The Name Day That Once Outranked the Birthday: Saint Mykola’s Day Moves to December 6

The Ukrainian word іменини (imenyny) is, in English, a “name day.” Ukraine’s national encyclopedia, Велика українська енциклопедія (Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia, “VUE” below), defines it, in Christianity (Orthodoxy and Catholicism), as a personal holiday celebrated on the feast day of the saint one’s name comes from, and also gives the alternative name “angel’s day” (день ангела). It further states that historically, it was held to matter more than a birthday.

Since a name day is fixed by the church calendar, it moves when the calendar changes. In September 2023, two major Ukrainian churches moved to a new calendar, and on the church calendar, saints’ feast days moved 13 days earlier. This article goes through naming customs, everyday names versus baptismal names, and how the dates shifted. Spelling and patronymics of Ukrainian names are covered in our article on Ukrainian personal names.

Taking a Name From the Saint of Your Baptism Day

According to VUE, when converting to Christianity or receiving the sacrament of baptism, a person chose a Christian name after a saint, following the church calendar. In a society where Christian life had taken root, the same entry states, a baby was given a name at baptism (usually on the eighth day after birth), and that name was taken from one of the saints the church commemorated on the day of baptism. Naming after a relative or by parental preference was, it says, uncommon.

The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine’s Енциклопедія Сучасної України (Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine, “ESU” below) entry “Name” (2011) likewise explains that, under Orthodox custom, a child is named after the saint of the day of baptism, following the church calendar (the calendar that lists saints’ names by month and day of commemoration). IEU’s “Saints” entry states that each saint has been commemorated on a day recorded in the church calendar (the misiatseslov, or menaion).

VUE states that in Ukraine, the naming ceremony always involved not only the priest but also the midwife and the кум (kum, a term for the relationship between godparents and parents) and godparents. It was believed that the saint sharing the child’s name would protect them from heaven. The term kum is covered in our article on kinship terms.

Birthday and Name Day Drifted Apart

According to VUE, when names were given at baptism, the gap between the birthday and the name day was usually short. Later, the custom of naming after the church calendar weakened, and parents began choosing names for their own preference, fashion, or after a popular figure, or coining new names. In a society detached from religion, the same entry states, the birthday became the primary personal holiday and the name day became largely symbolic. On the other hand, it notes that during periods of rising religious interest, a tendency has been recorded for the custom of choosing a name by church tradition to return.

Baptismal Names and Everyday Names

According to ESU’s “Name” entry, from the end of the 10th century, when Christianity came to Kyivan Rus, Slavic names and the names that arrived with the new religion vied with one another. Records from the 10th to 14th centuries show that some people held both a traditional Slavic name and a name received at baptism. As an example, the same entry gives the 11th-century Kyivan grand prince “Volodymyr-Vasylii.” As local saints were canonized, Slavic names such as Borys and Volodymyr also entered the roster of church names.

The Orthodox Church of Ukraine’s (OCU) 2026 church calendar likewise notes, alongside Saint Volodymyr on July 15, “baptismal name Vasylii,” and alongside Saint Olha on July 11, “baptismal name Olena.” ESU also states that many of the official Christian names in the church calendar were names Ukrainians never actually used in daily life.

On the history of name lists, IEU’s “Onomastics” entry states that volume 4 of Borys Hrinchenko’s Ukrainian-Russian dictionary, published in 1909, included a 16-page dictionary of Ukrainian baptismal names.

2023: 13 Days Earlier on the Church Calendar

On May 24, 2023, the OCU’s Council of Bishops decided to adopt the “New Julian calendar” from September 1, 2023. Its decision text explains that the gap between the Julian (old) calendar and astronomical dates had, in the 20th and 21st centuries, reached 13 days. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) also decided, at a Synod of Bishops on February 1-2 of the same year, to celebrate fixed-date feast days on the new calendar from September 1. UGCC’s announcement gave, as an example, “Saint Mykola’s Day is December 6,” explaining that not just Christmas but all fixed-date feast days would move. The two churches’ decisions and the shift in Christmas’s date are covered in our article on Ukrainian Christmas.

Since a name day is a saint’s feast day, it moves 13 days earlier on the church calendar along with this change. Here are some examples of names and their feast days.

The church calendar also lists name days for clergy. OCU’s 2026 calendar gives May 12 as the “name day” (тезоіменитство, tezoimenytstvo) of OCU’s primate, Metropolitan Epifanii of Kyiv and All Ukraine. How the shift of Saint Volodymyr’s Day also changed the date of the national holiday “Day of Ukrainian Statehood” is covered in our article on the Day of Ukrainian Statehood.

However, the OCU’s decision allows a parish or monastery that wants to keep the old calendar to do so, if at least two-thirds of its members agree. UGCC also allowed parishes not yet ready to use the old calendar, with the bishop’s permission, until September 2025. Even after the church calendar changes, when a family celebrates a name day at home can vary by person.

Imenyny, Angel’s Day, Tezoimenytstvo

There are several terms for a name day. VUE lists “іменини” (imenyny) and “день ангела” (angel’s day) as the same thing, and states that in a society detached from religion, imenyny is often used interchangeably with birthday (народини, уродини). The church calendar, meanwhile, uses the word “тезоіменитство” (tezoimenytstvo) for the name day of a metropolitan or other cleric.

The Soviet Era, and Two Dates on the Calendar

According to IEU’s “Saints” entry (a reprint of the 1993 paper edition), once Soviet rule began, the authorities banned the public celebration of saints’ days, destroyed icons and statues, and discouraged the custom of naming children after saints.

The gap between the church and civil dates also goes back to the early 20th century. IEU’s “Calendar” entry states that the civil calendar switched to the new (Gregorian) calendar on March 1, 1918, under the Central Rada of Ukraine, but the church continued using the Julian calendar. Saint Mykola’s Day, which falls on December 6 by the old calendar, had come to fall on December 19 in the civil calendar because of this gap between the two calendars. With the 2023 change, this gap disappeared on the two churches’ calendars.