Iraq are included in the study. During the 2022–2023 academic year, the data were gathered from English Department students at Samarra University's College of Education. It is significant to mention that the students originate from different cultural backgrounds, including cities and towns in middle and south Iraq. The data include not only the names of the students but also details about their siblings and other family members who were born after 2000 AD. Therefore, this study looked into the meaning of Iraqi personal names and beyond.

828 associative semantic elements but no longer dependent on them. It deals with the onomastic level, which is the third level. However, in this study, the researchers examined the names' meanings on two levels: their literal or dictionary and their associated meanings.
On the one hand, Leech (1981:9-10) explains that denotative or cognitive meaning is another name for conceptual meaning. The two Leech principles-the principle of contrastiveness and the concept of structure-deserve mentioning. Umagandhi, and Vinothini (2017: 71) clarify that conceptual meaning, as referred to by Leech, is the same as the one that other scholars refer to as "denotative," "designation," "cognitive," or "descriptive." Moreover, this meaning serves as the primary means of communication in linguistics. In contrast to other sorts of meaning, it is vital to a language's fundamental operation.
On the other hand, connotative meaning is concerned with the communicative significance that a statement carries over and beyond its merely intellectual meaning. The actual meaning that comes to mind while hearing or using a phrase. This is connected to the musical and artistic representations of an expression's meaning. For instance, a drawing of a baby or an imitation of a baby cry represent what the term "baby" means (Leech, 1981:12-13). Connotative meaning is ambiguous and open-ended. This is due to the fact that it is dependent upon the opinions and knowledge of the speakers. It might apply to any real or hypothetical attributes of the referent that the speaker names. However, a confined collection of traits with a limited number make up conceptual meaning ( Umagandhi, and Vinothini, 2017: 71).

Beyond Naming
Beyond their function, personal names serve many purposes for the name-giver and the named.
They are conferred at least in honor of someone who has gone before. They inform about genealogy and geography and the circumstances of birth. A passage from one stage to another may accompany changes of name, e.g., as in religious conversion or new ideological affiliation.
The choice of a given name can suggest inferences (Seeman, 1983:237).
Names serve psychological purposes. They are motivated and have associations. Some conditions determine a child's name, such as the circumstances that strictly pertain to the child's birth, the social, economic, political, and other conditions affecting the family onto which the 829 baby was born, were there a famine, war, or economic boom. Akinnaso (2016:276-282) indicates that the name-choosing process of children gets influenced by the family's beliefs and their contribution to the family's well-being. Further, the traditional occupation or profession of the parents or the family, the hunters, drummers, or warriors contribute to choosing a child's name.
For good measure, names can be motivated by social attributes such as happiness, honor, love, and dignity, which are usually derived from that event. The cultural motivation for naming may be after the name of a place, year, week, day, or other events or circumstances associated with their birth.

. 2 1 Data Collection, Methodology and Analysis
The data are from the students of University of Samarra / College of Education / English department. The names are either theirs' or their siblings' or children and relatives. It also presents the reflection that is the background behind choosing. The study deals with both genders, men and women. It is a synchronic one, i.e., it deals with the collected data at the current time of people who are born after 2000 AD. It does not account for the changes in naming that happened from time to time. The data are of people from various cultural backgrounds including cities in middle and south Iraq. It is important to mention that the study doesn't deal with the phonetic or morphological aspects. It is a semantic study since it tackles the meaning of personal names and beyond.
The meanings of names are interpreted by the researchers in accordance with Leech's (1981) theory. Since the current study focuses on personal names, the two categories of meanings, i.e., denotative/lexical and denotative/associative suggested by Leech are employed by the researchers.
The following points reveal the collected names with their dictionary meaning and the reasons behind their selection as stated by the people who dictated them. The dictionary meaning is taken from two online Arabic dictionaries (1) and (2) and translated by the researchers. The classification is ordered according to the associative meaning of names. It is worth-noting that certain names are repeated due to the data and difference in their associative meaning.

Mahdi
Male The one who gives a gift to someone else, and the one who takes the bride to her family.
After the name of an Islamic figure whose ancestor belongs to prophet Mohammed (pbuh).

Maisara
Female Easiness and prosperity. The mother was listening to the Quran and heard an Aya in which there is this word.

Maryam
Female Means a lady, and in Hebrew, Miriam means a fat lady.
After the name of prophet Issa's mother (pbuh). As the mother opened the Glorious Quran and found this Surah. Mohammed's daughter (pbuh).
As shown above, one of the most effective components in Iraqis' life is religion. Naming has its root in religion which accounts for the fact that a number of collected data is chosen for religious significance. As most of Iraqis are Muslims, 'Mohammed', 'Ahmed' and 'Mustafa' are chosen after the name of the prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him). People choose these names for their newborns to be pleased and think they will never fade away or die out. In addition, people have the prophet Mohammed (pbuh) as the role model.
If a name has not yet been chosen, people regularly open the Glorious Quran to try to decide.
The Surah or Ayah that appears before them will be the newborns' names like 'Naba'', 'Noor', 'Ayah', 'Mariam', 'Huda', etc. Some Iraqis choose names from the Glorious Quran because Allah's speech is the most rhetorical ever.

Names Relating to Heritage
As soon as the spouses have a new baby, they and their relatives and acquaintances start looking for a suitable name. A big list of names is compiled according to the gender of the newborn. The couple starts a conversation to decide what they choose. One of them may name the infant according to the name of someone important to them or because they love this name .
To preserve the "family heritage" Iraqis take satisfaction in naming their boys or girls after parents, grandparents, or other close relatives from both sides of the family. Without jeopardizing this culture or undermining these traditions. A slight change to the term may occur to make it more contemporary or turn it into a nickname or diminutive name.
It is significant to maintain that the data show people named after their parents' friends or even after relatives' friends. Some data indicate that many people named their sons and daughters after the names of their fathers, mothers, and grandparents as part of intimacy and loyalty.

Names Relating to Politics and War
Usually, war brings death, loss, displacement, immigration, and sometimes a victory. Losing their sons, fathers, friends, and relatives, people attempt to condolence themselves by commemorating their newborns after the names of the dead. The data show that some people named their children after the name of their brothers, uncles, fathers, friends or even officers who died while fighting in the battles. Furthermore, grandmothers named their grandsons after the name of their lost sons, like 'Ibrahim' and 'Mustafa'. An officer named his son 'Nasir' because he was born on the day of victory, as the data reveal.
Displacement, into the bargain, has effects that help in the appearance of new names carrying the meaning of longing, loneliness, and alienation like 'Hijran'.

Names Relating to Historical Figures and Events
Historical figures and events have highly affected people in almost every aspect in their life; psychologically, socially, economically, and culturally. Moreover, affected choosing names for the newborn. The collected data show such an impact. For instance, 'Al-Khansaa'' is named after an Arabic poetess and 'Qudis' is named after the Palestinian city.

The Name Gender Lexical Meaning Associative Meaning
Al-Mu'tadhid Male An actor who opposes.
After the name of a historical

Names Relating to Nature and Immediate Occasions
Natural phenomena and atmospheric conditions play an essential role in people's life. They have a reflection in various things like newborn naming. According to the data, names like 'Mater', 'Sahab' and 'Ra'ad' are given because of the conditions under which the child was born.
Some people have a strong relationship or show a high affiliation to the place they live in and it is reflected in naming a newborn. The name 'Rafid' is one of the collected data which shows the feeling of Tigris and Euphrates as parts of the country.
Occasionally, the parents do not determine or settle on a name for their coming newborn.
Consequently, the name is chosen in immediate occasion. In such a case, several factors affect As the child was born at midnight.

Sajja
Female Calmness especially when earth is covered with darkness.
As the child was born at night.

Shihab Male
The bright flame of fire, the luminous star, and a celestial body swimming in space.
One day the grand parents were staying awake together at night and saw a meteor in the sky.
They decided to name the first grandchild according to it.

Globalization
People inspire renewing and keeping with contemporary life. It plays a significant role in developing the process of naming. Doing so may be because people seek fame, or if they take advantage of it, foreign names are easier to pronounce. It may also be breaking traditional values.
Generally, such a process started in Iraq after opening to the outside world, i.e., after 2003. Today, many names derive from admiration for those who carry these names. People name their son after a prominent leader, scientist, artist, or actress they admire. As a result, this designation will not have unfavorable effects on them. Naming the child after an artist may play a role in making that artist a role model for the child in their life, so they will be affected by them when they grow up. Therefore, naming children after an unjust leader may affect the child's view of injustice.

Names Relating to Psychological Factors
The data analysis demonstrates that many factors influence people's choice of names. Here, come to reflect some aspects of the personality or historical background. The collected data show that many people name their newborns to show the impact of a specific thing on their life. It can be either emotional, psychological, or social. The reasons seem to overlap. A name is chosen for something, but it reflects something else. For instance, it may reflect loyalty and commemoration which resulted from the war. This is evident when soldiers name their children after officers who Psychological aspects seem to be affecting the process of naming. A woman named her daughter 'Thikra' as her husband died while she was pregnant. Therefore, she chose this name to be a symbol of a memorial. Name like 'Omnia' as her six dead children. A name like 'Sabrin' reflects the psychological state of the father who wants to show patience and contentment. He wanted a boy, then a girl came. The name 'Rahma' is one of the names that comes as a result of a difficult situation in which the mother was while giving birth. She was about to die. The name comes to be a symbol of gratitude to Almighty Allah. The strange name 'Ana' reflects the father's will. He said he wanted her to reflect him whenever telling her full name, i.e., reflecting his pride in himself .

Names Relating to Social Factors
Some people like to display their social role, status, experience, or social background. The data show that some people name their children after a public figure in their tribe wishing their child be like them. Others do so to show admiration and intimacy. To have affiliation to his social identity (Kurd) as he lived in an Arabic region .

Names Relating to Aesthetic Values
Naming can go to a further point. A parent decides to choose certain letter to be the starting letter for all their children's names. As the case is with a person who named his sons 'Aws', 'Ayham', and 'Ayman'. That is, people pay attention to the aesthetic sides of names, the rhyme and they consider other family members names too.

The Name Gender Lexical Meaning Associative Meaning
Aws Male Wolf.
To be the first in any list.

Ayham
Male A high mountain.
To be the first in any list.

Ayman
Male A kind person but gets angry quickly.
To be the first in any list.

Fadia
Female The feminine form of 'Fady' that means redemption.
To be in accordance with her sister's name, Nadia.

Fatima
Female Who had cut off her breastfeeding infant.
To be in accordance with her sister's name, Aisha,

Rawan
Female Extremely hot days. Her aunt has seen a beautiful Palestinian girl named Rawan . To be in the same rhyme with her twin's name, Adyan.

Names Relating to Content
Many problems occur between spouses, leading to divorce, especially when the name is strange, old, and repeated in the family. Some couples choose their children's names even before they get married.
Some people spend days and nights researching before coming up with a name that pleases them and the other parties. However, they change their minds because several names are cute in one language but offensive in another.
A name is not just a word written with the birth sign but rather a natural right of the newborn, and its tender soul blossoms into its content just as flower buds bloom in the spring.
Since the names are chosen for their direct meaning, there is no associative meaning to present in this part.

The Name Gender Lexical Meaning
Amaal Female Plural of hope. Ban Female A kind of tall tree with soft leaves that resembles the beauty of women in its height and softness.
Baraa' Female Getting rid of the matter and walking away from it, and the first