From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishchristenchris‧ten /ˈkrɪsən/ verb [transitive] 1 RRCto officially give a child its name at a Christian religious ceremony → baptize She was christened Sarah.2 CALL/DESCRIBE ASto give something or someone a name His fans christened him the king of rock. The new plane has been christened the Hawk.3 USE something informal to use something for the first time We haven’t christened the new garden chairs yet.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
christen• Renata and Carla are what we were christened.• He took refuge on Christmas Eve at a settlement he christened Bethlehem.• His first wife christened Emily, affectionately and universally known as Pem died on Christmas Day 1988 after 53 years happy marriage.• The band christened her "Mutti" after the German word for mother.• They christened him Patrick John.• Derek christened his new sports car "Lightning."• The third boy, Diem, was born in 1901 and christened Jean-Baptiste in the cathedral at Hue.• She was christened Jessica, but everyone calls her Jess.• The engine was affectionately christened "Puffing Billy".• We christened the new mugs that same night.• Former first lady Barbara Bush officially christened the ship.• Yet, presumably, they would want him to christen their baby?• The troops did not appreciate the lack of comfort on cars 10-21 and christened them cattle-trucks.• Compton proposed that the quantum of light could act as if it were a particle, and he christened this the photon.Origin christen Old English cristnian, from cristen “Christian”, from Latin christianus; → CHRISTIAN2 