Taking the Bishops words too literally

[AndrewA]

I made my confirmation on the Arch Angel’s feast day… and I was confirmed under the name of Gabriel. When I went up to the bishop to be confirmed and he heard my confirmation name would be Gabriel he said “Gabriel? Did you know it is his feast day today, Gabriel?” And afterwards when I was leaving the church I shook the Bishops hand and he said “You should go by the name of Gabriel now, and I really think you should.”
I was very intrigued by that… and I was wondering if it would be a good idea if I did? My parents have no problem with it, and since that my faith has cause a recent… well loss of close friends, when I make some new I can simply introduce myself as that without having to get them to get used to it.
When I was born my mother named me Mary even though I am a boy and everyone calls me Andrew. It says on my birth certificate Mary and not Andrew. So my full would be Mary Andrew Michael Gabriel A.
… Should I take my Bishop advice and start going by this name? I like it a lot more than I do the name Andrew.

 

[dumspirospero]

I am not sure if the info I am giving you is accurate, and I am sure there are those much more knowledgeable than me on these boards…but after I was confirmed, I was told I could choose to be known by my confirmation name as well…granted, you couldn’t use that name legally as when signing a mortgage or auto loan…but it most definitely could be used as someone uses a nick name…My cofirmation name is Michael…I would love to have the name Michael. Gabriel is a beautiful name and I can understand why you would want to be called by it…I hope my answer clarifies your predicament a little bit…by the way…I lost friends when I became a devout Catholic too…don’t worry about them…those aren’t the type of people you need in your life anyway. Sonny

I made my confirmation on the Arch Angel’s feast day… and I was confirmed under the name of Gabriel. When I went up to the bishop to be confirmed and he heard my confirmation name would be Gabriel he said “Gabriel? Did you know it is his feast day today, Gabriel?” And afterwards when I was leaving the church I shook the Bishops hand and he said “You should go by the name of Gabriel now, and I really think you should.”
I was very intrigued by that… and I was wondering if it would be a good idea if I did? My parents have no problem with it, and since that my faith has cause a recent… well loss of close friends, when I make some new I can simply introduce myself as that without having to get them to get used to it.
When I was born my mother named me Mary even though I am a boy and everyone calls me Andrew. It says on my birth certificate Mary and not Andrew. So my full would be Mary Andrew Michael Gabriel A.
… Should I take my Bishop advice and start going by this name? I like it a lot more than I do the name Andrew.

 

[AndrewA]

I’m not entirely sure if I would sign a mortage with Mary A. or not… it’s very weird. I’ll have to find out about that.
I want to be a writer when I’m older or be on Radio so I think I may go by that name for those things.

 

[puzzleannie]

You could go by M. Andrew Gabriel, unless you want to keep your last name. If you are doing this for work you should probably change it legally for tax purposes.

 

[Mintaka]

It’s interesting that your first name’s Mary. Very French, that.

I always wanted Star Trek to reveal that Jean-Luc Picard was really Marie-Jean-Luc…

 

[mystified]

You can call yourself anything you want, as long as it is not being done for fraudulent reasons.

You may also rearrange the sequence of your names if you wish and it would be legal. Examples: David D. Eisenhower and John F. Sheen, they became Dwight and Fulton.

There is also ways to take a new name legally, with laws concerning this varying from state-to-state.

God bless you, Gabriél.