Some questions about Imieniny (Polish Name's Day)

Hello,

I was reading about the Polish tradition of Name Day Celebrations, and I wonder if someone would mind answering a few questions I have?

1. On wikipedia, it has a list of the names celebrated on each day. However, some names have more than one day each year (for instance, it says the name Michał is celebrated on March the 2nd and 14th, April the 10th, May the 4th, 8th, and 23rd, June the 20th, July the 5th, August the 25th, etc.). Would someone named Michał celebrate their name day on all those days, or do they pick a particular day and just do it once a year?

2. If someone was half Polish and lived in Poland all their lives, but had a foreign name (like Michel), would they celebrate their name day on the Polish equivalent day of that name (like on the name days for Michał)?

Thank you very much.

1. The general rule is that you celebrate it the first time your name comes up after your birthday.

For example, the name days for Marek (Mark) occur several times during the year. Generally, people celebrate the very next date after their birthday.

2. Generally, yes. Variants of the same name are generally not distinguished, but some are. For example, Szczepan and Stefan are two forms of the Polish equivalent of "Stephen" but they are celebrated on different days. In general, variants are treated much the same, so Michel, Michael, Michele, Miguel, etc. are all essentially variants of Michael in varying languages and so their name day would be on the same day as the most common Polish variant, "Michał."

They only celebrate once per year. For multiple names, my family chooses the date/name that is closest to the birthday, but it might be different for others.


Yes.

Thank you very much for your help!



So, hypothetically, if someone named Michał was born in October, would they be most likely to celebrate their name day on September the 29th, or March the 2nd? March the 2nd would be the first time the name comes up after the birthday, but September the 29th is significantly closer to the birthday than March. What would be most traditional -- March or September?

Thank you again for your help!

I've only ever heard of name days being celebrated after birthdays, so that would most likely be March, even though it's almost six months away. Some people may do it differently, but it's confusing if they do.

Thank you very much!

It also sometimes happens that people choose a date before their birthday, especially if a certain date is more popular than others.
My brother was born in July yet he celebrates his Name Day in June. That's the most popular date for a name Piotr (Peter).

And what do you do with a foreigner whose first name is Freddy? As far as I know there is no saint by that name

St. Frederick ... 18th July.

it's no longer only the saints that the name days are celebrated after - there are lots of Polish Slavic names that don't have corresponding saints and have name days nethertheless

I always thought that namedays correspond with saints (them being on the calendar)

In Silesia if you celebrate Name's Day you're not a proper Silesian and are in fact a gorol.

significant part if not most - yes - but there is a big number of name days that do not correspond to any saints

There are also imieniny for Old Testament names as well as modern Polish ones, neither of which type are on the calendar.