Happy Namesday to meeeeeee ^_^

[Ann]

In Sweden, we don't only celebrate birthdays, but also "namnsdagar" (means namesdays). This started in the Catholic times, when each day in the year was associated with a saint. People with the same name were celebrated on his or her day. Nowadays the namesday list is kept by the Swedish Academy, and occasionaly changes (although very rarely). For example, I used to have a namesday on my birthday, but now I don't anymore

Anyways, now that you all know what namesdays are (I remember the first time I mentioned it to a non-Swede they were totally clueless, so I figured I'd explain it a little first), today it is my day One of the two names featured today is Annette (which is my name)!

[Former User]

We also celebrate name day in Finland, so I'm not glueless now because you mentioned it Anyway, HAPPY NAMEDAY ANN!
Mine is October 26th

[Piglet]

Happy namesday Ann! I would love to have two days a year to celibrate and get presents, you Finnish and Swedes are lucky!
But of course there's always Christmas and over here we also have Sinterklaas on December 5th (also with presents).
Maybe I'm obsessing over the presents thing, but I just love giving and receiving presents (especially unexpected ones).

[Ann]

You have it in Finland too? How neat!!! Maybe it exists in all of Scandinavia then... However, I looked it in my calender and it's Amanda and Rasmus that have namesdays on October 26, but no Niina I guess we have different names (or maybe Amanda is a middle name of yours?)

Piglet, I know how you feel! I love giving and getting presents too And I've heard about Sinterklaas before, it sounds like a lot of fun

[Former User]

Amanda isn't my middle name (it's Johanna actually). October 26th is my nameday, together with Manda and Amanda. How Niina comes together with those two, I have no idea!

Piglet (what's your name by the way? feels funny to call you Piglet!), isn't Sinterklaas more for children? I know I haven't been so long here in Belgium to know it, but we celebrate it here too

[Former User]

Ann, I think the calendars are different in each country. I just checked my Finnish calendar and today's nameday folks are Eevert, Isto and Evert. Never heard anyone to be called Eevert in Finland though... must be one of those new names...

I'll see if I can find Ann, it's not a Finnish name though, closest is Anne.

Will check it out...

Ok, no Ann there, but Dec. 9th there's Anne, Anna, Anni.... that's the closest!

[anna_66]

I've never heard of it before, but that's pretty cool! Hope you have a wonderful day

Here in Belgium we also have our name-day : we call it our "feestdag" ! Until at least the 60ths or even later , every name must have a relation to a name of a saint on the Catholic calendar ! Modern names like we have now , were not allowed !!! I was so unlucky to be born on the French-talking part of my country , so they did not even accept that my dad wanted to give me the name of a Flemish saint !! It was supposed to be "Lutgart" , but they wrote it down in French , as "Lutgarde"(I hate this name !!) . But everybody calles me Lut !!
My name-day is on June 16 !!

[Edwina's Secretary]

In Mexico name days are also celebrated. The call it Saint Day. I once lived there and my Saint's Day was in October I believe. I have a brother-in-law from Croatia and he also celebrates Saint's Day.

So some other countries/cultures celebrate it too but in any case....Happy Name Day to Ann!!!

[Albea]

Before the Comunist Revolution in Russia they used to have a "name day" too. I don't know if they have gone back to it after 1989.
Anyway, happy day to you Ann!

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Cool! I had never heard of this. Must be too many different cultures over here to get everyone to agree on one nameday calendar, but I love the idea.

Happy nameday Ann!

[Karen]

Originally posted by Casper & Kitty
Amanda isn't my middle name (it's Johanna actually). October 26th is my nameday, together with Manda and Amanda. How Niina comes together with those two, I have no idea!

Johanna is my sister's name! She was named after my Swedish grandfather's mother.

[Former User]

Originally posted by Karen


Johanna is my sister's name! She was named after my Swedish grandfather's mother.

Hey, that's cool!

[lovemymaltese]

cool, thanks for sharing. Happy nameday!

[Piglet]

Piglet (what's your name by the way? feels funny to call you Piglet!), isn't Sinterklaas more for children? I know I haven't been so long here in Belgium to know it, but we celebrate it here too

Hi Niina, my name is Bonnie (but I'm quite used to being called Piglet here LOL).
You're right, Sinterklaas is really meant for children but lots of adults celebrate it too. In my family we usually put all the names on pieces of paper and everyone has to take one and make a special secret present with a poem for that person. Sometimes it takes a while to sort things out, because when you pick your own name, you have to start all over again with the papers.
Well enough about Sinterklaas, it's still a few months away...I just love winter! Hot chocolate, purring kitties and staying in bed to read books...mmmm