Names from the feasts of Christ: Christos, Fotis, Sotiris, Stavros

Most Greek name days honour a saint. One group of names, however, points not to a person but to an event: the birth, baptism, transfiguration or resurrection of Christ. These celebrations are called the Despotic feasts (Δεσποτικές εορτές), from Despotis, “Master” or “Lord”, because they commemorate events in the life of Christ.

Feasts of Christ on fixed dates

• Christmas, 25 December: Christos, Chrysoula, Manolis and Emmanouela. Emmanuel is the name from Isaiah's prophecy that the Gospel of Matthew applies to Jesus; it means “God with us”, and Manolis is its everyday Greek form. Many women called Christina also celebrate at Christmas, although Christina's main name day is 24 July.
• Theophany (Epiphany), 6 January: the baptism of Christ in the Jordan. Greeks also call the feast Ta Fota, “the Lights”. It belongs to Fotis and Foteini, Theofanis and Theofania, and Iordanis. The names echo the “light” (φως, fos) of the feast, the word Theophany itself and the River Jordan.
• The Presentation in the Temple (Ypapanti), 2 February: the infant Jesus is brought to the Temple forty days after his birth. It is the name day of the rare women's name Ypapanti, and the patronal feast of the city of Kalamata.
• The Transfiguration, 6 August: Sotiris and Sotiria. The names come from Sotir, “Saviour”, the title given to Christ in the name of the feast.
• The Exaltation of the Cross, 14 September: Stavros and Stavroula, from σταυρός, “cross”. Tradition links the feast with the finding of the Cross by Saint Helen.

The Circumcision of Christ on 1 January is also a Despotic feast, but that day is a name day for Vasilis and Vasiliki, because Saint Basil the Great is commemorated on the same date.

Feasts that move with Easter

Other feasts of Christ depend on Easter and change date every year, as the guide to movable name days explains:

• Palm Sunday, one week before Easter: Vaios and Vaia, from vaia, the palm fronds of the day. By tradition Dafni (Daphne) also celebrates on this Sunday.
• Easter Sunday: Anastasios and Anastasia, from Anastasi, “Resurrection”; Anestis, from the Easter greeting “Christos Anesti” (“Christ is risen”); Lambros and Lamprini, from Lambri, the popular Greek name for Easter; and Paschalis and Paschalina, from Pascha.
• Monday of the Holy Spirit, the day after Pentecost: Triada, meaning “Trinity”.

When the name has a second date

Several of these names were also borne by saints, so they have a second name day:

• Fotis also celebrates on 6 February, the feast of Saint Photios the Great, and Foteini on 26 February, the feast of Saint Photini, the Samaritan woman of the Gospel of John.
• Anastasios also celebrates on 22 January (Saint Anastasius the Persian), and Anastasia on 22 December (Saint Anastasia).
• Theofanis and Theofania can also celebrate on 12 March, the feast of Saint Theophanes the Confessor.
• Manolis and Emmanouela celebrate again the day after Christmas, on 26 December, the Synaxis of the Theotokos.

Which date a person keeps is often a family matter. See the guide to names with more than one name day.

Names that look similar but celebrate elsewhere

Not every name that recalls Christ falls on a feast of Christ. Christoforos (Christopher) celebrates on 9 May, the feast of Saint Christopher, and Christodoulos (“servant of Christ”) on 16 March, the feast of Saint Christodoulos of Patmos. Christos itself deserves a footnote: its spelling points to the adjective χρηστός (chrestos, “useful” or “good”), whereas Χριστός (Christos, “Christ”) means “the anointed one”. By tradition, though, every Christos celebrates on Christmas Day.