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Do you celebrate your Name Day?

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O

oti

Banned
Name Day is a huge thing in Greece, we always celebrate and I always get presents/money. I would even argue that it's a bigger thing than Birthday for some.

In Germany however (where I grew up and live) no one seems to care about it. I remember my friends and classmates always being confused and jealous when I told them about it.

So GAF do you know when your Name Day is and do you celebrate in any capacity?

BTW: Today is my Name Day! Konstantinos & Eleni celebrate today. (My name is Konstantinos, try to introduce yourself to Germans with that name. Always fun.)

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_day
 
A

Alphahawk

Member
No, I'm an American so I was unaware that this was a thing. The only time I heard about a name day was from a very devout catholic friend on Facebook and then it was dedicated to feasts of saints or whatever. Yeah this is foreign to me.
 
G

Gambit

Member
oti xero said:
Name Day is a huge thing in Greece, we always celebrate and I always get presents/money. I would even argue that it's a bigger thing than Birthday for some.

In Germany however (where I grew up and live) no one seems to care about it. I remember my friends and classmates always being confused and jealous when I told them about it.

So GAF do you know when your Name Day is and do you celebrate in any capacity?

BTW: Today is my Name Day! Konstantinos & Eleni celebrate today. (My name is Konstantinos, try to introduce yourself to Germans with that name. Always fun.)
Click to expand...

It used to be a big deal in Germany as well, at least in rural areas, mostly in the catholic parts of Germany. For my grandparents it counted a lot more than birthdays. So I'd get presents on my Feastday (May 4th) instead of my birthday.

It's becoming less and less important, though. Sadly another part of our cultural heritage that is getting lost.

PS: Happy Feastday, Konstantinos.

Aiko Heiwa said:
what exactly is Name Day? a day that celebrates your name?
Click to expand...

a more appropriate translation than Name Day would be Feastday. Many people still might not know what that is. It celebrates your patron saint.
 
Glass Rebel

Glass Rebel

Member
I was raised Muslim and my name isn't on any of these lists anyway so not really. I was always confused when my Swiss brethren "celebrated" them though.
 
R

Rydeen

Member
Makes sense that the rest of the world wouldn't celebrate it but Greece and some other European countries do. I imagine Greek Orthodox is still the majority religion in Greece, so of course it's celebrated, I also imagine Italy celebrates it. But as a specifically Catholic holiday it wouldn't be celebrated in the U.K. Probably hasn't been celebrated on a large basis since the forming of the Anglican Church, and the U.S. wouldn't make it a federal holiday as it's a religious holiday, with ties specifically to Catholicism.
 
J

Joe

Member
American and I'm personally not religious but my family celebrates St. Josephs day with Sfingi:

JrlT8e4.jpg
Click to expand...

And I get a couple cards, a text or two. Never money though and it's the only "name day" we celebrate.
 
B

Bazza

Member
Never new such things as name days existed until a few years ago when a Spanish chap worked with us for a bit, from what he said name days are celebrated more than birthdays were.
 
S

squall211

Member
I live in the U.S. so no. However, one of my best friends is a native Hungarian. So on her name day I usually get her a couple of small gifts.
 
C

ClivePwned

Member
Bre!

name day (or name-sake day)= every saint has their own day and if you're named after that saint, you celebrate on their day. That's how Greeks roll. (we're talking the days that are recognized by the Greek Orthodox church so it's lots of Nicholas (Nick, Nick, Nickie, Nickolakis and Nickos), Constantine (Kosta, Con, Gus), George, Apostle, Panagiotis, Maria, Roula, Toula, Voula and Agape.

I'm diaspora so I don't really celebrate it that much any more, but my parents still make a big deal about theirs. Older rellies ring you up or come around and brings sweets.
Greeks don't have enough diabetes apparently.
 
P

pa22word

Member
GavinGT said:
I always thought "nameday" was a way of saying "birthday" in high fantasy novels.
Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought it mostly comes back to the times when infant mortality rates were so astronomical people didn't even bother naming their children until weeks, if not months after their birth. Hence, a "name day".
 
C

CountAntonius

Member
In my family it's not really celebrated but it was in the past generations where people were named after the Saint who's name day they were born on. Made for a lot on interestingly named aunt's and uncles.
 
U

Uncle

Member
soepje said:
Nope. But now i want a name day too. Do you really have to be named after a saint?
Click to expand...

Depends on the country, I think. In Finland there's some kind of an official entity that decides which names go to the calendar and on what day. It seems very arbitrary and meaningless.
 
S

Santerestil

Banned
Italy here: of course we celebrate them, we even have a day (November 1st) for everyone that has a name that cannot be connected to an existing Saint.
 
J

Jokab

Member
I don't, even though I have three name days. My family never has, so it hasn't happened really. Only a of my few friends do.
 
M

Metroxed

Member
No, although I know some people who do. It's not usually a big deal though, not party or anything, it is like a curiosity or something. "Hey, today's my name day".
 
S

soepje

Member
Uncle said:
Depends on the country, I think. In Finland there's some kind of an official entity that decides which names go to the calendar and on what day. It seems very arbitrary and meaningless.
Click to expand...
Ah, i googled and apparently i do have a nameday in my country. The more you know :D!
 
Typhares

Typhares

Member
In France we might say something if we figure out it's someone name day but usually don't go out of our way to find out.
In the UK where I am now no one cares but my Greek friend does as mentioned in the OP.
 
G

Greddleok

Member
I don't personally (it's not a thing in the UK), but my Czech partner does. Last year I made her a bunch of cookies and we went out for a meal.
It's not equivalent to birthdays, but there's no harm in having an extra day for planned sanitary fun.
 
S

SLV

Member
Yes, we have name days in Latvia, most calendars have all the names for the specific dates all through the year, every day is a name day.

Doing this from phone so sorry for the size, this is what a Latvian calendar looks like

safIeCG.jpg


22. May is the name day for everyone whos name is not in any specific date for example.
 
L

luxarific

Nork unification denier
Χρόνια Πολλά!

And yeah, it is a really big deal in Greece. I'm the Nouna to my niece and nephew and I intend to make their namedays as big a thing as they were for my Greek Dad.
 
O

oti

Banned
luxarific said:
Χρόνια Πολλά!

And yeah, it is a really big deal in Greece. I'm the Nouna to my niece and nephew and I intend to make their namedays as big a thing as they were for my Greek Dad.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much. I'm a Nouno too! It's the best. You pay a lot of money to be the coolest not-parent in the world.
 
choodi

choodi

Banned
Greek Australian here...we don't really make a big deal out of name days, but we do acknowledge the day
 
The Elite

The Elite

BOSS
I thought Name Day was something used in fantasy fiction when they didn't want to use birthday because it sounded too mundane.
 
Alx

Alx

Member
I never celebrated it, but I remember as a kid we used to congratulate someone when we knew it was his day. It sounds very old fashioned now, but it's not entirely forgotten, it's even mentioned in weather forecasts. And most people know their own day, even if it's pointless.
 
T

thesoapster

Member
oti xero said:
Name Day is a huge thing in Greece, we always celebrate and I always get presents/money. I would even argue that it's a bigger thing than Birthday for some.

In Germany however (where I grew up and live) no one seems to care about it.
Click to expand...

Yet another entitlement *rolleyes*
:p

Apparently there are six different days between several countries that celebrate my name. I should take advantage of this somehow.
 
P

pdk27

Member
Being an American I wasn't aware of it growing up. Once I got married to my wife who is an immigrant from Poland I became greatly aware of it (among other holidays).
 
A

Agremont

Member
We have name days in Sweden but I don't think it gets celebrated much. I've never gotten more than congratulations anyway.
 
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