christen name
christen name is the obsolete form of Christian name.
Meaning of Christian name
Noun
Christian name (plural Christian names)
- A first name formally given to a child at a Christian baptism.
- Synonyms:
- first name, forename, given name, front name
- Any 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
- An English given name, particularly for ethnic Chinese who usually have a separate Chinese name.
- A 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
Forms of christen name
| plural | christen names |
|---|
Questions about christen name
- What is christen name the obsolete form of?
- Christen name is the obsolete form of Christian name.
Words near christen name in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: christen name (page history and authors); Christian name (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “christen name.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/christen_name. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.