“Who’s name day is it today?”

Name days are a tradition of attaching personal names to each day of the year, and celebrating the association of particular days with those for whom that day is named. It is common in many parts of Europe. The tradition originates from the Christian church calendar and the tradition to name children after saints, although in many countries there is no longer a connection to the church.

From the 18th century onwards, names used by the royal family were introduced to the Swedish list of name days, followed by other common names. In 1901 a comprehensive modernization was made to make list up to date with current names. The monopoly on almanacs, held by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, expired in 1972 and so did the official name day list. Competing name day lists began to emerge but the official list was still in general use until 1986 when consensus of a new list with three names on each day was reached. This list was revised in 1993 and reduced to two names on each day. However, widespread dissatisfaction with the list prompted the Swedish Academy to compile a new two-name list which was finally accepted and brought into use in 2001. Although it does not have the official status of the 1901 or older lists, it is now universally used in Sweden.

(*=In Sweden the week begins with MONDAY…, Sunday ENDS the week!)

“Is there anything else that we celebrate today?”

No, there are no national holidays or anything to celebrate this week - but on the 16th it is the Monkey Princess’ birthday (not telling how old she will be, but she HAS reached the age of 25…, quite some time ago…), and WE’LL BE CELEBRATING THAT DAY even if everybody else in the world could care less about it…

Stay tuned for NEXT week’s Swedish name days and any other special occasions or events that might occur.

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