name day
2
7.5
- noun
:
día del santo
- En celebration of her name day, I would like to share with you a short ode I have composed in honor of our dear Tatyana.
- celebrate the name day
- thirty-eighth name day
Examples
-
But I wanted someone to say something about my name day.
Fiction book (1998) -
All the guests brought food to Katya's and my twelfth name day party, all except Matrona, my godmother.
Fiction book (1998) -
It's her name day, after all.
-
So when her fourth name day arrived, there was no celebration.
-
If only Katya were here to wear them on our name day.
Fiction book (1998) -
Herman had given her a gift on her name day (10 May).
Academic text (1999) -
I thought of our twelfth name day, the last one we celebrated in Umaka where we were born.
Fiction book (1998) -
I wanted to catch some sculpin and pogey for my thirty-eighth name day dinner.
Fiction book (1998) -
In many cultures, people celebrate their name day with friends and family, similar to a birthday.
-
My cousin always looks forward to receiving gifts on her name day, which falls on the saint's feast day.
Synonyms
11
3.4
A day when many people do not work to celebrate or show respect for a religion
4
2.2
A day when people of a faith have ceremonies and celebrate
2
5.8
A day when people remember a Christian saint and hold a special church service
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'name day' literally combines 'name' + 'day', so a learner who knows both words can infer it denotes a day associated with a person's name (i.e., a day to do with someone's name). However, the specific cultural sense—celebrating the feast day of a saint who shares the name—is culturally specific and not fully predictable from the constituents alone, making the phrase only partially transparent.
Etymology
Name day comes from an old custom: each day in the church calendar is linked to a 'saint', so people with a given name were honoured on that day. So, name day means the day you celebrate because you share a saint's name.