Any Hungarians here? Question about namedays...

[Gordar]

I understand the concept of a nameday (for those who don't know what that is, every name has a specific day assigned to it & the people bearing that name will get presents, etc. like a birthday), but I don't understand why some names have multiple namedays (well, I do, since those days are based on religious traditions (names of saints of the Catholic Church), historical events, birthday of a famous person who had the same first name, or on other facts), but I wonder how Hungarians handle these things.

Take Szilveszter for example. This name has 2 namedays; November 26 and December 31.

Assuming only children get to experience it like a birthday & assuming this Szilveszter is a child, would he celebrate his nameday twice or would the parents pick one day? What about other people that want to congratulate the child? Assuming they don't know when the parents want to celebrate Szilveszter's they might pick the wrong date...

Or does one of the dates automatically overrule the other? If so, why are both considered namedays for the same name?

 

[BigSwede]

We have namedays in Sweden too,but only one day for each name.
Sylvester (sw sp) has his nameday on Dec. 31 here.

 

[Gordar]

We have namedays in Sweden too,but only one day for each name.
Sylvester (sw sp) has his nameday on Dec. 31 here.

I didn't know that... Considering I have a Scandinavian first (given) name, I looked it up & according to the Swedish nameday callendar my nameday would be on the 8th of juli... (too bad I don't live in Sweden & namedays aren't celebrated or well known in the Netherlands of Belgium (except in dutch & belgian Limburg))

Anyway, according to this nameday calendar, the nameday of Szilveszter is only celebrated on the 31st of december, just like in Sweden, but on this calendar, it clearly says the name has 2 namedays.

The 2nd calendar might be incorrect though...

 

[jasonk282]

so it's sorta like a birthday for everyone that has your same first name? Weird,some things your Euros do I will never understand.

 

[TunnelOfLove]

We also have namedays here in Finland, but nobody celebrates them.

Except for my mom, who always buys me something when it's my nameday and I get surprised because I never remeber it myself.

 

[Gordar]

so it's sorta like a birthday for everyone that has your same first name? Weird,some things your Euros do I will never understand.

Apparently almost all countries with a Catholic or Orthodox background have namedays, but in many countries these days aren't celebrated (The Netherlands, Belgium, France, the UK, just to name a few). They apparently also exist in South America. Still, the connection with religion no longer exist in most places.

Apparently the U.S.A. has them as well..

The particular mix of cultures in the USA means that a wide variety of name days are celebrated. Many people rely on the name day calendar of their ancestor's country of origin, others rely on a variety of name day calendars, many of which don't follow the basic premise of a name day: The feast day of the Saint after whom the person is named. These calendars are based around celebrity or ex-president's names and don't form a lasting basis for celebration.

Anyway, wikipedia also managed to answer my initial question.

Some highly popular names have several name days; in that case, the person chooses on which day he or she wishes to celebrate.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_day

& DAMNIT, I missed both Sophie Moone's & Anita Pearl's nameday!

 

[bigwarmload]

Czech Republic has name days also.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_days_in_the_Czech_Republic

EDIT: opps your wiki post already listed it.

 

[jasonk282]

Apparently the U.S.A. has them as well..

I have been living in the USA for my entire life and this is the first time I have heard about this.

 

[Gordar]

I have been living in the USA for my entire life and this is the first time I have heard about this.

Until a short time ago I didn't know they still existed either & I live in Europe.

(although I did know they used the names of saint before they implemented the weekdays we now know so well (monday, tuesday, wednesday, etc.).

 

[BigSwede]

I don't know anybody who celebrates their nameday,but everybody is always happy if you remember them just by saying happy nameday.