Choosing Baptismal and Confirmation Names

[belchers1]

My husband, myself, and our four children are coming into the Church on Easter. We will all be receiving the sacrament of Baptism (plus additional sacraments for certain family members ).

I am a little confused as to the protocol for choosing baptismal and confirmation names. Our RCIA director explained this, but I am ashamed to admit, I forgot

So…

We need to have baptismal names for the children, and baptismal and confirmation names for myself and my husband.

Should I use our middle names as baptismal names, and choose confirmation names for DH and I? I’m not sure if our names are even Christian names.

Our legal first and middle names are:

Me - Erica Sammira

DH - Jason Martin (Sr.)

Children -

1. Ava Grace
2. Jason Martin (Jr.)
3. Lila Rose
4. Maura Joy

Any advice / suggestions?

 

[Gordon_Sims]

I don’t believe you need anything other than your given names as your baptismal names. For Confirmation, you should pick the name of a saint, ideally one who has a personal meaning for you. When I was a kid they didn’t explain this so everyone just picked names they thought were cool, or picked based on how cool the picture of the saint was in the book they gave us. My older daughters still have a few years before their Confirmation, but I’m already having them learn about various saints so they’ll be able to make a more informed decision than I did.

 

[Phemie]

Given that there is nothing un-Christian in any of your names, quite the contrary, there is really no need to pick any other names for Baptism or Confirmation.

 

[Anniejoe]

belchors1,

Congratulations! I’m also entering the Church at Easter; it’s a very exciting time. I was told by my RCIA director that I didn’t need to choose a confirmation name, particularly because both of my given names are saints’ names. However, this is such a monumentally important moment in my life, I really wanted to mark this transition in a special way. In the Bible, a dramatic spiritual transformation is sometimes marked by a name change. So, I felt drawn to choosing a confirmation name.

I studied and prayed quite a bit, and considered a few different routes to finding the right saint’s name (my birthday, my interests, the saint’s own story, etc). Ultimately, I felt that a particular saint chose me. Since then, I’ve been reading a great deal about her, and the parallels between her early life and mine are quite astonishing. So, I’m joyfully choosing to add her name to mine. To me, it’s one of the exciting, joyful aspects of entering the Church.

 

[CDB1718]

Your children all have strong Christian names. There’s no reason not to use them as their baptismal names. You only need to decide if they’ll be baptized with their first names or their first and middle names.

For you and your husband, do you want a new name to mark your new life in Christ? Or do you want to keep your name and discover the Christian connections to it you never knew you had? There is no wrong answer so you can each choose what you want.

If you want to keep your name, you can choose to associate it with the feast of St. Eric of Sweden, taking him as your patron. saints.sqpn.com/saints-e/saint-eric-of-sweden

Erica is Latin for Heather. They’re the same name. Heather is a flowering evergreen plant that thrives on rocky, barren lands. You might identify with that! There’s a lot of Christian symbolism you can get into there. Since you have a flower name, you can celebrate your name day on Palm Sunday or on All Saints or on Pentecost if you choose to keep Erica as your baptismal name.

Because you’re being baptized and confirmed in the same night, you should use the same name for both sacraments. That name can include your current name, a variant or translation of your name, and/or a new name taken in honor of a saint or virtue you want to connect yourself to. Most people keep it to one or two names, but some go for 3 because they can’t choose. When the priest says, “I baptize you, [name], in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…” that name is your Christian name written down in the Book of Life. What do you want there?

Erica
Heather
Erica Irene
Ruth Anne
Kateri Sammira
Bridget Erica
Erica Sammira Innocenta

You get to decide!

 

[belchers1]

Thank you all so very much!