Slavic names are in vogue now. And despite the fact that in Russia their share in the total number of names is still small, it is steadily growing. People have a desire for this. And it is very important that it be backed up by knowledge. Knowledge of the etymology of these names and their true meaning.
Instructions
Step 1
The modern Russian language is oversaturated with borrowed words. And the cultural community is rightly sounding the alarm about this. Indeed, over the past two decades, the number of such borrowings has increased significantly. But it is not all that bad. The good old Slavic names are returning to Russia, gradually crowding out foreign ones. But many of them were almost lost.
Step 2
However, it would be unfair to blame modern society for this loss. After all, the overwhelming majority of borrowed names came to us along with Christianity. In the first half of the past millennium, such names were literally implanted by the church. For people, this process was extremely painful. They accepted new outlandish names with difficulty and diligently altered them in their own way. After all, such familiar to us names as Ivan, Mikhail, Gregory were perceived then approximately in the same way as we now perceive the names of the inhabitants of African tribes. What can we say about Zakreya, Makrina or Urasia.
Step 3
“The parent was presented with a choice of any of the three that she wants to choose: Mokiya, Sossia, or to name the child in the name of the martyr Khazdazat. To please her, they unrolled the calendar elsewhere. Three names came out again: Trefiliy, Dula and Varakhasius. “This is the punishment,” the old woman said, “Let it be Varadat or Barukh …” (N. V. Gogol “The Overcoat”)
Step 4
Names were often duplicated in documents for clarity. So, in the annals you can find such records: "The serf Fyodor, the dear Road", "… in the name of Milonet, Peter by baptism …". All these Fedors and Petras seemed alien and incomprehensible to our ancestors.
Step 5
And, of course, new incomprehensible names, as best they could, were altered in their own way. So Ivan was originally Inahanaan. Then he was transformed into John. Shimon turned into Seeds. And Iulina became Ulyana.
Step 6
As of 1916, there were only 15 Old Slavic names in the "calendar": Boris, Boyan, Vadim, Vladimir, Vladislav, Vsevolod, Vyacheslav, Zlata, Kuksha, Mstislav, Razumnik, Svyatoslav, Lyudina, Lyudmila, Yaropolk. Outside the "saints", only such names as Igor, Stanislav, Oleg, Svetlana and Olga were widespread.
Step 7
At the end of the last century, in the Slavic republics of the former USSR, there was a persistent tendency towards an increase in the share of Slavic names. Male names became widespread: Bori, Bogdan, Vadim, Vladislav, Vsevolod, Gleb, Miroslav, Rostislav, Ruslan, Svyatoslav, Yan, Yaroslav. And women: Vera, Vlada, Dana, Darina, Dina, Zarina, Zlata, Karina, Lada, Love, Milena, Nadezhda, Rada, Snezhana, Yana, Yanina.
Step 8
The share of such names in the Russian Federation is now, according to various estimates, from 10 to 15 percent. Despite this, according to this indicator, Russia occupies one of the last places among the Slavic countries. In Slovakia, for example, this figure is 34-36%, in the Czech Republic - 46-48%, and in Serbia it is generally more than sixty.
