Latvia is one of the few countries in Europe that has the tradition of celebrating Name Days. This unique tradition
began as part of the early Christian Church calendar to commemorate the saints and angels. The practice then moved
to celebrating the people who were named after a saint. Eventually, other names were added to the calendar to
celebrate all people’s names. There are one to five names assigned to each day of the year. The dates and names
can’t be interchanged. During Leap Year, February 29 is an open date to celebrate names that are not included in the
calendar. Another date reserved as an open date to celebrate names not on the calendar annually is May 22.
Name Day is a large part of the culture in Latvia! All the calendars, diaries, and notebooks have the Names printed
with the corresponding date. Radio Stations at the beginning of the morning news, broadcast whose name is being
celebrated that day. The larger newspapers print the names next to their date of issue for that particular day. It’s like
a birthday, but in some ways even better. Your name is mentioned everywhere, even your cell phone providers send
you a text greeting. On your Name Day you receive flowers (a standard gift of celebration in Latvia) students and
adults alike bring sweets or chocolates to recognize and celebrate. Your family has a cake waiting for you as well as for
visitors that may surprise you with a visit. The anticipation and surprises follow you throughout the day, and it makes
you feel very special!
The following calendar can be used year after year to celebrate the Name Days with your students, co-workers,
church family and friends. Each date has the Latvian names (in red) followed by a set of names in English (in blue). If
the Latvian name is also a common name in English (in green and bold) we didn’t repeat it. Please use the February
29 and May 22 dates in reserve for the names of people we do not have listed. Enjoy the Name Day celebration –
bringing a little bit of Latvia here to North America.