KOSOVA'NIN MAMUSA BELDESINDE KISI ADLARI/NAMES OF PEOPLE IN MAMUSA, KOSOVO

Names of people are of a great importance for linguistics and folklore studies as well as for maintaining national identity. A name can be considered as a symbol of social and individual existance of human. In Turkish culture, naming a child is as important as becoming a parent. Because of this, once it was thought that a person who had a specific name had to show appropriate characteristics according to the name. In this study, we have dealt with the Turkish individual names in Mamusa Municipality in Kosovo which is striving to preserve its identity and names in Balkans in general. As a result of the names inquiry in Mamusa we reached the following conclusions: naming tradition shows great similarities with Turkish world; given that names mostly come from religious, national and lineage areas showing differences according to different periods and that the Turkish identity and the Turkish appellation are being preserved through names in this area.