Almost 2 million Romanians celebrate their name day on Friday, January 7 - the feast of St. John the Baptist. According to official data quoted by local Agerpres, over 1.3 million men and 652,086 women are celebrated today.

For men, the most common names are Ioan (456,834 people), Ion (347,224), and Ionel (136,460). But those named Ionică, Ioniţă, Ionuţ, Jean or Nelu also celebrate their name day today.

In the case of women, most are named Ioana (389,418) and Ionela (147,788). Other names celebrated today include Ionelia, Ionica, Ionuţa, Nela, and Oana.

Saint John's Day is one of the most important religious holidays in January, after the Epiphany Day celebrated on January 6, marking the end of Romania's winter holidays. On this day, most Romanian go to churches to attend religious services. Moreover, the believers wash their faces with the holy water (aghiasma in Romanian) they received on Epiphany Day, as it is said that this way, they will be safe and healthy in the year to come.

Read more about the St. John's Day celebration in Romania here.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Flaviu Boerescu/Dreamstime.com)