He started "and I baptize thee Isa-" "no, Father, no" "it's Jonathan" I interupted quickly.

at babtism, the godmother said Timothy, and so he was

Faldage asked...Has this force of law? Would belM's son legally have been Isabelle if she hadn't interrupted?

In Québec, the Catholic stronghold in Canada, he would definitely have been named Isabelle. This until the early 1990's when the laws were changed. Before then, and like OT says, our baptism certificates used to be used for all manner of legal proofs, i.e. getting a passport.