Commercial Names in the Field of Surrogacy Motherhood

Abstract

The paper studies advertising names of companies in the field of reproductive health, particularly those providing surrogacy services. In modern medical onomasticon, they broadly divide between descriptive names of a formal nature that refer to state medical institutions preserved from the Soviet era, and the names of new medical organizations following the tradition of new commercial naming, i.e. advertising names. However, it should be noted that there is no direct correlation between the name and the form of ownership: state institutions can also acquire advertising names to more competitive, and private medical organizations can use “Soviet” designation patterns to earn confidence through referring to the tradition. In addition, surrogate motherhood is a special sphere of health care that is not limited to medical institutions themselves, but also includes “near medical” (consulting) agencies specializing in the selection of surrogate mothers. Competition among the latter is higher, and legislative regulation is lower, which stimulates the imagination and creativity of company naming. The very idea of surrogate motherhood and, more broadly, modern assisted reproductive technologies are ambiguously perceived by society and often rejected by those clinging to traditional views. Therefore, it is interesting to consider the mechanisms for overcoming this rejection, expressed in advertising names and appealing to a complex of positive associations and allusions.