<<snipped>> I use the event which corresponds to how the church or chapel in question referred to it. So, almost always that's baptism <<snipped>> Not sure how accurate a search from Windows Explorer is, but the vast majority of mine are also baptisms. However, oddities arise, such as the 1683 BTs for Middlewich, Cheshire, where the pages are headed: "A Register of all Cristenings, Weddings & Burialls that hath been in the Parish of Middlewich in the year of our Lord [Ao] Dom 1683" Then a sub-heading of "Christenings", followed by... "Elizabeth [Lowes] [Spinse] had a child Bapd..." Just one of several where the page heading is "Christenings" and the verb is "baptised". There's nothing like consistency and that's nothing like... Adrian B

I am not versed in Gedcom rules, so I’m leaving aside Gedcom rules which are written from a particular religious perspective and are able - as Mike has pointed out - to meet all choices. The reason that there is no consistency in registers and popular parlance is because the terms are often used interchangeably even within the Church. The Christian Church Baptises people. Part of that service is the Chrism - anointing/ marking with the sign of the cross, applying water etc and Naming. The popular term, outside perhaps of the Baptist Churches, was to speak of Christening -“handing over to Christ / dedicating in Christ’s name’. But the bottom line is - if you are Christened in a Christian Church you are “Baptised with water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” It is one of the ‘Sacraments’ of the Church on which all major denominations are agreed. (If baptised by a midwife or anyone else if a Christian minister is not available, say when a baby is born and deemed unlikely to survive (and lots of them surprise us and live to a ripe old age!) as long as it is done in the Trinitarian form, with water, it will be accepted by the Church. The baby/person is then usually “Received” into the church at a brief ceremony in the church later. The Baptist Churches have Dedication ceremonies for babies and children and every believing member must be baptised (usually by total immersion) as an adult. How we are going record the new “Civil” naming ceremonies which are available through Registrars in some, if not all, Councils now is a whole new ball game. So, basically, you can choose how you record the event but the generic term is Baptised if you want consistency, regardless of the recipient’s age. Happy hunting David (Retired Minister of the Christian Church.) D.J. Gynes [email protected] On 11 Jan 2014, at 22:08, Adrian Bruce <[email protected]> wrote: > <<snipped>> > I use the event which corresponds to how the church or chapel in question > referred to it. So, almost always that's baptism > <<snipped>> > > Not sure how accurate a search from Windows Explorer is, but the vast > majority of mine are also baptisms. However, oddities arise, such as the > 1683 BTs for Middlewich, Cheshire, where the pages are headed: > > "A Register of all Cristenings, Weddings & Burialls that hath been in the > Parish of Middlewich in the year of our Lord [Ao] Dom 1683" > > Then a sub-heading of "Christenings", followed by... > > "Elizabeth [Lowes] [Spinse] had a child Bapd..." > > Just one of several where the page heading is "Christenings" and the verb is > "baptised". There's nothing like consistency and that's nothing like... > > Adrian B > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message