Ellis Maguire Iannelli

Dear Ellis,

I'm writing this for you, in case years from now you type your name into a search engine, assuming that search engines and the internet are still around  and that the pages of this blog will have survived on a server somewhere.

My name is Doug and I conducted the ceremony on 12th April 2014 when your mum and dad gave you your name.  It was my first ceremony.  That's me in the picture below holding my script for the service in the gardens of the Castello di Semivicoli while we were all waiting to go into the little chapel where the naming took place.

Your mum asked me to conduct the service because she knew me and that I'd trained as a humanist celebrant.  Actually I've only trained to carry out funerals and yours was my first service of any sort.  I hope to go on to do lots more, but who knows. 

Humanists don't believe in a god or an afterlife, but they do believe in humankind and that we are all responsible for living in harmony and making a better world.  Your mum and dad aren't so sure about whether there is a god or not, but they wanted your naming ceremony to be free of religious ritual and to focus on people saying what they felt.


It was a lovely day.  I felt a bit nervous but the atmosphere was very friendly and it all went very well.  Your mum and dad were too choked up with emotion to read the words they'd prepared to express their love for you, so I had to read them on their behalf.  For me the only strange thing was having a statue of Jesus on the Cross looking down at me.

At the time you read this, if you read this, I hope you are happy and well and that you feel as beautiful inside as you looked on your naming day.

Good luck Ellis and I hope you are leading and will continue to lead a happy and fulfilling life.  You certainly started out with plenty of love and goodwill.

Love,

Douglas.