You keep it. That’s the short answer.
When someone becomes Orthodox through baptism or chrismation, they receive a Christian name, the name of a saint who becomes their patron and protector throughout their life. But if you’re already named John or Mary or Nicholas or Catherine, you don’t need to pick something new. Your name already connects you to the communion of saints.
The practice exists because baptism is a new birth. In the early Church, converts often took new names to mark their new identity in Christ. Think of Saul becoming Paul. But that doesn’t mean everyone needs a dramatic rename. If your parents named you Matthew, you’ve been carrying a saint’s name your whole life, even if you didn’t know it. The Church honors that.
Which Saint Matthew, though?
Here’s where it gets practical. Some names belong to dozens of saints. There are more Saint Johns than you can count, John the Baptist, John the Theologian, John Chrysostom, John of Damascus, John of Kronstadt. So which one is yours?
You get to choose. Or more accurately, you and your godparent and your priest work it out together. Maybe you’ve always been drawn to John the Baptist’s fierce prophetic witness. Maybe John the Theologian’s writings on love resonate with you. That saint becomes your patron, and his feast day becomes your name day.
This isn’t bureaucratic. Nobody at the Archdiocese assigns you a saint. It’s pastoral, worked out in conversation. Your priest might suggest a particular saint whose life speaks to your situation. Your godparent might have a connection to one. You might read a few lives of saints with your name and find one that grabs you.
At St. Michael, we’ve had converts keep their names and pick their patron saints this way. It’s normal. The important thing is that you know who your saint is, because you’ll celebrate his or her feast day, ask for his or her prayers, and look to his or her life as a model.
What about names that aren’t saint names?
That’s different. If your name is Hunter or Madison or something without a clear saint connection, you’ll probably take a new name at chrismation. Not because your given name is bad, but because the Church wants you to have that bond with a patron saint. Some people keep their legal name for everything else and use their Orthodox name in church. Others start going by their new name everywhere. It varies.
But if you’re already a David or Anna or Stephen? You’re set. The Church isn’t interested in change for change’s sake.
The theology behind it
Your patron saint isn’t just a nice tradition. The Orthodox Church believes the saints are alive in Christ, praying for us, closer to God than we are. When you bear a saint’s name, you’re connected to that saint in a real spiritual way. You can ask for his or her prayers. You have an example of holiness to study and imitate. And on your name day, the feast of your patron saint, the whole Church celebrates with you.
This is why we care about Christian names. It’s not legalism. It’s about being grafted into the communion of saints, having a heavenly friend and advocate. Your name becomes a prayer every time someone says it.
In Southeast Texas, where most folks come from Baptist or Catholic backgrounds, this can feel strange at first. You’re used to saints being distant historical figures, if they’re mentioned at all. But in Orthodoxy, they’re family. Your patron saint is your spiritual parent, your guide, your intercessor. Keeping your name, if it’s already a saint’s name, means you’ve been connected to that family longer than you knew.
Talk to your priest about it. If you’re becoming Orthodox and your name is already on the calendar, ask which saint you should claim as your patron. Read about the different saints with your name. Find the one whose life challenges or inspires you. And then, when you’re chrismated and the priest says your name for the first time as an Orthodox Christian, you’ll know exactly who’s standing with you.
