If Christians have Christian names, what do people of other religions have?

Question

I am an Atheist and was not Christened so I have forenames.

What I meant was, are there specific names for the forenames of other religions? Does an Atheist still have a Christian name if they were Christened?

Answer 1

know this: There is no such thing as a Christian name. A name is a name. When someone asks you. "What is your Christian name?" That's their way of assuming you are a Christian. Personally i find such a question insulting...and promptly state that i am not a christian and so, do not have a christian name....not that one of those exists.

Answer 2

In Sikhism there are Sikh (Punjabi) names. The first forename is chosen via a Sikh naming ceremony at the Sikh Temple, known as a Gurdwara. The naming ceremony is known as NaamKaran. This is where the 'cleric / priest' opens the Holy Book (Guru Granth Sahib) at random and on the page that has been opened, the first letter of the first word, of the Hukam (hymn), on that page is chosen as the initial of the forename. Therefore, it is important to try to pick out names from every letter of the alphabet so that when the initial is decided, you'll know what the child should be called e.g. if initial letter of first word is 'J' the child could be called Jasbir, Jaspreet, Jaswant, Jetinder etc. It can be any name with that initial letter.

After this has been discovered then it is followed by a middle name usually predetermined on the basis of gender i.e. if a female, the middle name would be Kaur (meaning Princess) and Singh (Lion) for a male. Usually, you wlll find people who would substitute their surname for their middle name (I'm sure you all know a Mr Singh and Mrs Kaur) to avoid class / caste issues which are seen as immoral in the Sikh religion - all Sikhs are equal. This is also to show pride in the religion.


It is also imperative to know that most, if not all, Sikh names are interchangeable between genders i.e. a name can be applicable to male and female e.g. Jaswinder, Sandeep etc. The middle name also acts as an identifier of gender - if you don't know someone's gender based on forename and last name, taking a look at the middle would certainly clear up this issue.

Hoever, I would like to point out that Sikhism (and its names) have been misunderstood to be Muslim names. There has been many an ignorant person who thinks that Sikhism is a sub-religion under Islam and that is certainly not the case. In essence, don't confuse the 2 religions and their names. I go to college and it infuriates me to no end to discover lecturers do not know the difference either. Tell me how many Davinder Ahmed's are there? Not many, if not any, because that's a Sikh forename with a Muslim last name.

Answer 3

First names.

Answer 4

Forenames.

Answer 5

Christian names used to mean those names of saints,
which were added to given & family names at Baptism.
Every culture has a name giving process for children.

Answer 6

They have other or personal titles added to family names. They're not always first or fore names. Many cultures have personal names that follow the family title.

Answer 7

Man was given a brain so that he would use it in much the same way as he was given sight so that you may see.

You could call your christian name your first name.

Answer 8

I don't know.. never thought about it... but now, I am changing my name to: Balls Onchin. That way I can never be mistaken for having any type of religious name....

thanks for the suggestion dude!

Answer 9

Whatever their religion is name? Is Abraham a Hebrew name? Is Mohammad an Islam name? It's like "Look at Abe over there, him and his Hebrew name!' or "Mohammad, what a good Islamic name"

Answer 10

It's called 'First names' and 'Family names'.