Fandom names and collective identities in contemporary popular culture

Abstract

Fandom names are one of the first ways for fans as a group to express their taste. As a category of thought, they allow fans to bond with the object and with a community. Within this collective, selecting a name is a performative way to bring the group into existence. It is also a differentiation tool (from other audiences) from which attitudes emerge, making it possible to describe these communities as subcultures. In the digital era, names are the result of collective mobilizations revealing tensions between fans and industries, leading to new ways to assert and present oneself on social networks and media.