From Tradition to Modernity: The Transformation of Turkish Pet Names

As the traditional way of life has undergone a thorough change during the last few decades, the human-animal relationship in Türkiye has changed too. The traditional pet species and their roles as protectors, sources of food, or income for many people have been replaced with modern species and the pets’ roles mostly converted into friends or family members. As a result of the change in traditional pets, the names given to pets also have changed. In this article, I sought to answer the question “How have pets owned by Turkish people – and so the names given to them- changed during the last few decades?” The present article found that the traditionally owned pets apart from those raised for husbandry have changed from big ones to small ones physically like dogs. Besides; reptiles, rodents, and insects have turned into pets owned at home for their company. The names given to pets, in the same way, have changed. Modern names are quite different than traditional ones as personal names are given to pets as well as names in accordance with their physical features and unique names such as brand names, the occupation of the owner, or sometimes names just made up.