Our naming ceremony: Saskia, Greg and baby Bram
We speak to our colleague Greg, about his recent humanist naming ceremony to welcome son Bram. Family and friends gathered in their garden for a relaxed and deeply meaningful ceremony delivered by humanist celebrant and friend, Lara Celini.
Hello Greg! Can you tell us a bit about Bram and your family?
Hello! I’m Greg and I’m the Communications Manager for Humanist Society Scotland. It won’t surprise you to learn that I’m also a humanist. My partner Saskia is a writer, and we welcomed our first child, Bram, into the world on 5 September last year.
Why did you decide to have a humanist naming ceremony?
I think a stereotype about humanists is that we are dour and overly rational and hate ceremonies and celebrations. In fact I’m a deeply sentimental character and I love ceremonies and celebrations. The point of humanist ceremonies as I see it, whether that’s marriages, naming ceremonies, or even funerals, it is to ensure that even without faith or a sense of a supernatural purpose to our lives, we have chances to celebrate human life; to share the joy and gratitude we feel for being alive with the people we love, and to celebrate those relationships, too.
You might think that removing the religious element would make a naming ceremony feel less significant. After all, there is no sin to cast out from the child! But actually it still felt deeply significant to share the act of naming Bram with our families and loved ones. The meaning of the event was our own. We built it for ourselves and for Bram.
How did you choose Bram’s name?
We chose the name Bram because Saskia’s family is Dutch and we liked the way it spoke to that side of our son’s heritage, as well as the way it sounded combined with his surname: Bram McCracken. Also, Bram is a Scottish term which means bramble or brushwood so it reflects his Scottishness too.
Which humanist celebrant did you choose for your ceremony and why?
We chose my wonderful colleague Lara Celini, who as well as being a celebrant is also the Community Development Manager for Humanist Society Scotland. It made sense to choose someone we already knew and had a friendship and connection with.
If you want to celebrate and share your love for a new life but you don’t have faith, I can’t recommend a humanist naming ceremony enough. I knew ours would feel special but I was surprised at just how special it felt to speak those words and take part in those rituals for Bram.
Did you have guide parents as part of your ceremony?
Yes, the guide parents were our friends Ben and Hannah, my friends from university. They have a daughter, Corra, who is Bram’s unofficial cousin. Ben and Hannah have been a part of our lives for almost a decade, and part of my life for much longer. I wanted guide parents who would show Bram love and care and model creativity for him, and they fit the bill.
What was your favourite part of the ceremony?
Although I was in floods throughout, reading out my commitments to Bram was a profoundly moving and joyful process. It felt wonderful to share my love for him with my family, and to make those commitments formal, in some sense, by speaking them out loud.
What was Bram’s part of the ceremony?
Bram’s favourite element of the naming ceremony was probably the naming tree, which he regularly crawled over to and attempted to seize and eat. There were some wishes for Bram from family members on paper leaves, so it’s lucky that he was prevented from actually ingesting any of them.
How did you personalise the ceremony?
We included some poems and music. Saskia read two of her own poems and Bram’s guide parents, Ben and Hannah, read an Edwin Morgan poem about shooting stars. My brother Adam sang a folk song on the mandolin while we added wishes to the naming tree. Needless to say it all made me cry.
Finally, do you have any advice for others who are thinking of having a naming ceremony?
If you want to celebrate and share your love for a new life but you don’t have faith, I can’t recommend a humanist naming ceremony enough. I knew ours would feel special but I was surprised at just how special it felt to speak those words and take part in those rituals for Bram. The removal of a faith-based element actually enhanced the meaning of the ceremony, because all the meaning wrapped up in the ceremony was meaning we created for ourselves.
Naming Ceremonies
A naming ceremony is a popular way to mark a child’s arrival into your family, and a humanist ceremony lets you create a naming ceremony that is unique and personal.
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Start looking for a celebrant to conduct your humanist ceremony in Scotland.
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