Editing Given name (section)

{{Short description|Part of a personal name}}
{{Redirect|Call name}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}

<!--Note: THIS ARTICLE IS NOT A LIST OF FIRST NAMES. Before adding further examples to those already supplied, consider whether they demonstrate anything that the current examples do not and consider explaining your reasoning on the discussion page.-->
[[Image:FML names-2.png|thumb|Diagram of naming conventions, using [[John F. Kennedy]] as an example. "First names" can also be called given names, forenames, or, in some places at some times, Christian names; "last names" can also be called family names or [[surname]]s. This shows a structure typical for English-speaking cultures (and some others). Other cultures use other structures for full names.]]
[[File:Desideria of Sweden & Norway grave 2007.jpg|thumb|The sarcophagus at [[Riddarholm Church]] in Sweden of [[Queen Desideria]], an official name given to [[Désirée Clary]] not at birth but when she was elected [[Crown princess of Sweden|Crown Princess of Sweden]] in 1810.]]

A '''given name''' (also known as a '''forename''' or '''first name''') is the part of a [[personal name]]<ref name="grigg-1991">{{cite news |last=Grigg |first=John |author-link=John Grigg |date=2 November 1991 |title=The Times |quote=In the last century and well into the present one, grown-up British people, with rare exceptions, addressed each other by their surnames. What we now call first names (then Christian names) were very little used outside the family. Men who became friends would drop the Mr and use their bare surnames as a mark of intimacy: e.g. [[Sherlock Holmes|Holmes]] and [[Dr. Watson|Watson]]. First names were only generally used for, and among, children. Today we have gone to the other extreme. People tend to be on first-name terms from the moment of introduction, and surnames are often hardly mentioned. Moreover, first names are relentlessly abbreviated, particularly in the media: Susan becomes [[Sue Lawley|Sue]], Terrence [[Terry Wogan|Terry]] and Robert [[Bob Holness|Bob]] not only to friends and relations, but to millions who know these people only as faces and/or voices. |title-link=The Times}} quoted in {{cite book |last=Burchfield |first=R. W. |url=https://archive.org/details/newfowlersmodern00fowl |title=The New Fowler's Modern English Usage |year=1996 |isbn=978-0199690367 |edition=3rd |page=512 |publisher=Oxford University Press |author-link=Robert Burchfield |url-access=registration}}</ref> that identifies a person, potentially with a [[middle name]] as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a [[family]] or [[clan]]) who have a common [[surname]]. The term ''given name'' refers to a [[name]] usually bestowed at or close to the time of birth, usually by the parents of the newborn. A ''[[Christian name]]'' is the first name which is given at [[baptism]], in Christian custom.

In informal situations, given names are often used in a familiar and friendly manner.<ref name="grigg-1991" /> In more formal situations, a person's surname is more commonly used. In Western culture, the idioms "{{Wikt-lang|en|on a first-name basis|italic=no}}" and "being on first-name terms" refer to the familiarity inherent in addressing someone by their given name.<ref name="grigg-1991" />

By contrast, a surname (also known as a family name, last name, or [[Gentile name|''gentile'' name]]) is normally inherited and shared with other members of one's immediate family.<ref>"A name given to a person at birth or at baptism, as distinguished from a surname" – according to the [http://www.bartleby.com/61/61/G0136100.html American Heritage Dictionary] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211173759/http://www.bartleby.com/61/61/G0136100.html|date=11 December 2008}}</ref> [[Regnal name]]s and [[Religious name|religious or monastic names]] are special given names bestowed upon someone receiving a crown or entering a religious order; such a person then typically becomes known chiefly by that name.