While one of the main criteria in choosing a name in Portuguese is its novelty, the opposite occurs where names in Katukina are concerned. Names are repeated since all of them derive from a common stock which the Katukina strive to preserve. In practical terms, this means that the parents choose the names of their own kin when naming their children.

Children of both sexes are named by their parents, sometimes after consultation with older people. The attribution of a personal name is a simple matter and no ceremony or ritual is performed: once chosen, it suffices for the parents to start using it. The name received in infancy is definitive.

Katukina onomastic practice is fairly varied and the only prohibition concerns passing one’s own name to the child or the name of a dead child. Among the existing alternatives, the most common is for the parents to attribute the name of their own parents to their children; in other words, if it is a girl, the parents choose the name of the maternal or paternal grandmother, while if it is a boy they choose the name of the paternal or maternal grandfather. The transmission of names across alternate generations reveals the affective bond between paternal grandparents and grandchildren, which is very strong among the Katukina. A less practised alternative comprises attributing the names of the child’s maternal and paternal aunts and uncles. It should be noted, though, that in this case the aunts and uncles involved must have already died and the choice of the name is a form of placing it in circulation once more, thus allowing the stock of personal names to be preserved. In this case, restoration of the name acquires a certain sense of ‘homage,’ demonstrating affection or esteem for the person who previously bore the name. Although all names are indeterminately recycled, there is no idea of reincarnation or that one person must substitute another. The identity between namesakes ends with the name.