"given name"

[Benjamin Barrett]

I take it here to mean "given" as opposed to "taken."

I have two family members who chose their own last names, one from
the genealogical tree, the other from a favorite author. If one of
them adopted a celebrity name, would the old name be "given"? My vote
is no.

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

On Nov 29, 2010, at 11:53 AM, Charles C Doyle wrote:

>
> 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??

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