Undoing Patrilineality: New Maternal Families and the Politics of Naming in Turkey

Based on the topical life stories of fifteen single mothers from Turkey, this article traces the act of naming as a practice of social and legal boundary making and as a means of undoing patrilineality and to seek acknowledgement for a new maternal family. Analyzing the politics of naming in the stories of these single mothers, this contribution first discusses the stigmatizing aspects of conventional patrilineal and marital family naming in Turkey. It traces changes in the registration of family names, how single mothers decide on the registration of the father’s first name, and their concerns and strategies during these legal, bureaucratic procedures. Whereas family law reform has given more rights to single biological and adoptive mothers, they still remain affected by the emotional aspects of a stigmatized practice. Strategically planning their future and that of their children, one solution is to use naming to merge their maternal families with their own paternal families.