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A wavy line or a small basin before a date, marking a baptism.
Also known as: Christening symbol, Wavy line before a date
For much of European history the baptism register is the only surviving record of a birth, so a genealogist frequently has a baptism date and no birth date at all. The symbol keeps the two from being confused.
A wavy line, or in some conventions a small basin outline, placed before a date to state that a baptism took place on it.
Contexts: History
Kept distinct from the birth mark because parish baptism registers long predate civil birth registration, so for most people before the nineteenth century the baptism date is the earliest date that survives.
The gap between the two dates was usually days and could be years, so a baptism date is a bound on the birth rather than a substitute for it.
A baptism date shows the person was born by then, not that they were born then.
A short horizontal line with one or two curves in it, like a small wave, set before a date.