Name (Name Day)

JOHN A. MCGUCKIN

Orthodox tradition from early times suggested to the faithful that their names ought to be taken from the lists of the great saints of the church, rather from the gener­ally prevailing customs of the period that took names honoring the (pagan) gods or great heroes of the ancient world. Just as in most Orthodox countries (the Mediterra­nean Basin demonstrates it still) the names of the days of the week were wrested from the pagan cults (Sun day, Moon day, Wodin’s day, Thor’s day, and so on) so as to be “renamed” (Kyriake, or Lord’s day instead of Sunday), so too on a personal level the clergy encouraged the faithful to reflect their religious commitments with different personal names. In the 3rd century the martyr Leontios of Alexandria and his son (soon to become) the great Christian theologian Origen, bear names that are indistinguishable from their pagan compa­triots. Origen, named so presumably by his Christian father, bore a name derived from the Egyptian cult of Horus. In the later 4th century the Christian bishop and father of St. Gregory the Theologian (his own name reflected a Syrian title for the angels: “watchers”) named his daughter Gorgonia (after the mythical monster!). Basil the Great was similarly designated from a common nickname (“royal one”) also seen in the naming of Augustine (“little prince”) by his parents in the 5th century.

At the end of the 4th century and into the 5th, however, a predominance of “Christian names” starts to show. Some were generic titles that had a common resonance with Christian and pagan culture alike, such as Athanasius (“immortal one”), but others were more explicitly Christian and bibli­cally derived, such as Peter, or Timothy. By the end of the 6th century both those sets of earlier classical names that did not have biblical origins (Basil, Augustine, Macrina, Emmelia, Hilary, and the like) and those that did (Mary, Elizabeth, John, Peter, and so on) had accumulated “saints” to go with them, biblical or not. By the medieval period, in both the eastern and western churches the daily liturgical calendar of saints that were commemorated had grown apace; and Christian families were offered a very large choice of patronal names that had reference to the saints or the angels. By this stage it was common to suggest the dedication of a new Christian child to the saint on whose day it had been born (though this never completely super­seded family choices according to ancestral traditions). Eight days after the birth, the child was named in a ceremony of prayers, so that it had a name already at its subse­quent baptism. Nowadays at the reception of adult converts to Orthodoxy a new name is often suggested at the baptism or chrismation service (especially if the origi­nal one is not particularly “Christian”) and the convert is known by that for the pur­poses of receiving communion and other mysteries, at least. Monastics also receive a new name, a new “dedication” at the time of their profession; a custom that is repeated sometimes if they are elevated to the episcopate. The fathers interpreted this process as being a displacement of “birth-days” so as to be able to celebrate the saint’s day, which became known in Orthodox life as the celebration of the Name Day. The symbolism suggests that birth into the world, as such, is not a matter of rejoicing, for it is birth into mortality and suffering; whereas birth into the communion of the saints is a true occasion for joy. It is a widespread custom today among the Orthodox to send greetings and congratula­tions, and to meet for festive parties, on the occasion of a friend’s Name Day. And most Orthodox will usually have about the house the icon of their “patronal” saint.

SEE ALSO: Baptism; Chrismation