Name Days differ from birthdays in that they do not celebrate a person’s actual birth date, but mark the feast day for the saint whose name the celebrant bears. Note that most Catholic Poles are named for saints.
First Names in Poland
According to Sophie Knab, writing in Polish First Names, first names in Poland were developed during two major time periods – divided roughly from before the spread of Christianity (about 966 a.d.), and after this date. The older names, often termed Old Polish or Slavic, reflected the hard, nomadic life that Poles led during this time.
Children were given names that would provide them with a sense of history, strength, and honor. Many of these names, like Wladyslaw and Stanislaw (which mean something like “to rule with glory” and “standing with glory”) have no English equivalents, though immigrants who wanted to Americanize their names often chose similar-sounding names like Walter and Stanley.
After Christianity became widespread, names like Krzysztof and Magdalena, followed by Polish versions of various saints’ and Biblical names were the norm: Katarzyna, Anna, Benedyct, Daniel, Janina, etc.
The Calendar of Saints
The Catholic Church developed a calendar of saints, now called the General Roman Calendar – allotting a particular day for the faithful to celebrate a specific saint. These calendars of saints vary, depending on the area, date, and denomination – in fact, there were major changes to the Catholic calendar as recently as 1969.
While many people think of name days as denoting the day of birth, the calendar was actually developed to commemorate martyrs on the dates of their deaths, or birth into heaven, and thus the day was referred to in Latin as dies natalis (day of birth).
As part of converting pagans to Christianity, the church promoted the celebration of individual name days, rather than birthdays, since the name day reinforced the importance of baptism, reminding the faithful that being "born anew" in Christ was more important than ordinary birth.
Feast Days and Solemnities
A “feast day” does not refer to what today we call a feast, or large meal; it’s a term that defines a specific church observance. “Solemnities” are major religious events in which the observance begins the preceding day; Easter and Christmas are the two greatest solemnities. “Feasts” are celebrated for just the one day.
In Poland, as throughout Europe, parents often named a child for the saint upon whose feast day it had been born. Parents could also choose a saint whose feast day was near, perhaps within three weeks of the birth – in either case, the child thus fell under that saint’s protection. Even if a child was not named for a saint whose feast day fell around the time of the infant’s birth, Catholics always named the child from the Old or New Testament, or from the lives of the saints.
The Patron Saint
The saint was considered a special patron, and children were told the legends that related to their saints. Because of this special connection, a person’s name day (the saint’s feast day), called imieniny in Polish, was celebrated far more often than was the actual date of birth.
In some families it is possible to verify birth dates by comparing a child’s name with the traditional date of the corresponding saint’s feast day. Genealogists will find this useful, but the practice was not so universal as to make it a reliable guide to finding birth dates. Another thing to consider is that Polish immigrants may have provided the date of baptism or feast day instead of the actual birth date when asked for this information.
Other naming conventions in Poland are described on the PolandGenWeb site. Children may have been named after godparents, and Jewish children are traditionally given the names of ancestors.
Polish Names Today
Today there is a growing interest in the old Polish names. Parents who wish to give their children names that reflect their Polish heritage and roots have many choices. Many well-known names have Polish variations, such as Aleksandra, Emilia, Henryk, Rachela, and Jakub.
Others have less obvious (or no) English equivalents, such as Bazyli, Honorata, Wieslaw, Chwalimir, and Pryska. Naming a child for a Polish saint, or with the Polish name of an ancestor, can help ensure that future generations remember their Polish roots.
Related Articles:
Resources for Finding Ancestors From Poland lists books and websites to help the new genealogist find Polish resources.
U.S. Polish Immigration Patterns Before WWI explains why millions of Poles left their homeland in the 1800s.
Sources:
Knab, Sophie Hodorowicz, Polish First Names, Hippocrene Books, 2000.
Katharine Garstka - Katharine Garstka specializes in genealogical research and in historical and genealogical writing.
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