Why did Hester name her child Pearl in The Scarlet Letter?

Hester's naming her childis significant for a
variety of reasons. They mainly deal with theof as a whole. The name Pearl
also reflects the complicated way Hester perceives her sudden motherhood and her child's
peculiar character.

Pearl's name represents two contrasting elements of her
character. On the one hand, she is the most important person in Hester's life. Hester is willing
to do and sacrifice anything for her child. She also delights in Pearl's intelligence and
energy. On the other hand, Pearl was born as a result of Hester's own indiscretion. The latter
seems to point more towards Hester's choice of name, as pointed out by the text
itself:

How strange it seemed to the sad woman, as she
watched the growth, and the beauty that became every day more brilliant, and the intelligence
that threw its quivering sunshine over the tiny features of this child! Her Pearl!For so had
Hester called her; not as a name expressive of her aspect, which had nothing of the calm, white,
unimpassioned lustre that would be indicated by the comparison. But she named the infant
Pearl, as being of great price,purchased with all she had,her mother's only
treasure!

Thatshould name her illegitimate child Pearl is
deeply ironic. Pearl's existence makes Hester's adultery common knowledge and leads to her
expulsion from polite Puritan society. When Pearl grows into a child, she is mischievous and
causes her mother no shortage of frustration, refusing to give the proper answers to religious
questions posed by the town elders, for instance.

An additionalis that Hester
initially fears her child might turn out to have some wicked nature, due to the way which she
was conceived:

God, as a direct consequence of the sin
which man thus punished, had given her a lovely child, whose place was on that same dishonored
bosom, to connect her parent forever with the race and descent of mortals, and to be finally a
blessed soul in heaven! Yet these thoughts affected Hester Prynne less with hope than
apprehension. She knew that her deed had been evil; she could have no faith, therefore, that its
result would be good. Day after day, she looked fearfully into the child's expanding nature,
ever dreading to detect some dark and wild peculiarity, that should correspond with the
guiltiness to which she owed her being.

That any good
could come out of her sin is inconceivable to Hester at first, just as it is to the town. The
elders fear Pearl is doomed because she is being raised by a "wicked" mother and was
conceived in the midst of an adulterous liaison. The other children single Pearl out and mock
her. And yet, Pearl proves an exceptional child, wild yet certainly not evil.

The name Pearl takes on additional meanings at the end of the story, once Hester and
her child leave the town for Europe. Pearl makes a good match on the continent and marries well.
Her name reflects her fortunate state at that point.

In the end, Pearl allows
Hester to mature as a person, becoming more generous and forgiving as a result of her being
ostracized, and she gives her mother joy. Pearl grows to marry and find happiness elsewhere,
showing that Hester's sin did not lead entirely to misery and wickedness, but redemption and
love as well, tying into the novel'sabout grace.