Slavic names

In pre-Christian traditions, a child less than 7–10 years old would bear a "substitutional name", the purpose of which was to deflect attention from the child and thereby to protect it from the curiosity of evil powers. The practice was largely the result of the high mortality rate of young children at the time. A child who survived to 7–10 years was considered worthy of care and was granted adult status and a new adult name during a ritual first haircut. Traditional names remained dominant until the Slavic nations converted to Christianity. Since then, however, baptismal names came into use, which were given after the patron saint of the newly baptized. Even after that, the traditional names persisted in everyday use, while in religious matters baptismal name was involved; thus, many persons had and used two names simultaneously. This is exemplified by how the Slavic saints of that time are referred to up to nowadays: e.g. St. Boris and Gleb, in holy baptism Roman and David. As the Slavic saints became more numerous, more traditional names entered the Church calendar; but more prominent was the overall decline in the number of people bearing traditional names. Finally, in 16th–17th century the traditional Slavic names which did not enter the calendar of either Orthodox or Catholic Church generally fell out of use. For Catholic Slavs, the decisive event was the Council of Trent (1545–63) decreed that every Catholic should have a Christian name instead of a native one. Names in Poland After the ban on native non-Christian names imposed by the Council of Trent, the Polish nobility (especially Protestants) attempted to preserve traditional names, such as Zbigniew and Jarosław. Ordinary people, however, tended to choose names solely from the Christian calendar, which contained only a handful of Slavic saints' names, in particular: Kazimierz (St. Casimir), Stanisław (St. Stanislaus), Wacław (St. Wenceslaus) and Władysław (St. Ladislaus). Slavic names that referred to God (e.g., Bogdan, Bogumił) were also permitted. Names in Kievan Rus' East Slavic names were based on common Slavic names such as Volodiměrŭ (Володимѣръ - "great ruler"), Svętopŭlkŭ (Свѧтопълкъ - "holy regiment"), Jęropŭlkŭ (Ѩропълкъ - "furious regiment"), Voislavŭ (Воиславъ - "glorious warrior"), Borislavŭ (Бориславъ - "glorious fighter"), Borisŭ (Борисъ - "fighter"), Liubomirŭ (Любомиръ - "loves the peace"), Ratiborŭ (Ратиборъ "war fighter"), Vadimŭ ("Вадимъ") or Badan (belonging to the wind spirit "Badan"), Jęroslavŭ (Ѩрославъ), Izęslavŭ (Изѧславъ "The one who took the glory"), Mstislavŭ (Мстиславъ "glorious revenge"), Vĭsevolodŭ (Вьсеволодъ "lord of everything"). In the 11th century, after the growing influence of the Christian Church, the tendency to use the names of saints of the Greek Church has increased and most pagan names were displaced by Christian names. Names today , a name of Slavic origin, on a boat Since national revivals during 19th and 20th centuries, traditional names, especially of historical rulers and heroes, regained popularity. For example, in Poland many forgotten names were resurrected, such as Bronisław, Bolesław, Dobiesław, Dobrosław, Jarosław, Mirosław, Przemysław, Radosław, Sławomir, Wiesław, Zdzisław, and Zbigniew; and new ones created, such as Lechosław and Wieńczysław. Today, traditional Slavic names are accepted by the Christian Church and are given at a child's baptism. ==Meanings==