Part of speech: verb

Definition: Give a new name to.

Source: Oxford Dictionary

Found in Franny Choi’s “Choi Jeong min”, line 15, eighth stanza

“my father ran through all his possible rechristenings — / ian, isaac, ivan — and we laughed at each one,”

I first thought that rechristening might’ve meant her father converting to Christianity and trying to choose a baptismal name that will also be his English name. Most definition I found don’t say rechristening is explicitly something baptist/christian, but I think Choi’s use of the word is still deliberate. Despite what religion her father follows, she’s comparing his decision of an English name to be as heavy and grand as a baptism because the name he chooses will be what he goes by in his new life in a western country, much like how baptisms represents a new life under God to christian converts.