Socio-onomastics

Immigrant Somali youth living in Helsinki are the focus of this article. The study investigates what kind of Somali place names Somali teenagers use in their home surroundings and what kind of perceptions and beliefs they have about these names and their use. The study also discusses Finnish people’s perceptions of these Somali names. Methodologically, the study belongs to the field of folk onomastics which can be defined as the study of people’s beliefs and perceptions about names and name use.