Greek Name Days
Greek Name Days, rather than birthdays, are celebrated on the Greek island of Crete and in Greece generally. Great significance is attached to the name given to a child, and the process of choosing a name follows fairly rigid conventions. The idea of a child being given a name like Brittany, Sky or Fifi Trixibelle, just because the parents like the sound of it is unknown in Greece. Children are never named after parents, but the eldest son in a family is often given the same name as his paternal grandfather and the oldest daughter named after her paternal grandmother.
Names are usually of religious origin. Each of the Greek Islands and areas of mainland Greece have a patron saint, and people living in that area often name a child after its patron saint. Each saint has a special feast day. A person's name day is the feast day of the saint after which they were named. On someone's name day, celebrations involve welcoming visitors, family, friends and neighbours into the home and providing them with cakes, pastries and later a feast. The visitors will give a small gift to the person whose names day it is, but there is less emphasis on the giving of presents than there is in birthday celebrations.
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JANUARY
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| January 1 |
Agios Basileios, Vassilis (Basil) |
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| January 6 |
Theofania, Theofanis, Fotis, Fanis, Fotini |
| January 7 |
Synaksi Ioannos, Ioannis, Yannis (John) |
| January 8 |
Dominikis |
| January 10 |
Grigorios Nussis |
| January 11 |
Theodosios, Thodoris (Theodore) |
| January 17 |
Antonios, Antonis, Antonios (Anthony) |
| January 18 |
Athanasios & Kurillos, Thanassis |
| January 19 |
Makarios, Makarios |
| January 20 |
Eythimios, Thimios |
| January 21 |
Maximos, Massimos/ Neofytos / Agnis (Agnes) |
| January 22 |
Anastasios / Timothetos, Tassos |
| January 23 |
Agathagellos |
| January 24 |
Xenis, Xeni |
| January 25 |
Grigorios Theologos / Margarita, Grigoris, Grigorios (Gregory) |
| January 26 |
Xenofontos |
| January 29 |
Ignatios |
| January 30 |
Trion Ierarxon |
| January 31 |
Kyros & Ioannos Aaron |
FEBRUARY
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| February 1 |
Tryfonos |
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| February 2 |
Ypapanti tos Sotiros |
| February 5 |
Agathis (Agatha) |
| February 6 |
Voskolos / Fotios |
| February 7 |
Parthenios |
| February 8 |
Zaxarios / Theod. Stratilatos |
| February 9 |
Nikiforos |
| February 10 |
Charalampous / Zinonos, Haralambos, Hara, Hariklia |
| February 11 |
Vasios |
| February 12 |
Meletios |
| February 13 |
Akula & Priskillis (Priscilla) |
| February 14 |
Ayxentios, Valentini, St. Valentine |
| February 15 |
Eusevios |
| February 17 |
Theodoros Tironos / Poulcherias |
| February 18 |
Leontos Romis |
| February 20 |
Agathonos / Vissarionos |
| February 22 |
Anthi (Anthea) |
| February 23 |
Polykarpos |
| February 24 |
Nestoros |
| February 25 |
Tarasios |
| February 26 |
Porfurios |
MARCH
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March 1
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Marias Aigyptias - Eudokias / Tis Tyrofagos
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March 2
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Euthalias
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March 3
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Kleonikos
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March 5
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Kononos
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March 7
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Laurentios (Laurens)
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March 8
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Theofulaktos
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March 16
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Xristodoslos
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March 17
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Alexios, Alexios, Alexis (Alex)
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March 18
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Kurillos
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March 19
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Xrysanthos, Chrisantos
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March 21
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Iakovos
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March 25
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Euagelismos tis Theotokos, Evagelos, Eva, Vangelis
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March 27
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Ilarionos, Lydia
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March 31
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Ypatios
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