Name days

"Miss, what is my name in Spanish?" - I have heard this question many times, and I answer easily when somebody is called Joe or Charlie, but stay speechless when Imogen or Niamh ask me!

So I check the name day calendar!:-) Click here for one!

A name day is like a birthday, you celebrate it once a year, when your name comes up in the calendar.  In Catholic countries, like Spain and Latin America, if your name was given after a saint, you celebrate on the day the church celebrate the saint. The tradition is more popular in some areas than others and has changed a lot over time: if you have a look at the link I copied, you will see that everybody has a designated day, religious or not... The pupils get really excited when I encourage them to find their name days and ask their parents for gifts:-)

When we practise saying the date, or our birthdays, I give these calendars out- I say the name and they have to find the date, or the other way around. It is a good reading/ pronunciation activity and can be done between partners.

 

Here is a list of some previous pupils and how I found a "Spanish name" for them. When there was no equivalent, I just looked for a similar one.

 

 

 

Happy name day to my friends/colleagues  Carmen and Natalia, who are celebrating their "santo" this month!

 

 ¡Felicidades!¡Feliz Santo!

 

 

And feel free to send me flowers on my name day, I am Hungarian and have celebrated mine all my life - it is on the 19th of November!:-)