How were the children of the imperial family given names?
CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS
The selection of names for babies born in the imperial family was given great importance. In general, when choosing a name, parents followed the established traditions, but there were also nuances. First, the old Russian tradition of naming children in honor of various saints on the day of which the baby was born was preserved. Secondly, the children were named after someone "from the family", and this could be not only representatives of the Romanov dynasty, but also the Rurikovich. Thirdly, the decisive word in choosing a name sometimes remained not with parents, but with grandparents, if at that moment they were at the helm of a huge empire. Fourth, some of the Romanovs had names with a distinct political context.
POLITICAL REASONS
The second grandson of Catherine II, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, received a "political name" on the idea of his grandmother. He was called Constantine because in the 1770s. Catherine II nurtured plans for turning Istanbul into Constantinople and establishing full Russian control over the Bosporus and Dardanelles. Under these plans, the boy received the name Konstantin, and not only the name. A teacher of the Greek language was even invited to him, whom Konstantin Pavlovich brilliantly mastered. However, far-reaching political plans were not destined to come true.
"NIKOLAI" IN THE ROMANOV FAMILY
Nicholas I also received his name from Catherine II. It should be emphasized that until 1796 there were no Nikolaevs in the Romanov family at all. For Catherine II, the birth of a boy, after five granddaughters in a row, was a great and probably the last family joy. At holy baptism on July 6, 1796, the boy was officially named Nicholas in honor of St. Wonderworker Nicholas of Myra.
When the third boy was born in the family of Nicholas I on July 27, 1831, he was also named Nikolai, but not in honor of his father, but in honor of St. Nicholas Kochanov, the holy fool of Novgorod, who was venerated on July 27. In a letter to Count P.A. On July 28, 1831, the tsar wrote to Tolstoy: “God rewarded me for the trip to Novgorod, for, several hours after my return, God granted his wife a happy permission from the burden by his son Nikolai.”
CHILDREN OF ALEXANDER II
Then it was time to give names to the children of Alexander II. The Tsarevich Alexander Nikolayevich named his first born in 1843 as Nicholas, in honor of Nicholas I. His second son Alexander (1845), the future Alexander III, parents named in honor of Alexander I.
Thus, the first two boys received the names of two monarch brothers. After that, in search of names, parents turned to the historical past of Russia. Therefore, the third son, born in the spring of 1847, received the name Vladimir in honor of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, the Baptist of Russia. The fourth son (1847), Alexei, was named in honor of the Metropolitan of Moscow St. Alexy, in memory of the fact that Alexander II himself was born in his monastery and received holy baptism from his crayfish. Parents named their fifth son, Sergei, in honor of St. Sergius of Radonezh. Parents considered Sergei a “vowed child,” since Empress Maria Alexandrovna was pregnant with her son during coronation celebrations in Moscow in the summer of 1856. Parents vowed to name their possible son Sergei from the crayfish of St. Sergius of Radonezh.
NAMES "ON SNU"
It also happened that royal infants were called "in a dream." It should be recalled that dreams were then given serious importance. Everyone knows the legend that the sentry dreamed of the archangel Michael and “asked to convey” to Emperor Paul I that the castle being built on the banks of the Fontanka should be called Mikhailovsky. The soldier faithfully complied with the “order”, and the command was reported on the dream. Surprisingly, the information “from above” reached Paul I, and he called his castle Mikhailovsky. This is a very reliable, but - a legend. When Tsesarevna Maria Aleksandrovna was preparing to give birth in the autumn of 1853, her parents had chosen the name Vera in advance if a girl was born. October 5, 1853 the princess gave birth to a girl, but she was not named Faith for the following reason: “Old Prince. Gorchakova wrote to the empress that she had a dream that the princess would have a daughter if she promised to call
to be her Mary. ” By this time, the tsesarevich’s family already had four healthy boys and one deceased daughter, whom her parents really grieved for. They really wanted to have a girl. And since the "condition" was brought to them, the born girl, the only daughter of Alexander II, was called Maria.
HOW TO GIVE NAMES TO THE NICHOLAS II FAMILY
As daughters were born in the family of Nicholas II, they all received their names and nicknames. It should be noted that in 1895 the name of the imperial first-born was “agreed” with the mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna. At the family council they decided: if a boy is born, call Pavel, and if a girl, then Olga. A girl was born, she was named Olga. Then they decided to name the second daughter in the name of the famous Pushkin heroine “Eugene Onegin” - Tatyana. As a result, the two eldest daughters of Nicholas II received the names of the literary heroines of Eugene Onegin.
The long-awaited crown prince, born in 1904, received the name Alexei. This name was not popular in the royal family after Tsarevich Alexei, son of Peter I, died in a tragic confrontation in 1718. The son of Nicholas II received this name in memory of Moscow Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Tishayshiy, whose reign idealized by Nicholas II. Just a year and a half before the birth of his son, in February 1903, a historical ball was held in the Winter Palace based on the era of the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich.
Igor Zimin. "The adult world of imperial residences. The second quarter of the XIX - early XX century."
