Happy name day to me, happy name day to me...

[pne]

It's my name day today!

(At least, according to the Greek Orthodox church. I believe the Roman Catholic church would place my name day on the third of May, and I'm not sure what Protestant churches that observe name days, such as the Lutheran(?) church in Sweden, would do.)

Comments

[it0376.livejournal.com]

Χρόνια Πολλά και καλά! Ότι επιθυμείς! Κτλ κτλ ;-)

[pne.livejournal.com]

Ευχαριστώ πολύ!

[ifeedformula.livejournal.com]

The Lutheran church my mom goes to (that I grew up) doesn't observe namedays.

I have such a retarded name I probably don't even have a name day. :-(

[pne.livejournal.com]

The Lutheran church my mom goes to (that I grew up) doesn't observe namedays.

Neither does the Lutheran church in Germany, as far as I know.

I used to think that it was a Catholic-only thing, until I learned that in Sweden at least (also in Austria?) there are Protestant churches that do observe namedays.

I have such a retarded name I probably don't even have a name day. :-(

Yeah, the whole system really only works with Biblical names. All the Madisons and Connors aren't going to have one, either.

(Though I imagine there might be an 'Abigail' since that name is Biblical; I suppose that could work for you. I think that name days' patron saints seem to be New Testament and later, though, and Abigail is Old Testament.)

... while looking up 'name day' in Wikipedia, it appears that at least some places update their lists (e.g. Finland), so they're not so intimately connected to saints any more. Interesting.

[ifeedformula.livejournal.com]

I have a Biblical name, I just don't think it's a saint's name.

[pne.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I think you're probably right.

[tungol.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the whole system really only works with Biblical names. All the Madisons and Connors aren't going to have one, either.

Well, not all saints' names are biblical names. For example, the Eastern Orthodox church I attend has an icon of St Kevin of Glendalough.

[tungol.livejournal.com]

Also, the Eastern Orthodox Church has Old Testament saints (e.g., the prophet Ezekiel, who is the patron saint of the son of an Orthodox priest I know); I believe it differs from the Catholic Church in this.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

It doesn't. Ezekiel's feast day in the Catholic calendar, for instance, is on the 23rd of July. (His Orthodox feast day, 21. July, is the Catholic feast of another Old Testament prophet: My namesake, as it turns out.)

[tungol.livejournal.com]

OK, thanks for the correction.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Some of the name day calendars I've seen have done a lot of matching up of modish names with related or similar-sounding traditional ones. Madison, for instance, is a derivative of Mathilda, IIRC, and could be associated with the latter's name day. I'm not so sure there isn't a St. Conchubhair somewhere on the Irish saints' calendar.

According to the Swedish calendar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_days_in_Sweden), you'll have to wait half a year before you can celebrate your name day there. (They give my name day as 11. December, the feast of the Stylite rather than the Prophet. I'm named for the latter, however, and his feast is in July according to the Catholic calendar; unfortunately, this is (a) the day before my older brother's birthday and (b) mere weeks before my birthday, so I've never ever celebrated it.)