Includes bibliographical references and index.

By discussing the use of various strategies by which Christian names have adapted according to their ecology in the Indian context, this book provides new dimensions in the field of socioonomastics. It gives a fascinating account of how the AngloIndians of Hyderabad maintain their ethnic identity through the use of proper names and slang. The data on slang and names has been elicited through a combination of interviews, surveys and ethnographic methods. The relationship between ethnicity and language has been explored by comparing the usage of slang across three age groups, as well as by comparing the usage of proper names across three decades. The status of slang and names as ethnic markers has been examined through the use of statistics.