Ksenia Kardonova, About Name Giving

As in the old days, the name of the new-born children was given by a monk in a temple. People would come to temple, to tell the day and month of a child’s birth. Looking at all the astrological information, a gelyung would give the child a name. The name could also be given by parents themselves. Often the boy was given the name of his uncle on his father’s side, and the girl would be named after her grandmother or her uncle would give her name. If there was no temple nearby, the name would be related with some occurrence on the day of birth. For example, on the day of a child’s birth there was a snowstorm, shuurgn in Kalmyk, so the child would be called Shuurgn. If the father of the child worked as a horseherder, aduchi in Kalmyk, then the child was given name Aduchi. Numbers from five to ten were also names. I do not know why such names were given. I can say for sure that there was no such special tradition.Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwi