christian name

plural christian names

1. obsoleteObsolete form of Christian name.

   My father’s family name being Philip, and my christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.

   1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter I, in Great Expectations […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 1

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   —Now you ſee, brother Toby, he would ſay, looking up, “that chriſtian names are not ſuch indifferent things;”—had Luther here been called by any other name but Martin, he would have been damned to all eternity—Not that I look upon Martin, he would add, as a good name—far from it—’tis ſomething better than a neutral, and but a little—yet little as it is, you ſee it was of ſome ſervice to him.

   1761, [Laurence Sterne], “Slawkenbergius’s Tale”, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume IV, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], →OCLC, pages 47–48

   This was all overheard by Miss Dashwood; and in the whole of the sentence, in his manner of pronouncing it, and in his addressing her sister by her christian name alone, she instantly saw an intimacy so decided, a meaning so direct, as marked a perfect agreement between them.

   1811, [Jane Austen], chapter XII, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume I, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, pages 137–138

   Shirley Keeldar (she had no christian name but Shirley: her parents, who had wished to have a son, finding that, after eight years of marriage, Providence had granted them only a daughter, bestowed on her the same masculine family cognomen they would have bestowed on a boy, if with a boy they had been blessed)—[…]

   1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Fieldhead”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, pages 294–295

plural Christian names · alternative obsolete christen name · alternative obsolete christian name

1. ChristianityA first name formally given to a child at a Christian baptism.

   Synonyms: first name, forename, given name, front name

2. broadlyAny forename.

   This was all overheard by Miss Dashwood; and in the whole of the sentence, in his manner of pronouncing it, and in his addressing her sister by her christian name alone, she instantly saw an intimacy so decided, a meaning so direct, as marked a perfect agreement between them.

   1811, [Jane Austen], chapter XII, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume I, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, pages 137–138

   1 more example

   On 8th November Anthony cabled them, ‘Your great-grandson Randal Lewis Casson arrived to-day. Both well,’ and we sent, ‘Congratulations on becoming great-grandparents.’ Anthony and Janneke had kept the proposed Christian names a complete secret, and we were all so touched that they had chosen two which belonged so much to the family.

   1972, John Casson, “‘When We Are Old, Are Old’”, in Lewis & Sybil: A Memoir, London: Collins, →ISBN, page 320

3. SingaporeAn English given name, particularly for ethnic Chinese who usually have a separate Chinese name.
4. chiefly KoreaA baptismal name or confirmation name used in religious contexts, but not part of the legal name.

   At the convent he is known as "Andrew." This is Shin's baptismal name. Korean Catholics baptized as infants take on a Christian name which also acts as their confirmation name.

   2000, U.S. Catholic Historian

   2 more examples

   Many of these, however, thoughtfully join their given names with a hyphen, or even write them solid, so that Lee Soo Man may present himself as Soo-Man Lee or Sooman Lee. A Korean who is a Christian will additionally take a Christian name, and so our Mr Lee may present himself as Noah Lee.

   2003 January 30, R L Trask, Mind the Gaffe: The Penguin Guide to Common Errors in English, Penguin UK, →ISBN

   An Chung-gun (baptized Thomas as his Christian name), Korean 'national hero,' who assassinated the Japanese Prime Minister and was a criminal from the Japanese point of view[…]

   2011, Manfred Schmeling, Hans-Joachim Backe, From Ritual to Romance and Beyond: Comparative Literature and Comparative Religious Studies : Proceedings of the ICLA Conference at Jacobs University, Bremen, August 6-8, 2008, Königshausen & Neumann, →ISBN, page 46