Proper Names Between Identity and Survival: An Onomastic Analysis of My Name Is Marytė by Alvydas Šlepikas

Abstract

This article examines the role and functions of proper names in Mano vardas – Marytė (2012), a historical novel by Lithuanian writer Alvydas Šlepikas about the Wolfskinder – German children orphaned or abandoned in former East Prussia following World War II. Against a backdrop of Soviet occupation and the erosion of Prussian-German identity, the novel dramatizes the tension between individual memory and the imperatives of survival. The study analyzes the novel’s anthroponymic repertoire, demonstrating how it embodies the coexistence of three distinct ethnic, linguistic, and social components – German, Russian, and Lithuanian – and reveals how proper names transcend their identificatory function. Particular attention is given to the enforced renaming of German children who sought refuge in Lithuania, where German names became taboo and had to be concealed to avoid persecution. Through close analysis of selected passages, especially the onomastic transformation of the protagonist Renate/Marytė, the article argues that proper names constitute a symbolic nexus of identity, memory, and history. The novel thus stands as literary testimony to historically documented onomastic practices and as a paradigmatic case study of the pivotal role proper names play in constructing and preserving identity under extreme historical circumstances.