Baptismal name

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The term baptismal name (Middle High German toufname ) comes from the late Middle Ages and describes the name with which the baptized person is addressed in connection with his baptism . Today, these are usually around or in the civil register of civil status registered persons name. First and baptismal name (s) are therefore identical.

Even if naming and baptism are often very close together with the introduction of infant baptism, the two acts can be clearly distinguished from one another. The parents are responsible for the naming (and in the past not infrequently also the godparents ), and the clergy is usually responsible for the baptism. Responsible converts from non-Christian religions often decide to take on a new name before or after their baptism. This is especially the case if the original name is derived from people or terms that are closely related to the religion of origin. The name changes of Jewish converts in the past are a special topic .

In contrast to the so-called free or civil baptism , which is practiced as a name consecration in the various associations of the non-denominational and atheists, Christian baptism is not a ritual of naming. The person to be baptized is not (as is sometimes mistakenly assumed) baptized under his or her first or baptismal name, but (depending on the denomination) in or in the name of the Triune God or in the name of Jesus Christ .

history

“None of the name changes that we encounter in the field of the NT are related to baptism; [...]. ”, Wrote Johann Wilhelm Friedrich Höfling (1802 to 1853) in his detailed account of Christian baptism. Even in the time of the early Church, converts carried on their old names even after receiving baptism. There is no news about the assignment of a new name during the actual baptismal act. Even names referring to pagan deities were used without hesitation after baptism and were accepted by the early Christian communities. Since the year 212 every free person was allowed to change his name, and this happened occasionally in connection with the conversion to Christianity. As reported by Eusebius of Caesarea about a group of Christians who during the persecution of Diocletian their martyrdom went forth: The judge asked the spokesman for his name, but "got instead of the actual name to hear a prophet names; - And that happened on the part of everyone, because they had given them names instead of the names given to them by their parents, which were perhaps connected with idolatry. So one could hear how they called themselves Elias and Jeremias and Isaias and Samuel and Daniel and, accordingly, not only through their deed, but also through their corresponding names as' the Jews in the spirit '(Rom.2.29), i.e.' to recognize a genuine and unadulterated Israelite of God '(John 1, 47) ... "

It was only with the recognition of Christianity in 380 that the pagan names gradually disappeared. But there was no church order for it. Almost all bishops had pagan names at the First Council of Nicaea (325 AD) . At the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD), however, there were only four episcopal officials and at the Third Council of Constantinople (680–681) only one.

Third to seventh centuries

Between the fourth and seventh centuries, a catalog of Christian names had developed, which Christian families used as a guide when giving names. It can be roughly divided into three groups. The first group is made up of Hebrew names that come from the Old Testament and have been translated into Greek or Latin . For example, Jonathan became Theodoros and Solomon became Irenaeus . The second group was made up of untranslated Hebrew and Greek names associated with particular people from the Old and New Testaments . The names of early Christian martyrs can also be found here. The third group includes names that arose in a Christian context and expressed a spiritual content, for example Adeodatus ( Latin : given by God ), Dominicus and Anastasios . Towards the end of the period mentioned, children began to be named after exemplary deceased personalities of Christianity, the so-called “saints”, and they were baptized with these names. Particularly popular with the parents were those saints who had become known as powerful intercessors during their earthly life. The parents expected that the respective saint would particularly protect and accompany the child named after him.

Eighth to eleventh centuries

The Irish and Frankish missionaries of the eighth and ninth centuries introduced the Germanic tribes to typical Christian names and tried to persuade them to change their names before or after their baptism. The Benedictine mission of the tenth century left it on its mission fields with Germanic names, which resulted in a renaissance of the old Germanic names and led to the fact that in the German area only names of Germanic origin were given until well into the eleventh century.

Twelfth to sixteenth centuries

Calendar of saints (14th century)

The development mentioned above changed in the twelfth century. At first it was the nobility who again chose Christian names for their descendants. Citizens and peasants followed suit in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Another hundred years later, the Germanic names were largely displaced. The parents (but also adults to be baptized) oriented themselves more and more to the calendar of saints and chose as the saint's name that was found in the calendar on the day of baptism . In this context the term “baptismal name” was created. So it is of late medieval origin. Around the same period in which family names appeared in certain groups of the population, the term "first name" was also created.

reformation

Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli did not deal with the naming. However, John Calvin voted for baptismal names that can be derived from the Bible. In 1546 there were discussions in Geneva about baptism and naming, when one of the pastors did not accept the name of a popular saint ( Claude ) requested by his parents , but gave the person to be baptized the biblical name Abraham . Following a draft drawn up by John Calvin, the city council then adopted a law that defined illegal names:

  • Names of "the idols who ruled the land"; d. H. Names of Catholic saints;
  • Names that belong only to God, such as Immanuel ;
  • Names that seem ridiculous or absurd, like Suaire (" sweat cloth ").

Anglican Church and Puritans

With Queen Elizabeth's accession to the throne in 1558, baptismal names of biblical (and especially Old Testament) origin began a triumphant advance in Great Britain , which reached its preliminary climax in the last third of the 16th century, although the Catholic name calendar had been retained in the Anglican Church of England . The reason for this was not just the Calvinist Puritans , but the widespread understanding of England as the heir of Israel and God's chosen people. Representatives of these views assumed that the lost ten tribes of Israel had found a new home in England and had become ancestors of the British people ( Anglo-Israelism ).

Post-Reformation Catholicism

The Roman Catholic Church officially commented on the choice of name for the first time in its Roman Catechism in 1566 . Then the baptismal name should be taken from the list of saints . This was justified with the role model and intercession function of the canonized . The Rituale Romanum , published in 1614, repeated this instruction. The Codex Juris Canonici (CJC) added that at least a child's middle name should be a saint's name. “These provisions” - so Fritz Blanke - “did not belong in the area of ​​[Catholic] canon law, but rather the disciplinary-pastoral instruction. They are not subject to legal constraint. "

Baptism name and baptism in practice

Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic christening ceremony usually begins in the entrance area of ​​the church building. After a greeting, the baptizing celebrant asks the parents: “What name did you give your child?” During the further course of the baptism, it is said: “Whoever is baptized is accepted into the community of saints who have preceded us in faith and stand up for us with God. Therefore we now call on the saints together, especially the namesake of the child. ”In the actual act of baptism, the baptismal word is:“ N [name of the person to be baptized], I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit . Amen. ”At baptism, the person to be baptized is“ given ”the name. Canon 855 CIC instructs the parents, the godfather and the pastor to see to it that “no name is given that is alien to Christian feelings” ( nomen a sensu christiano alienum ). The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains (n. 2156): “In baptism the name of the Lord sanctifies man, and the Christian receives his name in the church. It can be the name of a saint, that is, a disciple of Christ who has lived in exemplary fidelity to his Lord. The namesake is a model of Christian love and assures his intercession. The baptismal name can also express a Christian mystery or a Christian virtue. "

In 2003, a mother sued the Federal Administrative Court for her then 10-year-old daughter to have the right to use a Christian name at her Catholic baptism. The Archbishop's Ordinariate Berlin had stated in a statement that canon law does not have any special baptismal names. Therefore, the Higher Administrative Court of Berlin rejected the application for a name change on the basis that a baptism was not a sufficiently important reason for this.

Orthodox churches (Byzantine rite)

In Orthodoxy, naming is one of the rites that precede the act of baptism (pre-baptism rites) and is mandatory except for emergency baptisms . The priest puts on his epitrachelion for this and says the following prayer, in which the name of the child is mentioned for the first time: "Lord, our God, we pray to you and we ask you that the light of your face on your servant / maid N. is reflected and the cross of your only begotten Son will shape his heart and aspirations ... ”He then sings the troparion of the presentation of Jesus in the temple and picks up the child. Basically, only one name is given that is selected from the calendar of saints. If the parents had the child registered with a name that does not appear in the Orthodox calendar of saints, the priest recommends the parents or the person to be baptized to choose a similar-sounding baptismal name. Under this baptismal name the person takes z. B. also take part in the celebration of the Eucharist.

In the Greek Orthodox Church , the child is finally given a name only at baptism. The Greek registration law enables the guardian to postpone the final choice of name until this point in time. The name is not chosen by the priest, but by the parents. It can happen that Greek parents do not state the actually desired baptismal name when notifying the German registrar. B. a diminutive. In this case, according to a decision by the Cologne Higher Regional Court in 2004, a subsequent correction of the first name in the birth register is permitted.

Ethiopian Orthodox Church

An independent system of naming developed in Ethiopia. Immediately after the birth, the child is given an everyday name and later, when baptized, a christening name. As a baptismal name, the name of a saint is usually met with an addition (prothem), which the child z B. referred to as a "gift" or "servant" of the relevant saint. Why the baptismal name should remain "secret" is not clear; possibly in earlier times one wanted to ward off demons through this secrecy. "In any case, this name is only important twice in a person's life, here at baptism and then again at his funeral, so that some Ethiopians no longer know their baptismal name."

literature

  • Fritz Blanke : First names in their relationship to church history . In: Religion Past and Present . Volume VI (Sh-Z). Verlag JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck): Tübingen 1962. Sp. 1494f.
  • Georg Fritze: The new name: The new life of the Jaggachrists in the light of their baptismal names . 2nd edition Leipzig 1930.
  • Christoph Markschies : Ancient Christianity: piety, ways of life, institutions. 2nd, reviewed and expanded edition, CH Beck, Munich 2012, pp. 67–69. ISBN 978-3-406-63514-4 .
  • Anna-Maria Balbach: Jakob, Johann or Joseph? Early modern first names in the dispute between denominations . In: Jürgen Macha , Anna Maria Balbach, Sarah Horstkamp (eds.): Confession and language in the early modern age: interdisciplinary perspectives . Waxmann, Münster et al. 2012, pp. 11-30. ISBN 978-3-8309-2636-8 . ( PDF )
  • Michael Mitterauer : ancestors and saints. Naming in European history. Beck, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-406-37643-6 (516 pages).
  • Michael Simon: First names for what? Baptism, choice of godparents and naming in Westphalia from the 17th to the 20th century. Coppenrath, Münster 1989, ISBN 3-88547-319-4 (320 pages).

Web links

Wiktionary: baptismal name  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joh. Wilhelm Friedrich Höfling: The sacrament of baptism together with the other related acts of initiation - presented dogmatically, historically, liturgically . First volume, which contains the dogmatic-historical introduction and foundation, as well as the presentation of the catechumenate and the baptism of the proselytes . Palm'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung: Erlangen 1846. S. 370
  2. ↑ The data and facts in this section are based (unless otherwise stated) on Fritz Blanke: Given names in their relationship to church history . In: Religion Past and Present . Volume VI (Sh-Z). Verlag JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck): Tübingen 1962. Sp. 1494f
  3. ↑ Christoph Markschies: The ancient Christianity: piety, ways of life, institutions. 2nd, revised and expanded edition, CH Beck, Munich 2012, p. 68.
  4. ↑ Eusebius of Caesarea: On the Palestinian Martyrs 11.8 .
  5. ^ Fritz Blanke: First names in their relationship to church history . In: Religion Past and Present . Volume VI (Sh-Z). Verlag JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck): Tübingen 1962. Sp. 1495
  6. ^ Philip Benedict: Calvin and the transformation of Geneva . In: Martin Ernst Hirzel, Martin Sallmann (Ed.): 1509 - Johannes Calvin - 2009. His work in church and society. 500th birthday essays . TVZ, Zurich 2008. pp. 13–28, here p. 20.
  7. ^ Fritz Blanke: First names in their relationship to church history . In: Religion Past and Present . Volume VI (Sh-Z). Verlag JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck): Tübingen 1962. Sp. 1495
  8. ↑ On Anglo-Israelism or British Israelism see the overview article EZW-Berlin.de / Michael Hausin: The ten lost tribes of Israel and the white race , In: EZW-Materialdienst, 11/2011; accessed on January 21, 2020
  9. ^ Quote from Fritz Blanke: First names in their relationship to church history . In: Religion Past and Present . Volume VI (Sh-Z). Verlag JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck): Tübingen 1962. Sp. 1495
  10. ^ Liturgie.de: Kindertaufe online (PDF; p. 33) ; accessed on January 20, 2020
  11. ^ Liturgie.de: Kindertaufe online (PDF; p. 45) ; accessed on January 20, 2020
  12. ^ Liturgie.de: Kindertaufe online (PDF; p. 62) ; accessed on January 20, 2020
  13. ↑ Annemarie Brückner: Name. VB. Naming . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 7 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1998, Sp. 628 .
  14. ↑ codex-iuris-canonici.de (1983)
  15. ↑ Judgment of March 26, 2003 - BVerwG 6 C 02.26 . From the reason: “The choice of a first name for reasons of conversion to the Catholic faith, which has manifested itself in baptism with the addition of a" baptismal name ", is linked to an event that has a prominent position in the life of the believing Christian. This applies without prejudice to the question of whether the "baptismal name" is part of the sacrament and whether church law knows a special "baptismal name", which the Archbishop's Ordinariate Berlin ... has denied. The only decisive factor in the present context is that the plaintiff is seriously of the conviction underlying the request for change. "
  16. ↑ Hans-Dieter Döpmann : The Orthodox Churches in Past and Present (= Trier Abhandluingen zur Slavistik . Volume 9), Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2010, p. 205.
  17. ^ Greek baptismal name in the German birth register . OLG Cologne, decision of June 23, 2004 ( 16 Wx 124/04). In: Manfred Baldus, Stefan Muckel (eds.): Decisions in church matters since 1946 . Volume 45: 1.1.-30.6.2004. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2008, pp. 357-360.
  18. ↑ Michael Mitterauer: Ancestors and Saints. Naming in European history. , Munich 1993, p. 170 f.
  19. ↑ Kai Merten: Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity: an attempt to understand . LIT Verlag, Berlin 2012, p. 69.