1. 'Entangled in histories': an introduction to the anthropology of names and naming Barbara Bodenhorn and Gabriele vom Bruck; 2. 'Your child deserves a name': possessive individualism and the politics of memory of pregnancy loss Linda Layne; 3. Names that do not need people André Iteanu; 4. The substance of northwest Amazonian names Stephen Hugh-Jones; 5. Teknonymy and the evocation of the 'social' among the Zafimaniry of Madagascar Maurice Bloch; 6. What's in a name? Name bestowal and the identity of spirits in Mayotte and Northwest Madagascar Michael Lambek; 7. Calling into being: naming and speaking names on Alaska's North Slope Barbara Bodenhorn; 8. On being named and not named: authority, persons and their names in Mongolia Caroline Humphrey; 9. Injurious names: naming, disavowal and recuperation in contexts of slavery and emancipation Susan Benson; 10. Where names fall short: names as performances in contemporary urban South Africa Thomas Blom Hansen; 11. Names as bodily signs Gabriele vom Bruck.