Our country is large, children live in it and are born 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 faiths, each of which praises the Lord in its own way.
How to choose a name?
Orthodoxy is the most widespread religion on the territory of a power. National traditions are associated with more than a thousand-year history of Russian Christianity, and we can only rejoice that they are being reborn in our time, returning us to true values after many godless decades.
Joy in the family - a baby was born! Fun chores, buying a stroller, diapers, romper suits, nipples, small bottles and much more occupy the mind of a happy dad. All congratulate parents and grandparents. But there is yet another important and joyful event ahead - a spiritual birth. It is worth preparing for it. And the name should be chosen. In this matter, as in family life in general, the consensus of spouses is important, 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 others. It will be useful to ask blessings from the confessor, if any. If necessary, the priest’s advice can be truly priceless, because by its very nature its service presupposes the presence of experience in such everyday matters.
Name fashion
In recent decades, the list of names has been fairly uniform, and the fashion for them spanned entire generations. At the end of the thirties, boys were often called Anatoly, girls Lydia or Aelit (in honor of the heroine of Tolstoy's fantastic novel). After the first space flights, many Yuri, Germanov and Valentin appeared. Parents have the right to even come up with an original or unique name that they think is appropriate. So it was before, even before 1917. The famous epigram of Nekrasov, in which he calls to find strength in order to reason with his father, who called his two sons Um and Sila. Girls especially suffered from such parental self-expression. In the nineties, mothers and fathers preferred borrowing from "foreign" life, their numerous victims were Suzanne, Amelie, Flora and Izaura.
The churching of the people led to the revival and return of traditional Russian aesthetics.
Gold placers of saints
There is no need to come up with something special and intricate when there are beautiful church names for girls. Sophia, Vasilisa, Anastasia, Theodosius, Alexandra, Alla, Daria, Larisa, Evdokia, Taisia, Zoya, Faina, Pelageya, Valeria, Martha, Thekla, Antonin, Ulyana - this is only a small part of the gold placards rich in the holy calendar. In a sense, these beautiful harmonies are opposed to the influence of Western culture, penetrating into society along with movies, video clips and music, sounding from the speakers of receivers and TVs.
Enjoying the best examples of art is always nice, moreover, such a desire is commendable, regardless of whether the author of the work was a Russian person or a foreigner. It is regrettable servility to all overseas, and it is especially sad to observe a voluntary renunciation of one's own life-giving sources. The name carries in its sound information about the people that a person represents. There are, of course, more important things, but why not pay attention to him? You can and should choose a harmonious, beautiful and glorious name. It is worth paying attention to its harmonious correspondence of the name. The combination of native Slavic and foreign sounds comical. In addition, after the girl gets married, 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 a lot of unpleasant moments for carriers of this name.
The influence of the name on parenting
The church names of girls not only reflect the Christian views of their parents, but often determine the nature of their daughters, and therefore their fate. In addition, they seriously affect such an important aspect of education as national self-identification. To feel part of a great nation means, on the one hand, to feel a solid ideological foundation and dignity, and on the other, 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 raise a civic position and patriotism.
Source - Saints ...
Each phenomenon has a technical side. In connection with the birth of a daughter, some parents have questions about where to read all the church names of girls in order to choose the one that they like. To find such lists is simple, they are contained in the holy 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 one more 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, in whose honor parents are going to name their daughter. Information about her inherent benefactors will undoubtedly have a beneficial effect on the character and life aspirations of a child who has a long life full of joyful and sad events, happiness and trials.
... and the church calendar
There is a tradition of choosing girls' names according to the church calendar. There is considerable freedom in this matter, because on each date, as a rule, there are names of several saints. In addition, there is no particular chronological severity, you can focus on the whole month in which the daughter of God appeared. For example, the list of church names of girls born in July includes such options as Alevtina, Marina, Efrosinya, Evdokia, Julia, Olga, Margarita, Efimia and many others, almost for every taste. They can be ordinary, widespread or sound unusual for the ear of a modern person, but it should be borne in mind that for a long time people tried (and not unsuccessfully) to instill the idea that everything pre-revolutionary is backward, outdated and even funny. For example, it was believed that such churchly Orthodox names of girls, like Akulina or the Olympics, can be worn only by decrepit old women. How, in fact, to go to the temple, to celebrate 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 name selection cases
Often, parents want to give a name to a 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 their grandmother or great-grandmother. There is nothing wrong with this, on the contrary, such lofty respect and reverence for departed or living relatives and friends is typical of the most sincere people. However, it should be remembered that regardless of whether the church names of the girls are selected by dates or for other reasons, the newly-baptized baby still finds a guardian angel for life. The day of this saint will be a holiday, and in his sorrows he must ask for intercession. Everything else depends on us living on Earth.
God bless you!