I wasn’t sure where to post this, so I’m putting one on this forum and one on the boys’.
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?
I hate to rain on your parade but I live in [name_f]France[/name_f] and it’s really not such a big thing. Name days 100% exist and people are generally aware of them, but we definitely don’t make a big fuss, and there are never presents involved. Normally it’s a thing for children and we tell them when they’re name day is, but it’s not really celebrated as such, just acknowledged. of course I can’t speak for all European countries, but that’s how it is here. Having said that, what you’re suggesting is a lovely tradition and it’s a really sweet idea. If you want to do it then go ahead!
Also, if children don’t have a name day because they don’t have a saint’s name, a situation that’s becoming more and more common here, you tend to assign them to a saint with a name similar to their name. For example, my name is [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f] and as there isn’t a [name_m]Saint[/name_m] [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f], I celebrate my name day on the 3rd [name_u]January[/name_u], the day of [name_m]Saint[/name_m] [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f]!
I was sort of wondering if it more of a dying thing in Europe, but I still rather like the idea. I was prepared for it not to be a huge thing, although it would be cool if it was bigger in other countries. I’m sure the names my future husband will like could determine if this is something I could do, anyhow. I am more excited to add [name_u]Auguste[/name_u] and [name_f]Adeline[/name_f] to my list, though! And perhaps even [name_f]Ursula[/name_f] as a middle–my sister’s birthday is the Name [name_u]Day[/name_u] for [name_f]Ursula[/name_f].
I taught English in Hungary for a year, and name days are a fairly big deal there. Birthdays are considered more personal, more for family and close friends, but everyone knows when your name day is and many people will greet you with special wishes on your day. My students gave my flowers on my name day. There were two teachers’ parties during the school year, and everyone whose name day had occurred since the last party received a bottle of wine.
Hungarian calendars listed the name days on each day, so many people would see each morning whose name day it was – although that may be less so now that smart phones have taken over.
Hungary, like many European countries, has an approved list of names. If your name was on the approved list, you had a name day on the calendar.
I think you could absolutely celebrate name days within your family, it’s a lovely and fun idea! (Assuming your kids have traditional names that appear on someone’s calendar! )
Today’s names in the US are [name_f]Dahlia[/name_f], [name_f]Delia[/name_f] and [name_f]Daphne[/name_f], interestingly enough, tomorrow is all names in the [name_m]Andrew[/name_m] family ([name_m]Andrew[/name_m], [name_u]Andrea[/name_u], [name_m]Anderson[/name_m], [name_u]Deandre[/name_u], etc.).
I think it’s a cool theory, and I’d like to celebrate name days, but, I’ve never done it before. My name day is actually a month before my actual birthday (name day - 20 Sept. birthday - 25 Oct.) which is kind of cool. I like the idea of celebrating it with kids, to make it a new tradition, but I’d only do it if I could find a name day for every name I like beforehand - if there’s a top name of mine that doesn’t have one, I likely wouldn’t do it, because there could be a chance that one of my children end up not having a name day or a chance that I’d pass up a name I like because it didn’t have a name day (I like my patterns, LOL).
@[name_u]Haley[/name_u] - I think I’m the same! I have too much OCD in me to let one or two kids be left out! I guess we’ll see as time goes on.
@sbw - that sounds like lots of fun! For the most part, most of the names on my list do, although I have a few outliers that I haven’t found a list for. They don’t all appear on the same country’s list, but I’ve found [name_m]Zane[/name_m] on American ones, [name_u]Auguste[/name_u] on the [name_m]French[/name_m] one, etc. I guess we’ll see what happens! It seems like a really fun thing to do. I’m sort of gutted that I haven’t found [name_m]Boaz[/name_m] on any lists (although I have found one with [name_u]Bo[/name_u], which I’d call [name_m]Boaz[/name_m], anyhow?), but I guess that’s to be expected. Rare Hebrew name and all.
We don’t tend to celebrate (or even be aware of) them here but I still like the idea of name days as it’s a fun thing including names.
I had gone through different lists before but your post inspired me to do so again and I found some lovely coinsidences, e.g. [name_f]Ottilie[/name_f] has ties to my birthday as well as my brother and father’s birthdays.
While I probably wouldn’t go that route, it can be a subtle way of honoring people, especially if you are religious as the saints probably add another layer to the name (I’m not, so it would be a tad too subtle for me).
@gummybear - my frustration has been finding one with answers that match up for American name days. In addition to the link that [name_u]Haley[/name_u] posted, I’ve found a site mynameday.com, which also states that it’s the official name day site for the US and [name_f]Canada[/name_f]. (The one [name_u]Haley[/name_u] posted also claims to be the official one for the US!) But yet my name day for each site is completely different ([name_u]January[/name_u] 29 for one, and [name_f]May[/name_f] 14 for the other). Maybe I should just pick one, or celebrate both?!
@[name_f]Polly[/name_f]: Hmm, I’ve also been wondering if it was something where more [name_m]Christian[/name_m]-leaning countries celebrate it more? I don’t know much about Greece or Hungary (both seem to celebrate them more than [name_f]France[/name_f] and Germany?), but I’ve always heard that [name_f]France[/name_f] and Germany aren’t very religious countries anymore. I wonder if that has anything to do with it?
It probably does. I know that when I was little (about 7), a classmate brought a cake for her name day and we were all very confused as the rest of us hadn’t heard about it before.
I think in Southern Germany you might find some people celebrating name days as it is the more catholic part in which religion is still more prevalent.
My name day is in [name_u]January[/name_u] 1th, and i loved it. My family usually gives my gifts or flowers. I want my kid to have a name day and most greek names have in Greece (its a big thing in Greece). It has always been a very special day for me, and I want my kids to have it too.
I live in Croatia and it’s not that big of a deal here (just like someone commented about [name_f]France[/name_f]), although the person is given gifts and it is celebrated with the family. I don’t have a Name [name_u]Day[/name_u], but [name_f]Jelena[/name_f] and [name_f]Helena[/name_f] have a Name [name_u]Day[/name_u] (on the same date, in [name_u]August[/name_u]) so I consider it my Name [name_u]Day[/name_u] since my name is [name_f]Elena[/name_f], although I had never celebrated it and never have been gifted because it’s not my real Name [name_u]Day[/name_u] lol. Anyway, they’re fun and mostly after saints, but really not that big of a deal.
After a few minutes of research I’ve decided I’m changing my name to [name_u]Jan[/name_u] and moving to Poland where it will be my name day on 42 days of the year. Bring on the wine and chocolate!
I’ve actually never heard of this before, but it’s pretty interesting. It could definitely be a fun family tradition, and it seems like you can find a suitable name day for almost any name, even if you have to fudge it a little, so there isn’t a good reason to worry about leaving a future child out.
I think it would be especially interesting to choose your children’s names based on their birth date so that their name day and birthday would coincide! Kind of like naming your child after the month or day they were born on ([name_f]April[/name_f], [name_f]Tuesday[/name_f], etc.) but a lot more subtle. But I’m betting that not a lot of you name nerds would be up for playing the lottery like this!
I think name days are a lot more common in Eastern Europe and were perhaps made common by the Orthodox churches. I have two best friends, one who is Greek and another who is Hungarian and they both celebrate their name days and make no big deal of their birthdays, the Greek friend especially. It’s really interesting because in Greece there seems to be a tradition of naming children after the parents’ grandparents or something, so my friend shares her name day with her grandmother, an aunt and a male cousin and they always do something special together on the day like go out for dinner just the 4 of them and stuff, as well as receiving gifts and flowers from the family on the day.
I think your idea of starting this tradition of name days is very interesting and seems very fun. I’ll try and look into the name days for me and my kids so that as 2017 we can start having some extra fun! This is a very cool and interesting topic because it delves into name culture and cultures in general.
I live in Denmark and it’s not a thing that people pay attention to here. A lot of people have names that aren’t linked to a name day, and a lot of the name day names aren’t in use. I’ve never met anyone named [name_m]Julianus[/name_m], [name_m]Primus[/name_m], [name_f]Eulalia[/name_f], [name_f]Olympia[/name_f] etc.
That being said, I had a headmaster in elementary school for a few years, who would mention which name day it was at assembly, if any of the students had that name.
I’m glad some of you are enjoying learning about this! It would be so cool if it caught on (or became a thing) in the US.
haha, well played! I wouldn’t want to be named [name_u]Jan[/name_u], but it sounds like it’d totally work for you!
I actually love the idea of having two celebrations, so I wouldn’t want to do it for that reason (but hey, I wouldn’t object if I had been planning to name my daughter [name_f]Adele[/name_f] and she was born on 12/24!), but it certainly would work fairly well. I think you’re right that most Berries wouldn’t want to gamble like that, though!
@maimouse - according to behindthename.com, it only lists a couple countries that do it (Slovakia, Hungary, [name_f]France[/name_f], Germany, [name_u]Sweden[/name_u], Estonia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, [name_f]Russia[/name_f]), so I was wondering if only some European countries did it? I’m wondering if it’s a bigger thing in [name_u]Sweden[/name_u] and Finland than Denmark?
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.
