Bulgars

People's names — part of people's history

В. Н. Алмантай (Иванов). Культура суваро-булгар. Суваро-булгаро-чувашские имена и их значения. — Чебоксары, 2014. — 350 с., ил.

Ethnic personal and geographical names speak about the culture and the mode of life of the peoples, their historical ties with other peoples. As the result of lasting contacts of people of different cultures the names were borrowed. And they took root in the languages and life of other peoples.

Thus the names became international. But at the same time these names remained the national symbols of the people, they were borrowed from. Each family had the name, which passed from one generation to another. For example, the parents gave their child the name of its grandfather, because he had been respected in the family. That's why the new-born child was given a name connected with the family, the Motherland and the nature.

Suvar-Bulgar names had semantic meanings and the hidden power. If a new-born child was given the right name, he also got the forefathers' blessing with it. ( the Chuvash for 'pekhil'). They believed, that the blessing would guarantee the best human characters to the child in future, such as: valour and courage, decency and honesty, love and unselfishness, health and beauty. But if the name, given to a new-born was not right, it could ruin his life.

Brief history of suvar-bulgars

Ювенальев Ю. Ю., Ювенальев С. Ю.Культура суваро-булгар. Этническая религия и мифологические представления. — Чебоксары, 2013. — 128 с., илл.The off-springs of the ancient Suvar-Bulgars — the modern Chuvash people are the fifth most populous nation in Russia. They live mostly in the Volga Region, where their first in the Eastern Europe middle aged state Volga Bulgaria was situated. To be more exact, it is the territory of modern Samara Oblast, Ulyanovsk Oblast, the Chuvash Republic and some parts of the territories of the Mari El Republic, the Udmurt Republic, the Republic of Bashkortostan and Penza Oblast.
This Part of the Volga Region bounds on the territory, where Finno-Ugric peoples the Mari and the Mordvins live on one side, and on the territory of the Turkic people Tatars and the Slavic people on the other side. According to genetic and linguistic data the culture of the Chuvash (the Suvar-Bulgars) stands apart. Thus it differs as from the culture of the Slavic people and from the culture of Finno-Ugric and Turkic peoples as well.
The names of the peoples, living in the Volga Region are well-known from the earliest times. But as far as the word ‘Chuvash’ is concerned, it appears in the written sources only since the 16th century.

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