medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Brenda's posting about Astralabius and his (im)proper Christian name brings
up a question: how does a name begin to be Christian? Let me explain what
seems to be a bizarre question (prompted slightly by all the Britneys and
Tiffanies and Tammies we now find, not to mention some of the more
outlandish ones). Following the argument that one must be baptized with a
Christian (i.e., saint's) name, why are there so many? When little Venus,
Aphrodite, Clovis, etc. were baptized, were their names changed? And when
the very first Polycarp was baptized, did he change his name? If so, how did
Polycarp get to be a Christian name? Phyllis has recently posted some very
obscure saints with strange-sounding (or cool) names. These names, at least
in their earliest form, have vanished. But none bears the slightest
resemblance to any of the NT or early Christian saints. How did these names
pass muster and Astralabius' did not? When and how did the canon of
acceptable Christian names get started? I believe France still has a list of
acceptable names, preventing burdening children with names sure to provoke
schoolyard thrashings...
I don't know if I've explained my question very well but perhaps someone
will understand my point and explain my query better than I can.
MG
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