<<snipped>> ... Sarah, daughter of William Ravell & Hannah his wife, born 18 September 1797 baptised at Long Bennington, 7^th October 1797, christened at Bottesford, April 12^th 1798 ... The modern interchangeability of the words was not always so. <<snipped>> That would be my impression also. However, I am less clear that the two words were used consistently. For instance, the 1793-1832 register at Astbury, Cheshire, is, according to my notes, labelled on the original as "Christenings Marriages and Burials at Astbury since the 25th of March 1793", while the one immediately after (1833-1850) is labelled on the original "Clerk's Register of Marriages, Baptisms and Burials at Astbury - 1833". (By labelled, I mean a contemporary-ish piece of text, not a later note from the Archivists. On that score, I've seen instances where the same register is referred to as "Baptisms" in the Record Office's own catalogue _and_ "Christenings" in A2A. Or vice versa.) While it's nice to see both words on the same entry and so it's clear that this clerk meant two different things, I think instances like the Astbury register labels, suggest to me that other clerks might mean *different* things by the same two words. On that basis, it becomes pretty much impossible in the absence of other evidence to interpret the two words accurately. I could _guess_ that the first (the baptism) represented the core of the service (a private baptism???) and the second (the christening) was more in the nature of a reception by the congregation? But it is only a guess. On that basis, I shall put my tongue in cheek, sit firmly on the fence and label both events as "baptism" but put a note against the second referring to the use of the word "christening". Adrian B