Traditional Names and Naming Customs of the White Clay (Gros Ventre) People

Abstract:This article lists personal names in White Clay (or Gros Ventre; Algonquian, northern Plains) from various sources, and discusses the structure and semantics of names in the corpus recorded by myself. Grammatically, names consist of single nouns (with or without modifiers), compound nouns, and nominal phrases; particles; inflected verbal forms; uninflected verbal themes, sometimes truncated; or truncated noun stems. Semantically, names reference social activities such as war, hunting (especially of bison), and religion (ceremonies and sacred objects); nature, especially animals (but rarely the horse); traditional material culture; ethnic affiliation; physical features and other personal attributes; subsistence activities; and singing.