"given name"

[Dan Goncharoff]

I take "given" to mean given to when you are born. That seems to apply in
Meg Ryan's case.

DanG

On Mon, Nov 29, 2010 at 3:02 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "given name"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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