Naming, Identity, and Social Positioning in Teenagers’ Everyday Mobile Phone Interaction

Abstract

This article analyzes how a small group of Swedish teenagers handle onomastic choices of self- and other-referencing as part of their everyday mobile phone interaction. It further discusses how the teenagers explained their views regarding online names during interviews. The data are analyzed qualitatively using theories of identity and social positioning. Results show considerable differences between onomastic strategies used for self- and other-referencing. Self-referencing names were often practical, coherent, and authentic to the offline self, while other-referencing names were more flexible, creative, and socially positioned. However, the teenagers also displayed varying individual onomastic strategies and different folk-onomastic views on the function of usernames.