This sounded like possibly a resumption of earlier queries, and it is ...
For info:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=411732with post linking to earlier thread to avoid duplication:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,288989.0.htmlas I do now.
Always best to add to an existing thread to return it to the top of the list for further attention.
In thread 411732 in 2009 it was pointed out that Christian was essentially never a male name in Cornwall/Devon at the time, and that the father's name was quite possibly Christopher. (For example: the Cornwall OPC site shows 12 marriages between 1646 and 1902 for grooms named Christian; two are the same man, and three are obviously foreign, leaving eight. It shows over 2000 brides named Christian, after filtering out the Christianes, Christianas and Christiannas.)
In 1841 there is a Christopher Balsom c1824 in Wolborough, son of William and Ann, possibly suggesting that it is a family name in the area. In the 1851, William is shown as born c1793 in Newton Abbott; he could even be a brother of Mary. Someone has corrected his name from Balson to Balsom at Ancestry; you might want to contact that person to see whether they have family info. A tree that is mirrored at
http://www.mundia.com (register, search and send messages free) shows him as the son of James Balsom 1772 and Mary but shows no siblings. (This is equally likely a false assumption: James Balsom and Mary Paddon married in 1792 in Crediton and had son William there in 1803.)
On the other hand, possibly her mother was Christian (with Mary's daughter Christiana named for her), and by the time she died the knowledge of that name as a female name had been lost in the family and someone mistook it for her father's name ...