Today’s name day is a good reminder that some Greek names travel through Canada exactly as they are. If you know a Fotis, a more formal Fotios, or even a Photius in an older family record, the name being celebrated today belongs to him too. It is the kind of day to text the guy from work, the cousin in Laval, or the old university friend whose name still carries a distinctly Greek sound and say happy name day.
Fotis is the everyday modern form of the older Greek name Photios or Fotios, built from the ancient Greek root phos, photos, meaning “light.” That same root runs through a whole family of Greek names, including Photini, and through English words shaped by Greek such as photo and phosphorus. The name is compact, vivid and unmistakably Greek, but its core image is one that crosses easily into any language.
In Eastern Orthodox Christianity, a person’s name day is the feast day of the saint after whom they were named at baptism.
There is usually a Fotis in every circle who fits the name without trying: the cousin who brightens a long table just by walking in, or the barber who keeps the conversation moving on a slow afternoon. Somewhere else it is the colleague who is clear-headed when everyone else is tired, or the across-the-street neighbour whose porch light always seems to be on when someone gets home late. Even when the form changes between Fotis, Fotios and Photius, the feeling of the name stays the same.
Chronia Polla! to everyone celebrating today, in Greek families and beyond. If you know a Fotis who may not be expecting it, send the message anyway and let a small Greek tradition travel a little further.
