Christian Names

"Christian names", says the Elizabethan antiquary, Camden, "were 
imposed for the distinction of persons, surnames for the 
difference of families." It would seem from this that, even in the 
sixteenth century, the etymological and historical significance of 
the phrase "Christian name" was growing dim, and it is commonly 
quite forgotten in our own time. But, strictly speaking, the 
"Christian name" is not merely the forename distinctive of the 
individual member of a family, but the name given to him at his 
"christening", i.e., his baptism. It should be remembered that, in 
pre-Reformation England the laity were taught to administer 
baptism in case of necessity with the words: "I christen thee in 
the name of the Father" etc. To "christen" is therefore to 
"baptize", and "Christian name" means baptismal name. 

Origins 

Some vague idea that nomina sunt omina (names are omens) seems to 
be a sort of primitive human instinct. Thus throughout Old 
Testament times the significance of names passed as an accepted 
principle. They were usually given in reference either to some 
trait in the child, actual or prophetic or to some feeling or hope 
in the parent at the time of its birth. It was only a very slight 
development of this idea to suppose that a change of condition 
appropriately demanded a change of name. Thus the conversion of 
Abram into Abraham (the "father of many nations" Gen., xvii, 5) 
was imposed upon the occasion of the covenant of circumcision and 
ratified a claim to God's special benediction. In view, then, of 
this recognized congruity and of the Hebrew practice of giving a 
name to the male child at the time of its circumcision on the 
eighth day after birth (Luke, i, 59), it has been maintained that 
the custom of conferring a name upon the newly baptised was of 
Apostolic origin. An instance in point is declared to be found in 
the case of the apostle of the Gentiles who before his conversion 
was called Saul and afterwards Paul. But modern scholarship, and 
with reason, has altogether rejected this contention. The baptism 
of St. Paul is recorded in Acts, ix, I8, but the name Paul does 
not occur before Acts, xiii, 9 while Saul is found several times 
in the interval. We have no more reason to connect the name Paul 
with the Apostle's baptism than we have to account in the same way 
for the giving of the name Cephas or Peter, which we know to be 
due to another cause. Moreover, it is certain, both from the 
inscriptions of the catacombs and from early Christian literature, 
that the names of Christians in the first three centuries did not 
distinctively differ from the names of the pagans around them. A 
reference to the Epistles of St. Paul makes it plain that even the 
names of heathen gods and goddesses were borne by his converts 
after their conversion as before. Hermes occurs in Rom., xvi, 14, 
with a number of other purely pagan names, Epaphroditus in Phil., 
iv, l8, Phoebe, the deaconess, in Rom., xvi, 1. Not less 
conclusive are the names which we find in the Christian 
inscriptions of the earlier period or in the signatories appended 
to such councils as Nicaea or Ancyra (see Turner, "Eccl. Occident. 
Mon. Juris", I, 36-90; II, 50-53), or again in the lists of 
martyrs. Even at a later date the names are of a most 
miscellaneous character. The following classification is one that 
has been worked out by J. Bass Mullinger founded on Martigny. 

A. Names without Christian significance and probably derived from 
pagan ancestors 

This category may be divided as follows: