Greek Name Days

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	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL
MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST
SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER

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JANUARY

January 1	Agios Basileios, Vassilis (Basil)
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 back to top

February 1	Tryfonos
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

March 1 - Marias Aigyptias - Eudokias / Tis Tyrofagos March 2 - Euthalias March 3 - Kleonikos March 5 - Kononos March 7 - Laurentios (Laurens) March 8 - Theofulaktos March 16 - Xristodoslos March 17 - Alexios, Alexios, Alexis (Alex) March 18 - Kurillos March 19 - Xrysanthos, Chrisantos March 21 - Iakovos March 25 - Euagelismos tis Theotokos, Evagelos, Eva, Vangelis March 27 - Ilarionos, Lydia March 31 - Ypatios

APRIL

April 6 - Eutyxios April 15 - Leonidas (Leo) April 23 - Ag. Georgios, Giorgos, Yorgos (George) April 24 - Elisabet (Elisabeth, Lisa) April 25 - Marcos (Mark)

MAY

May 2 - Zoodochos Pigis May 3 - Timotheos (Timothy) May 4 - Pelagias May 5 - Eirinis, Irini (Irene) May 6 - Serafim May 7 - Akakios May 9 - Christoforos (Chris) May 10 - Simonos (Simon) May 11 - Kurillos & Methodos May 13 - Sergios, Sergios/ Glykerias, Glykeria (Sergio) May 15 - Paxomios May 17 - Andronikos May 18 - Ioulias, Ioulia (Julia, July, Julie) May 19 - Menandrios May 21 - Konstantinos & Elenis, Konstantinos, Kostas, Thina, Kostathina, Eleni (Helen) May 27 - Ioannos Rosos May 28 - Tis Analipseos May 29 - Theodosias May 30 - Isaakios (Isaac)

JUNE

June 2 - Nikiforos June 4 - Marthas & Marias, Martha June 5 - Dorotheos (Dorothea, Dorothy) June 7 - Sevastianis (Sebastian) June 8 - Kalliopis June 11 - Vartholomaios / Varnava June 22 - Zinonos June 29 - Petros & Paulos, Petros, Pavlos (Peter, Paul) June 30 - Sunaksi ton 12 Apostolon, Apostolis, Apostolos

JULY

July 1 - Kosma & Damianos (Damian) July 3 - Yakinthos July 7 - Kuriakis, Kiriaki July 8 - Theofilos / Prokopios July 9 - Pagratios July 11 - Eufimias / Olgas July 12 - Veronikis (Veronica) July 14 - Nikodimos July 16 - Athinogenoss July 17 - Marinas, Marina July 18 - Aimilianos (Emile) July 20 - Profiti Elia, Ilias July 22 - Marias Magdalinis, Magdalini, Magda, Magdalena, Lena July 26 - Parakseuis July 27 - Panteleimonos, Pantelis July 29 - Kallinikos July 31 - Iosif Arimatheias, Iosif, Sifi

AUGUST

August 6 - Sotiris, Sotiria August 7 - Asterios August 15 - Assumption Day - Koimisis tis Theotokos, Panayotis, Panagiotis, Maria, Despina, Thespina, Marios August 24 - Kosma tos Aitolos August 26 - Andrianos & Natalias, Adrianos, Nathalia, Natalia (Adrian) August 27 - Fanourios August 30 - Alexandros, Alexandros (Alexandra, Sandra, Sander, Alexander)

SEPTEMBER

September 1 - Simeon September 3 - Anthimos September 4 - Moisi/Ermionis September 5 - Zaxarios, Zacharias September 8 - Gennisi tis Theotokos September 9 - Ioakeim & Annis September 11 - Evathia (Eve) September 13 - Kornilios / Aristeidos September 14 - Ypsosi tos Timios Stauros, Stavros (Steven) September 15 - Nikita September 16 - Eyfimias September 17 - Sofias, Pisteos, Agapis, Elpidas, Sofia, Agapi, Elpida September 18 - Eumenios / Ariadnis (Ariadne) September 20 - Eustathios, Stathis September 22 - Fokas September 23 - Sullipsi Prodromos September 24 - Theklas September 25 - Eyfrosinis September 26 - Metastasi Ioannos Euaggelistos September 27 - Kallistratos September 29 - Kuriakos, Kiriakos

OCTOBER

October 1 - Ananios / Pomanos Melodos October 2 - Kuprianos / Iosstiounis October 3 - Dionisios Aeropagitos, Dionisos October 4 - Ierotheos October 5 - Xaritinis October 6 - Thoma (Thomas, Tom) October 7 - Poluxronios October 8 - Pelagias October 9 - Iakovos (Jakob) October 10 - Eulampios October 15 - Loskianos October 18 - Loska, Loskas (Lucas, Luke) October 19 - Kleopatras October 20 - Artemios / Gerasimos Kefallinias, Yerasimos October 21 - Sokratous, Sokrates, Sokratis October 23 - Iakovos (Jacob) October 24 - Sevastianis (Sebastian) October 26 - Dimitrios Myrovlitos, Dimitris, Dimitrios, Dimitria (Jim, James) October 27 - Nestoros October 28 - Agias Skepis October 30 - Zinovios

NOVEMBER

November 1 - Ag. Anarron/ Kosma & Damianos, Anargiros, Argiris, Kosmas, Damianos (Damian) November 8 - Mixael & Gavriel, Mixalis, Michail, Michali, Angelos, Stamatis, Stamos (Michael, Angelo, Gabriel) November 9 - Nektarios November 11 - Mina / Viktoros (Victor) November 13 - Ioannos Xrysostomos November 14 - Filippos, Philippos (Philip) November 16 - Mathaios (Matthias) November 18 - Platonos November 21 - Eisodia tis Theotokos, Despina, Maria (unmarried) November 22 - Filimonos November 25 - Merkourios / Aikaterinis, Katerina (Catherine) November 26 - Stulianos, Stella, Stelios, Stylianos November 27 - Nathanail November 30 - Andrea, Andreas (Andrew)

DECEMBER

December 1 - Theoklitos December 2 - Muropis December 4 - Varvaras, Barbara December 5 - Savva, Savas December 6 - Nikolaos, Nikos December 7 - Amvrosios, Ambrosius December 9 - Agias Annis, Anna December 12 - Spuridonos, Spiros December 13 - Eustratios / Loskias, Stratos, Stratis, Lukia December 15 - Eleutherios, Elefterios, Lefteris December 17 - Daniel / Dionysios Zakunthos, Dionysos December 18 - Sevastianos & Zois December 19 - Aglaias December 20 - Ignatios December 21 - Themistokleous, Ioulia, Julia, Julie December 22 - Anastasias, Anastasia December 24 - Eugenias, Evyenia December 25 - Christmas Day, Christos, Chrisa, Chrisanthi, Christina December 26 - Emmanouil / Synaksi Theotokos, Manolis, Manuella, Emma December 27 - Stefanos, Stephania (Steven, Stephan, Stefania)