Adopted by a Nickname

This reflexive autoethnographic essay traces a life through given names, surnames, name days, confirmation names, and community nicknames. It situates one Central European biography within the language politics of postwar Poland, examining Catholic naming practices, the marginalization of non-Polish and non-Catholic histories, and the symbolic dominance of Polish in the country’s linguistic landscape. Family surnames open onto Polish, Kashubian, German, and Jewish histories, while the author’s research connects personal naming with language documentation, policy, and minority-language advocacy. The final section turns to Wymysiöeryś, the severely endangered language of Wilamowice. There, a traditional kin nickname came to mark a long relationship with speakers and new speakers, and a form of adoption into the community after decades of research and advocacy. The essay argues that names are not merely labels: they carry religious authority, family memory, ethnic ambiguity, political pressure, and possibilities for belonging. Together, these episodes form an anthroponomastic curriculum of a life spent among minoritized language communities.