In Italy you might get an extra excuse to party each year – or two.

Along with your birthday, the other day you get to celebrate is your onomastico, or ‘name day’ (hear it pronounced here).

The word comes from the Greek ónoma, ‘name’, and it’s an adjective that roughly means ‘related to or indicating a name’. 

Italians use it to refer to your giorno onomastico, ‘name day’, which most people cut down to simply onomastico. 

According to the country’s Catholic tradition, your name day is the feast day of whichever saint you’re named after.

The calendar of saints is pretty packed, so multiple saints might have their anniversary on the same day – or you might share your name with several different saints, in which case your parents would just have to settle on their favourite and stick to it.

And especially in families where first names are passed down through the generations, you could find yourself celebrating your onomastico alongside several of your relatives.

Oggi è il mio onomastico!
Today’s my name day!

Buon onomastico! Auguri!
Happy name day! Best wishes!

But not everybody celebrates their onomastico: many Italians couldn’t even tell you when their name day is, and even those who know don’t necessarily mark it.

It’s traditionally a bigger deal in the south of Italy, and especially Naples, where the name-day girl or boy (or their parents) is expected to offer sweet treats to friends and family who come to pay their respects. 

But what if you don’t happen to share a name with a Catholic saint?

In that case you’re said to have un nome adespoto, literally ‘a masterless name’, but you still get a day for it.

You can choose to celebrate your onomastico on November 1st, All Saints’ Day, which serves as a kind of catch-all for everyone who doesn’t have a name day of their own.

In the south of Italy, at least, it is also essentially everyone’s name day at once, so you’ll be expected to wish everyone you meet ‘auguri!’

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