"given name"

Charles C Doyle cdoyle at UGA.EDU
Mon Nov 29 19:53:34 UTC 2010


The OED's entry for the term "given name"--appearing at _given_ ppl. a. (and n.), A.1.b.--is unremarkable (though I was surprised at the suggested geographical limitation):  "The name given at baptism, the Christian name.  ? Chiefly _Sc._ and _U.S._ "

_People_ magaazine for 29 Nov. 2010, p. 10, has the following use of the term, regarding the actress Meg Ryan:  "Before big-screen stardom, Margaret Hyra, 49 (her given name), reigned over Connecticult's Bethel High School in 1979."

There "given name" seems to denote 'surname previous to the adoption of a screen name'.  Is that becoming a recognized sense of the term??

--Charlie

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