Namesake Day

What the day is

Namesake Day is observed on March 6. A namesake is someone named for another person, and the practice is governed by rules that vary enormously and are rarely stated aloud.

Origin and background

The sharpest contrast is between traditions that name for the living and those that do not. In much of Ashkenazi Jewish practice a child is named in memory of a relative who has died, and naming after a living person is avoided. In parts of Greek and other Orthodox tradition the opposite holds, with grandchildren commonly named for living grandparents according to a fixed order, so that names cycle predictably through generations. Neither is arbitrary; both encode a view about what a name carries.

Some cultures separate the two functions entirely. Many Orthodox Christians observe a name day, celebrating the feast of the saint they were named for, and in several countries that day has historically mattered more than the birthday.

Patronymic systems take the idea further, building the parent's name into the child's. Icelandic surnames are formed from the father's or mother's given name plus a suffix, which is why Icelanders are listed by first name in directories and why family surnames in the usual sense barely exist there.

The research on names is more equivocal than popular accounts suggest. Claims that people are drawn to careers resembling their names have been repeatedly challenged on methodological grounds and should be treated skeptically. What is better supported is plainer: unusual spellings create a lifetime of small administrative friction, and names carry class and ethnic signals that affect how strangers respond.

The more interesting question for the day is not statistical anyway. Most people named for somebody do not know much about them.

How to take part

• Find out who you were named for, and what they were actually like.
• Ask your parents how the decision was made. The reasoning is usually unrecorded.
• Tell a namesake of yours something about the person they carry.
• Look up whether your name has a name day somewhere.
• Write down the family naming pattern before the people who know it are gone.