Hi Terry I confess I have never heard of any Church or their representative refusing to baptise a child with the name given to them by their parents, except for the rare attempted use of a Pagan or blasphemous one I would suggest that everyone knows exactly what is meant by Christian name regardless of their religion, if you check the various definitions you will find they generally give :- ================= Christian name n. 1. A name given at baptism. Also called baptismal name. 2. A name that precedes a person's family name, especially the first name. Christian name n a personal name formally given to Christians at christening. The term is loosely used to mean any person's first name as distinct from his or her surname Also called first name forename given name ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms Noun 1. Christian name - the first name given to Christians at birth or christening baptismal name first name, forename, given name - the name that precedes the surname =================== The name we are baptized with OR registered with (which may be the same or not) *is* our given name (the name we were given as opposed to the name we inherit , the surname) The name someone is recorded as in a census, life event or anywhere else is just that , the name as used or known by the informant , that may be the same as or different to their given/Christian name The addition of another or different name in any subsequent record does not change your given name, its just a name you are known by I was born, Baptized and raised a Catholic and am also a Peter I was baptised and registered with four forenames but for much of my life was known by a completely different forename Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) > hi > for many of us when we were baptized, the church refused to accept the > name given by the parent so we finished up with a name given to registrar > and another when baptized;-- you will note that on a full birth > certificate there is a section for additional baptismal names. Church > names have always been seen as Christian names and those given by parents > and registered at the registrar as the given name. (most often Catholics > and high church) as you know before 1800 it was the church who registered > by baptism but after 1800 there are censuses and names "first names" on > the census may well be the given name and not the Church or Christian > name > regards > Terry