Name Days

When an Orthodox Christian is baptized, they receive the name of a saint, and that saint becomes their patron — a heavenly friend, a protector, and a model of what a life given to Christ can become. Those who come to Orthodoxy as adults choose a patron saint with their priest at reception. The name day, then, is simply that patron's feast: the day the Church already keeps for St. Nicholas, or St. Mary of Egypt, or St. George becomes the personal feast of everyone who carries the name.

The logic is that a name is not a label but a calling. To be named for a saint is to be pointed, for life, toward a particular holiness — and the yearly feast is a reminder of that vocation as much as a celebration.

In Greek custom the name day (onomastikí eortí, or simply giortí) is a major occasion, frequently kept with more warmth than a birthday; friends drop by without invitation and are received with sweets. In Russian and other Slavic practice the day is called imeniny, and popularly the "day of the angel" (den' angela) — though, strictly, it honors one's patron saint rather than one's guardian angel. Historically the imeniny was observed more solemnly than the birthday, centered on church and a family meal.

The reason for the emphasis is theological, not merely cultural. A birthday marks one's natural birth into the world; the name day points to one's birth into Christ at baptism and to the saint one is called to resemble. The proper greeting is not "happy birthday" but the Orthodox wish for "Many years!" And the calling itself is caught in the Lord's words: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16) — the life the name is meant to grow into.

The heart of a name day is not the party but the church. The custom is to attend the Liturgy on or near the feast and to receive Holy Communion, sometimes to have a moleben or prayers of thanksgiving served, and to read the life of one's saint. At home the patron's icon is honored — often the household's own copy, kept as part of the family's icons — and the day is marked with a blessed loaf or a festive table.

Details vary. A single name may belong to several saints or a saint may have more than one feast, in which case a person keeps whichever day their tradition or their priest indicates, usually the one nearest their baptism. Those whose given name is not obviously a saint's are helped by the priest to find a patron and a day. What runs through all the variation is the same instinct: to celebrate not only that one was born, but whom one is called to become.