Formation and usage of hypocoristic forms in Brazilian Portuguese and Lithuanian

Abstract

This paper presents research into Anthroponomastics, a branch of Onomastics, devoted to the study of personal proper names. This paper is aimed at description and comparison of (1) different morphological processes involved in formation of hypocoristic forms in Brazilian Portuguese and Lithuanian and (2) the usage of hypocoristic forms as official first names in both countries based on the data available on two national institutional websites. The comparative analysis described in the paper shows that the morphological processes of clipping of first names have more similarities than differences in both languages, although equivalent first names may have different hypocoristic forms in each of the languages. In addition, the usage of hypocoristic forms as first names is quite different in each country. According to Brazilian statistical data, their usage is gradually decreasing. On the contrary, according to Lithuanian statistical data, the usage of hypocoristic forms as first names is a contemporary tendency in Lithuania.