Why do you need a celebrant for a naming?

Recently I had an email from a parent asking if a legal record of a naming ceremony is kept anywhere, and if not why a celebrant is needed.

The formal naming of a child has a community history that predates formal registration. The role of government is limited to recognising and recording the name of a child to the registration of a birth, so naming ceremonies have escaped government control in Australia, although in England registry offices do offer civil naming ceremonies. .

In Australia, a naming ceremony is a family occasion. While I provide lovely naming certificates for the children I name and commenorative certificates for other participants in the ceremony, these are a keepsake rather than a legal document. However, in the extremely highly unlikely case where something has gone wrong in the registration of a birth, and down the track it is discovered that there is no official record, a naming certificate, signed by 5 witnesses, could be used as supplementary evidence of date of birth when attached to a statutory declaration.

As for the question about why a celebrant is needed. Well, legally, a celebrant isn't needed. But emotionally, and aesthetically, a skilled and experienced celebrant can add so much to the ceremony. I've created and conducted a number of naming ceremonies for a second child in the family where the family had not used a celebrant for the naming of the first child, and had regretted it. But I do also understand that there are times when having a celebrant conduct the ceremony on the day is impractical (due to geographic isolation) or not desired for some reason. In such cases I offer a DIY service. For a very affordable fee I create a personalised ceremony for you, provide you with certificates and a beautifully presented keepsake copy of the ceremony that is also suitable for reading from on the day, and leave it to you to organise someone to lead the ceremony.

Harking back to the origin of naming ceremonies this could be the father of the child (in ancient Rome a child was not legally a human or citizen until formally named by his/her father), both parents, a member of the family, or a friend who has the public speaking skills required.

Til next time ...