I wasn’t sure where to post this, so I’m putting one on this forum and one on the girls’.
I’ve recently become really intrigued by the idea of Name Days. I don’t know a ton about them yet, but, it seems, for the most part, they are celebrated in Europe as opposed to other areas (although I’m not sure to what extent they’re still celebrated. I’ve read that in Greece they’re more important than birthdays). If you’re not familiar, the idea is that most names are assigned a Name [name_u]Day[/name_u] in Europe, often arranged according to saint days (which are established on either the day the saint was born or died, I believe), or historical events, etc., etc. For example, my unisex name, [name_u]Ashley[/name_u], isn’t assigned a name day in Europe (not surprisingly), but my mn, [name_f]Marie[/name_f], is [name_u]August[/name_u] 15 in [name_f]France[/name_f], [name_u]March[/name_u] 25 in Estonia, and [name_f]September[/name_f] 12 in the Czech Republic. 
According to what I’ve read, it is celebrated with gifts (somewhere I read these gifts could include a bottle of wine, chocolates, flowers, etc.), and are celebrated with friends and family and a big celebration/meal.
I know it’s not really a thing in the US, but I think it could be a fun thing to do, anyway (plus, sometimes I think I was European in another life!). Or even an intriguing way to go about honoring? (For example, in [name_f]France[/name_f], the name days for [name_f]Adeline[/name_f] and [name_u]Auguste[/name_u] coincide with my grandmother’s and father’s birthdays, respectively.) I sort of love the idea of giving one meaningful gift, having a dinner with cuisine from the nationality the Name [name_u]Day[/name_u] comes from (like crepe night on [name_f]October[/name_f] 20 for [name_f]Adeline[/name_f] or pannkakor night for [name_m]Peter[/name_m] on [name_u]June[/name_u] 29!). It just seems like a really fun idea.
Has anyone else out there done this? It seems like such a fun thing to do (especially for a name nerd!). I’m enjoying discovering new lovelies based upon the Name [name_u]Day[/name_u] calendars I’m looking on. Would you ever name all your kids names that have a Name [name_u]Day[/name_u] just so you could do this?
Thanks, Berries!
My family is Polish Catholic, so while we don’t do name days, we do feast days (sort of the same thing, I think.)
We celebrate mine in [name_u]August[/name_u], my brother’s is in [name_u]December[/name_u] and my sister’s is in [name_f]May[/name_f]. My mom usually just makes our favorite dinner. It’s always very nice! My parents are pretty old-school though and only chose [name_m]Saint[/name_m] names for us, which I don’t plan on doing. It’s a fun tradition though!
@maryelise - that sounds fun! Though I am a [name_m]Christian[/name_m], my family is sort of opposite of Catholicism in the [name_m]Christian[/name_m] spectrum, so I never got to participate in any of the fun name stuff associated with the Catholic church (like confirmation names!).
I’m sure a future significant other would significantly limit which names I get to use, too, but I do really like this idea, and it’s certainly fun to look at all the names! I’m sure if I do have kids who have names that correlate to name days, it’s something I’d like to do.
My family is [name_m]French[/name_m] and my name day is the 1st of [name_f]May[/name_f] (my name isn’t written on the calendar but it is a variant of the name celebrated this day. We celebrate all the [name_f]Flor[/name_f]- names the 1st of [name_f]May[/name_f]). My dad always reminds me because I forget. We don’t really celebrate it, we just say “Joyeuse fête”.
I know that in [name_f]France[/name_f] some people like the idea of having a name that is on the calendar, or a name that can be celebrated (they don’t all appear on the calendar because it would take too much space), because it has more background/old roots, whereas a new invented name would not have a Name [name_u]Day[/name_u].
@[name_u]Ash[/name_u]: I wish I had been more of a name nerd when I got confirmed! I didn’t even remember to pick one so when I was in line waiting to be confirmed, my sponsor asked me what name I had chosen and before I could make one up on the fly it was my turn. Your sponsor presents you to the [name_m]Bishop[/name_m] and tells him your new name, and so she went ahead and gave HER name as my confirmation name! Next thing I knew, the [name_m]Bishop[/name_m] is crossing my forehead saying “[name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Elise[/name_f] [name_f]Susan[/name_f]…” [name_f]Susan[/name_f] isn’t even a saint! Haha, not a fun experience, especially at 16 with an entire church staring at you.
@[name_f]Mary[/name_f]: oh, dear! That sounds like a name nerd’s worst nightmare! I’m not sure which I would’ve picked–I’ve always been partial to the story of St. [name_f]Lucia[/name_f], so I might’ve done that. I also love [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f], though.