Names in Psychological Science: Investigating the Processes of Thought Development and the Construction of Personal...

This paper examines the name as an issue of interest in the psychology field. In thinking about the role played by names for some of the most important approaches on the psychology panorama, it has been found that the analysis of names can be used as an instrument for the investigation of thought formation processes, or as an element in the process of constructing personal identity. In the first case, the focus is on the so-called "common" names, which designate objects; in the second case, instead, it is on people's given names and on the way they are perceived by their bearers and those who surround them. We have examined both domains, since it is essential to understand how the psychological concepts related to names develop in children's minds, if we aim to grasp their importance as designators of people's internal and external realities. Lastly, we have proposed our own view of the person's name, linked to the relational systems perspective which essentially sees the name as a signifier or "representative" of the child-parent relationship, while the "relationship" is the signified.