Armenian women's names: the history of the naming

Name naming appeared in ancient times, when a person wanted to stand out among the others and called himself any significant word. The names of animals and birds were used in the role of names, later words were used that meant any positive qualities, for example, "speed", "strength", "mind" or "grace."

Man has always sought to name himself and his children names that have a hidden meaning, determine the quality of a person's character or the beauty of his body. In addition, qualities that parents would like to see in their child in the future can be used.

Armenian female names can have specific prefixes "duhat", which means "daughter". This makes it possible to form female names from men's. For example, the name "father" is added to the name of the father and a new name is obtained: Aikan + duhat = Aikanduht.

The Armenian names, like the ancient Eastern ones, could resemble the names of revered gods. For example, Anahit or Artamazd. It was believed that a man named by that name favors fate, and his actions are accompanied by luck.

With the beginning of the widespread spread of the Christian faith, the names that were present in the Old and New Testaments were often used.

The Armenian women's names were enriched with several new ones, but still slightly modified. Such transformations were necessary for the adaptation of names, bringing them into line with linguistic and social norms.

Thus, names were borrowed from many cultures. Now you can easily meet people, named by names, consonant with Arabic, Slavic, Greek and even Parthian words.

Armenian women's names have a kind of classification, which includes several groups:

1. National names. This group includes the name of the saying of the pagan gods, or they are educated from them. In addition, this category includes the names of the great generals and kings.

2. Names that come from different Armenian words. This group includes a lot of names of girls. Since the names of planets and stars, precious stones and fabrics, which have beautiful names, were used in the role of parent words, Armenian women's names sound melodic and attractive. Blissfulness of the name as if attracts to the girl even more attention, becoming a delight for the ears of others. In addition, the names of fauna and flora are often used to create names.

3. Names that are borrowed from other languages. As mentioned earlier, in Armenian you can find many names and words taken from other languages that are consonant with the original.

Below are the most common Armenian names of girls and their meanings:

- Anahit - heartfelt, kind, pious;

- Zaruhi is the priestess of the Temple of Fire;

- Araksiya - sacred power, defender, fair;

- Nana - mother, mother, mother;

- Ashken - heavenly, light, clean;

- Gayane - family, home;

- Ripsime - beautiful;

- Karine - praising, jubilant;

- Seda - tender;

- Narine - wife, woman;

- Arus - sunny, joyful;

- Satenik - pure, amber;

- Melanya - a meeting, surprise, gift;

- Shagane - kind, pious, meek.