Naming Ceremony Celebrant in Northamptonshire, Leicestershire and Cambridgeshire
A New Story, Properly Welcomed
A new person has arrived, and you’d like to mark it in front of everyone who loves them.
Not with a christening, because that’s not where your family sits. Not with a buffet and a banner and nothing said out loud, because that doesn’t feel like enough either. Somewhere in between there’s a ceremony where you stand up, say who this child is to you and what you hope for them, and ask the people around you to promise something in return.
That’s a naming ceremony, and it’s one of the happiest things I get to do.
Yes, It’s a Real Thing
I get asked this a lot, so let me answer it plainly.
A naming ceremony has no legal standing, and neither does a christening. The legal part of your child’s arrival was registering the birth, which you’ve already done at the register office. Everything after that is about meaning rather than paperwork.
What a naming ceremony gives you is the bit a christening gives without the theology you may not hold: a moment, in front of your people, where promises are made out loud and remembered.
How It Differs From a Christening
There’s no church required, no faith requirement, and no fixed form of words. You can hold it in a garden, a barn, a village hall, a woodland or your own front room.
You can call the significant adults godparents if you like the word, or guide parents, guardians, mentors or something you’ve invented yourself. You can have one or six. There’s no rule about it, and no religious commitment attached to the role.
And if you do want a blessing, a hymn or a faith element included, that’s entirely possible too. I include what matters to you and leave out what doesn’t.
What Usually Happens
Most naming ceremonies run twenty to thirty minutes, and they tend to look something like this.
- A welcome, and why everyone has gathered
- The story of your child’s arrival, and where their name came from
- Promises from you as parents
- Promises from grandparents, godparents or guide parents
- A reading or two, often from an older sibling or a grandparent
- A symbolic element if you’d like one, such as a candle ceremony or planting a tree
- A close, and then the cake
Blended Families, Adopted Children and Older Ones Too
Naming ceremonies aren’t only for newborns, and they’re one of the loveliest ways to mark a family becoming a new shape.
An adoption. A step-parent formally welcoming children into a family. Two households becoming one and everybody wanting to say something about it. An older child who never had a ceremony and now wants one of their own, with a say in what goes in it.
Blended family ceremonies are a particular specialism of mine, so bring me your complicated, wonderful family and let’s build something that includes everybody.
What a Naming Ceremony Costs
£300
Every naming ceremony includes an initial consultation, a full written ceremony shaped with you, leading the ceremony on the day, and a beautiful keepsake copy afterwards.
Come and Tell Me About Them
Bring me their name, the story of how they got here and what you’d like their people to promise. I’ll do the rest.