How to find one’s confirmation name?

[abinjoy]

This post might sound slightly weird.

Recently I asked a friend of mine what her confirmation name is. She responded by saying “St. Francis of Assisi. “ I pointed out that normally confirmation names for women are female saints. Then the friend of mine responded as saying she cannot remember her confirmation and her certificate says St Frances so she figured she may have asked for St. Francis of Assisi since she is an animal lover and thought perhaps the confirmation training nun wrote it in a female form.
Now my friend wants to find out her confirmation name. Any ideas? My friend received confirmation approx. 25 years.
She has the confirmation certificate at her home.

 

[redbaron162]

This post might sound slightly weird.

Recently I asked a friend of mine what her confirmation name is. She responded by saying “St. Francis of Assisi. “ I pointed out that normally confirmation names for women are female saints. Then the friend of mine responded as saying she cannot remember her confirmation and her certificate says St Frances so she figured she may have asked for St. Francis of Assisi since she is an animal lover and thought perhaps the confirmation training nun wrote it in a female form.
Now my friend wants to find out her confirmation name. Any ideas? My friend received confirmation approx. 25 years.
She has the confirmation certificate at her home.

If it is not on the certificate I doubt there will be any other record, though they should contact the parish where they received confirmation.

If it cannot be located I would say your friend should feel free to pick a new confirmation saint name and develop a relationship with any saint they feel particular drawn to.

 

[adamhovey1988]

Actually, the gender isn’t always the same for the confirmation Saint. Someone may have John as their choice, but Ivana would be the appropriate form for a female.

 

[Gertabelle]

At my parish, those being confirmed may take any Saint they wish – male or female makes no difference. I would say as many as a fourth of our 100+ middle and high school students take a Saint with the opposite gender.

What matters is having a connection with a particular Saint.

And to my knowledge, parishes do not keep records of what Saint someone chooses as their patron Saint.

 

[Nigel7]

Gender doesn’t matter. A couple guys in my confirmation class adopted female patron saints, and vise versa.

 

[Phemie]

If it is not on the certificate I doubt there will be any other record, though they should contact the parish where they received confirmation.

If it cannot be located I would say your friend should feel free to pick a new confirmation saint name and develop a relationship with any saint they feel particular drawn to.

Some registers have a column for the Confirmation Name and some parishes record them. Her best bet would be to contact the parish where she was confirmed and ask if they do.

It’s not something that would necessarily be forwarded to the baptismal parish if she was confirmed in a parish other than the one where she was baptized.

In our parish I haven’t seen a Confirmation name chosen in at least three decades and it’s not something I ever ran into when I, my goddaughter, or any of my children were confirmed.

 

[Bonnie]

At my parish, those being confirmed may take any Saint they wish – male or female makes no difference. I would say as many as a fourth of our 100+ middle and high school students take a Saint with the opposite gender.

What matters is having a connection with a particular Saint.

I wish more people knew this. My daughter chose St. Maximilian Kolbe & got some questions about it - but it was about 15 years ago. Fortunately, no questions or objections from our priest.

 

[pianistclare]

At my parish, those being confirmed may take any Saint they wish – male or female makes no difference. I would say as many as a fourth of our 100+ middle and high school students take a Saint with the opposite gender.

What matters is having a connection with a particular Saint.

And to my knowledge, parishes do not keep records of what Saint someone chooses as their patron Saint.

We do. There’s a place in the record book to write it in.
I know someone will say that’s wrong, but our recording books have it.
I also include heir name on the certificate, and yes boys pick women and girls pick males all the time.

 

[Camillus14]

This post might sound slightly weird.

Recently I asked a friend of mine what her confirmation name is. She responded by saying “St. Francis of Assisi. “ I pointed out that normally confirmation names for women are female saints. Then the friend of mine responded as saying she cannot remember her confirmation and her certificate says St Frances so she figured she may have asked for St. Francis of Assisi since she is an animal lover and thought perhaps the confirmation training nun wrote it in a female form.
Now my friend wants to find out her confirmation name. Any ideas? My friend received confirmation approx. 25 years.
She has the confirmation certificate at her home.

I would contact the parish office to see!
And truly? My confirmation saint was St. Camillus de Lellis, and I’m indeed a she. I thought choosing a name meant having a connection with the saint, not just gender-based.