Do name days exist everywhere?

In France, wishing someone a happy name day is second nature. Elsewhere the custom can feel utterly exotic — or entirely unknown. A world tour of an unevenly shared tradition.

Catholic and Orthodox Europe: a land of feasts

The name day — onomastico in Italy, Namenstag in Germany, fête in France — grows out of the calendar of saints. It thrives in France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Greece and Bulgaria. In Greece, people often celebrate their name day more than their birthday.

The Swedish curiosity

Sweden kept a name almanac… but a secular one: the official list is revised by a committee, with no link to saints. The name day remains a fixture of everyday life there.

The English-speaking world: the great absentee

In the United States and the United Kingdom, name days barely exist: a Protestant, then secular culture, where everything revolves around the birthday. Our data mirrors this: while nearly every French and Italian name has a documented feast day, barely one American name in eight has one.

That map of traditions is exactly what Ucy charts, name by name, country by country. Explore it from our homepage.