During the 1940s and 1950s babies would be christened at a few weeks of age but now most children are aged 6 months and older.

This is because parents are so busy. People want to have the celebration and there are celebrity christenings in the news and this makes people think about it a bit more. People are put off because they don't know what the options are or they're extremely busy during those first months.

However, there are many more options available to parents. Rather than having Christenings, some parents have opted for a Naming Ceremony.

Both Christenings and Naming Ceremonies have similar elements in that they welcome the child into the community. The difference is that in a Christening you're welcoming the child into the Church community where as in a Naming Ceremony you're welcoming the child into your own community of family and friends.

The Church of England also offer a Thanksgiving Service which is a lesser known ceremony and in that service the parents can give Thanks to God for the gift of their child but they don't have the full commitment of baptism.

So what are the main differences between a Christening and a Naming Ceremony?

In a Naming Ceremony the promises are made by the parents and the supporting adults. They are of love and support for the child where as in a Christening the promises are committing the child to be brought up in the Christian faith.

Naming ceremonies can be carried out almost anywhere. However, if you want a registrar to officiate over proceedings the service will have to take place where civil ceremonies are currently held. However, this may be different outside the UK.

You can have a celebrant to perform the ceremony and they'll welcome the child. You can customise the ceremony quite a bit and you can add in poems or readings. You can make reference to absent friends and family. You can make it more into a ceremony which is very personal and meaningful to you.

A lot of hotels, golf clubs and restaurants are approved for a civil ceremony so you could hold it at one of these venues.

The British Humanist Association also provide celibrants for Naming Ceremonies, you can have Godparent equivalents but they're not generally called Godparents because you don't generally have religion in your naming ceremony. They are called special adults or supporting adults some people actually call them oddparents.

For more information about Christenings contact your local Church. For Naming Ceremonies your local registry office should be able to point you in the right direction.