jménu

jménu is a term used in speculative linguistics and world-building to describe a naming system that ties an individual’s social identity to their given names and kinship relations within a community. In this usage, a name encodes information about lineage, status, and group affiliation, and naming events often accompany important life transitions.

Origin and usage. The term is a neologism created for theoretical discussions and fictional settings. It is not widely attested in empirical studies of real-world naming practices. In the literature, jménu is treated as an analytic construct to examine how naming systems reflect social structure and identity signaling.

Structure and variation. A jménu system typically involves rules for creation, inheritance, and modification of names, including generational naming patterns, matronymic or patronymic components, and ceremonies that validate or confer names. Variants may exist between groups, and the system can interact with other linguistic features such as kinship terminology and status markers. The specifics of a jménu system are context-dependent, allowing for a range of formal or ritualized practices.

Relation to related fields. jménu is related conceptually to onomastics, sociolinguistics, and anthropology of naming. It is often invoked in discussions of how names function as social currencies within communities and in world-building exercises for fiction and role-playing settings. While grounded in theoretical analysis, it serves as a useful framework for comparing real and imagined naming traditions.