How to Choose Church Names for Boys by Saints

Before the revolution of 1917 in Russia, it was customary to call newborn children by the name that is indicated on their birthday in a special church book - Svyattsy. Saints are published by the Orthodox Church and are a list of names of saints canonized for the entire history of the church. The final version of the Saints does not exist, but only the names of canonized saints can be included in this book. Nowadays, Saints can be purchased at the church, they can also be found on many sites on the Internet.

The names of the boys according to the Saints are selected according to the birthday of the child. For each day, you usually have one or (more often) several church names. As a rule, these are names firmly included in the Russian everyday life. At one time, many names of Greek origin entered the society through the church, such as Alexander, Andrey, Makar, and Hilarion. Perhaps at a certain time they even made up most of the names, along with the "biblical" names of Jewish origin (Isaiah, Daniel, Mary, David, Moses, Solomon, etc.). Thanks to all the same church traditions, the names of romance (Latin) origin, such as Adrian, Vitaliy, Valery, Concordia, Matron, Julius and others, also entered the Russian language. In Svyatce you can also find church names of boys of original Slavic origin. These are names with two roots (end with "glory"): Yaroslav, Vyacheslav, Stanislav. In addition, names such as Vsevolod, Bogdan, Lyudmila, Nadezhda, Vladimir are also ancient Slavic names. In short, the Saints offer a fairly wide selection of names for your baby.

But what if you do not like the church names of the boys recorded in Saints on your child’s birthday? For example, the baby was born on April 7, and the three proposed names are Gabriel, Jacob, Ivan, and you want to give the child a more modern name. Well, according to church tradition, you can also use the names of the boys on the church calendar on the 8th and 40th day from the baby’s birthday. Those. in our example, more names are added: Makar (April 14) and Arseny and Pimen (May 21). According to ecclesiastical laws, on the 8th day, the rite of naming a name is performed, and on the 40th child they baptize, which is why these days are chosen as alternative.

However, many people in modern Russian society at one time did not receive church names at all. Boys were often called by names that are not in the Saints, such as Velizar, Robert, Andron, Stanislav, Anton (in church books there is no such name, there is only Anthony). If these people were not baptized in childhood and they want to be baptized, the Orthodox priest will choose a name for them that is similar in meaning, sound or close to the person’s birth date. So, Yuri, most likely, will be given the name George (from which the name Yuri came ); Anton is likely to be called Anthony. The new name given at baptism can be used when attending church for confession and communion; the church name is also indicated in notes on health and repose.

Ancient tradition

The church names of the boys testify to their heavenly protectors, guardian angels. It is believed that the saint, whose parents named his child at birth, will accompany and protect this child throughout his life. Therefore, perhaps this is not just a tribute to fashion, but a long tradition with ancient roots and deep significance.