Our country is great, children live and are born in it in families professing different religious and national traditions. This diversity is one of the secrets of the vitality of the Russian state, which has become a home for Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Catholics, Lutherans and all other confessions, each of which glorifies the Lord in its own way.
How to choose a name?
Orthodoxy is the most widespread religion on the territory of the state. National traditions are connected with more than a thousand years of history of Russian Christianity, and one can only rejoice that they are being revived in our time, returning us to true values after many years of theomachic decades.
Joy in the family - a baby was born! Fun chores, buying a baby stroller, diapers, sliders, pacifiers, bottles and more occupy the mind of a happy dad. Everyone congratulates parents, grandparents. But there is another important and joyful event ahead - spiritual birth. It is worth preparing for it. And a name should be chosen. In this matter, as in family life in general, it is importantunanimity of spouses, and conflicts are completely unacceptable.
The life of an Orthodox person in Christ begins after the rite of baptism. Parents should think in advance about what church names of girls and boys they like, consult with their neighbors. It would be useful to ask for blessings from the confessor, if there is one. If necessary, the advice of a priest can be truly invaluable, because by its very nature, his service requires experience in such worldly matters.
Fashion for names
In recent decades, the list of names has been quite monotonous, and the fashion for them covered entire generations. At the end of the thirties, boys were often called Anatoly, girls Lydia or Aelites (in honor of the heroine of Tolstoy's fantastic story). After the first space flights, many Yurievs, Germanovs and Valentins appeared. Parents even have the right to come up with an original or unique name that seems appropriate to them. This was the case even before 1917. Nekrasov's epigram is known, in which he calls to find strength in order to reason with his father, who named his two sons Mind and Strength. Girls especially suffered from such parental self-expression. In the nineties, mothers and fathers preferred borrowing from "foreign" life, numerous Suzannes, Amelie, Flora and Isaura became their victims.
The churching of the people led to the revival and return of traditional Russian aesthetics.
Gold placers of saints
No need to invent something special andintricate when there are beautiful church names for girls. Sophia, Vasilisa, Anastasia, Theodosia, Alexandra, Alla, Daria, Larisa, Evdokia, Taisia, Zoya, Faina, Pelageya, Valeria, Martha, Fekla, Antonina, Ulyana - this is only a small part of those gold placers that the saints are rich in. In a way, these beautiful harmonies resist the influence of Western culture, which penetrates society along with movies, video clips and music that sounds from the speakers of receivers and televisions.
Enjoying the best examples of art is always a pleasure, moreover, such a desire is commendable, regardless of whether the author of the work was a Russian person or a foreigner. The servility to everything foreign is regrettable, and it is especially sad to observe the voluntary rejection of one's own life-giving sources. The name carries in its sound information about the people that the person represents. There are, of course, things more important, but why not pay attention to it? You can and should choose a harmonious, beautiful and glorious name. It is also worth paying attention to its harmonious correspondence of the surname. The combination of primordially Slavic with foreign sounds comical. In addition, after the girl marries, the surname can be changed, and it is completely unpredictable. Stella Ivanova and Margarita Tyutkina can be characters in humorous stories describing the NEP period in the style of Zoshchenko, but in real life they can create many unpleasant moments for the bearers of this name.
Influence of the name oneducation
Church names of girls not only reflect the Christian views of their parents, but often determine the character of their daughters, and hence their fate. In addition, they seriously affect such an important aspect of education as national self-identification. To feel like a part of a great nation means, on the one hand, to feel a solid ideological foundation and dignity, and on the other hand, to take responsibility for the fate of the country and be proud of it. Thus, choosing Russian church names for girls, parents from an early age bring up citizenship and patriotism.
Source - Saints…
Every phenomenon has its technical side. Some parents, in connection with the birth of their daughter, have questions about where you can read all the church names of girls in order to choose the one that they like. It is easy to find such lists, they are contained in the calendar, which are sold in the shops of all Orthodox churches, as well as in specialized stores for believers. Sometimes they are also printed together with prayer books, and such a modest book will always find its place among other publications standing on a shelf in the home of every Orthodox person. There is another source that will be required in this case - the "Lives of the Saints". In this book, you can find out the fate of that ascetic woman, after whom parents are going to name their daughter. Information about its inherent benefactors will undoubtedly have a beneficial effect on the character and life aspirations of a child who has a long life ahead,full of joyful and sad events, happiness and trials.
…and church calendar
There is a tradition to choose the names of girls according to the church calendar. There is considerable freedom in this matter, because on each date, as a rule, there are name days of several saints. In addition, there is no particular chronological rigor, you can focus on the entire month in which the daughter was born. For example, the list of church names for girls born in July includes options such as Alevtina, Marina, Efrosinya, Evdokia, Yulia, Olga, Margarita, Efimiya and many others, for almost every taste. They may be ordinary, widespread, or sound unusual to the ear of a modern person, but it should be borne in mind that for a long time people have been trying (and not without success) to instill the idea that everything pre-revolutionary is backward, outdated and even ridiculous. For example, it was believed that such church Orthodox names for girls as Akulina or Olympias could only be worn by decrepit old women. How, in fact, to go to the temple, to bless Easter cakes for Easter or to observe other church rites. In fact, our ancestors were no more stupid than us, and there is nothing funny in their names.
Other cases of naming
Often, parents want to name their child in honor of some wonderful person who helped or even saved one of the family members from imminent death. It happens that mother and father are unanimous in their desire to name their daughter in memory of a grandmother or great-grandmother. This is notnothing bad, on the contrary, such a bright respect and veneration for departed forever or living relatives and friends is characteristic of the most sincere people. However, it should be remembered that regardless of whether the church names of girls are chosen according to dates or based on other considerations, the newly baptized baby still acquires a guardian angel for life. The day of this saint will become a holiday, and in sorrows he should be asked for intercession. Everything else depends on us who live on Earth.
God bless you!
