11.04.11

Name Days in Latvia

OK, as quite a lot of people are confused about the idea of a Name Day, I will try to explain it here from my point of view.

Name Days are celebrated in several countries at least in Europe, but I never managed to understand what unites them all. I know that Baltic countries, Russia, Poland and Greece are celebrating them and I am sure that there are more countries out there. As my boyfriend said, name days exist also in Germany, but they are not really celebrated.

Back home we have name days for every single Latvian name. As there are only 365 days per year and definitely more names, it simply ends up having 1-5 names per day to celebrate. E.g., my name day is on April 10, when it's also name day for all girls who are called Zīle (never met any, it's very rare and unusual name and it actually means an acorn).

May 22 is a name day for all those people whose names are not mentioned in the calendar because they are too rare. E.g., I have a family friend, called Intra. It is a very unusual name (I guess, there are around 10 women in Latvia with this name), so she mostly celebrated her name day on May 22. However, some years ago her name was included in the calendar and now she has her own name day (if I am not wrong). So yes, the calendar is being revised every year and new names are being added.

I do not know how do they choose which name will have which name day. Some of them are according to the Christian calendar (e.g., names like Anna, Peter, Ieva (Latvian for Eve) etc.), but some are pretty random and do not have any reason. At least I think so...

What do we do? Well, pretty much the same as for birthdays - presents, cakes, flowers, party etc. Sometimes it is celebrated even more because everybody knows when is your name day - just check the calendar! There is a saying that one can show up without an invitation to a name day party, while it is unpolite to do so for the birthday parties.

If you are celebrating Name Days also in your country, please, comment this post and tell more about it!

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