The birth of a child is always a joyful event. For some parents, it is the birth of a daughter that brings special joy. And, of course, I want to give the girl the best name.
The name accompanies a person all his life, so his choice is a responsible matter.
Fashion and originality
Choosing a name for a daughter is reminiscent of the path between Scylla and Charybdis. One of the dangerous temptations is “fashionable” names. Subsequently, such a name will be perceived as "standard", "impersonal", especially in adolescence. Giving your daughter the most common name is not worth it - such statistics are easy to find on the Internet. You can also pay attention to what names are given to newly born daughters by relatives and acquaintances. If the name is met in the immediate environment at least twice, it is better to refuse it.
The other extreme is the pursuit of increased originality. Foreign names are used, as well as those that until recently were considered "outdated" and "common" (Praskovya, Pelageya). Some parents come up with names themselves - for example, the name of the famous violinist Zarius Shikhmurzaeva is derived from the names of her parents Zariat and Usman.
Striving for originality, it should be understood that little-used names have become such not by chance. The name should be short, easy to pronounce, euphonious from the point of view of the Russian language. The name Adelheid does not have the first quality, Etheldreda the second, Thekla the third. It is important that it is easy to form a harmonious diminutive on the name. The owner of the beautiful "royal" name Cleopatra, who in everyday life will have to be called Klepa, will hardly be grateful to her parents.
First and middle name
Choosing a name for a girl is somewhat easier than for a boy - you don't need to think about the fact that in the future you will have to form a middle name from him. But you must definitely think about how the girl's name will be combined with her own patronymic. This is especially true for fans of exotic names: Ermengarda Fedorovna is almost a caricature combination! However, one must be careful with ordinary names. For example, there is a beautiful female name Rosa, but Rosa Narcissovna is, according to the apt expression of the linguist L. Uspensky, “not a woman, but a page from a herbarium”.
The combination of an underlined foreign name with a Slavic patronymic (Izolda Svyatoslavovna) or vice versa (Lyudmila Genrikhovna) looks grotesque.
Faith and superstition
If the parents intend to baptize the girl, you need to find out in advance if the chosen name is in the calendar. This is not only about "exotic" names - in the Orthodox calendar there are no such familiar names as Polina, Victoria. Information of this kind can be found on the Internet on your own, but it is better to ask the priest, because some names in the calendar have a different spelling, for example, not everyone will guess that Juliana is Ulyana.
If the parents nevertheless decide to give their daughter a name that is absent in the calendar, they must come to terms with the fact that she will have one name in the documents, and baptize, commune, remember in prayers, in the future, they will marry and burial her under a different one. Usually, in such cases, they baptize with a name close in sound (Alice - Alexandra), meaning (Lily - Sosanna) or the name of the saint, on the day of whose memory the girl is baptized.
What you don't need to be guided by when choosing a name for your daughter is numerous signs and pseudoscientific theories. For example, it is completely absurd to believe that if a daughter is named after a deceased relative, she will soon die. Such superstitions even penetrate the church: "to name a child by the name of a martyr - all his life will be tormented." Do not be afraid to name your daughters after deceased grandmothers, famous people of the past, saints, whatever their fate.
Equally absurd are statements presented as scientific - for example, the more identical letters in the name of the child and the parents, the stronger the spiritual closeness between them. There are many publications on the topic of "name and destiny", but there is no scientific evidence behind them. The name can influence fate, but only indirectly - through the perception of others. An ugly name in childhood can be the subject of ridicule from peers - of course, this will have a certain impact on the character. And superstition and pseudoscience are bad advisors in any business, including when choosing a name for a daughter.
