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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Can we have the Pope on for a Baby Names webchat?

35 replies

MmeLindt · 11/01/2011 09:07

He seems to have quite strict rules about baby naming

When someone asks, "What do you think about Taneesha Avaiyia?" we can reply:

WWBD?

What would Benedict do?

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StewieGriffinsMom · 11/01/2011 09:12

This reply has been deleted

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Poledra · 11/01/2011 09:14

And that would be a bad thing, SGM? Wink

Marjoriew · 11/01/2011 09:15

Believe it or not, this is nothing new. I was brought up in care and if the nuns thought that your name was inappropriate, it was quickly changed to a saint's name.
My name was changed to Margaret and I never knew until I got a copy of my birth certificate from the church archives that it was not actually my given name.

Original poster
MmeLindt · 11/01/2011 09:25

My PILs have a Catholic name calender. I think it bothers them that I don't have a name day so they cannot congratulate me.

OP posts:
StewieGriffinsMom · 11/01/2011 09:26

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Original poster
MmeLindt · 11/01/2011 09:31

lol at him self-destructing on the feminist section. Yes, could be nasty.

OP posts:
DrSeuss · 11/01/2011 09:31

In France, there's a list, a long list, from which one of a child's names must be picked. As a teacher of such gems as Tekeila (yes, that's how she spells it), Harley Davison Williams and Astra, I like that idea!

GoldFrakkincenseAndMyrrh · 11/01/2011 09:34

Our current parish priest refuses to baptise children who don't have a sufficiently Christian first name (uuuuber traditional Catholic).

There are soeme seriously wacky saints names out there.

When you consider a small child could be named Mellon Expedite Hilarion then Taneesha Avaiyia starts looking almost normal!

Original poster
MmeLindt · 11/01/2011 09:37

In Germany it is the Standesbeamte - the Registrar - who has the power to veto a name. I know someone who was not allowed to call her son Kalle (from the Astrid Lindgren books).

OP posts:
Dumbledoresgirl · 11/01/2011 09:37

Slightly off the point, but I wonder who you have to be to get your baby baptised by the Pope, no less.

Deciduousblonde · 11/01/2011 09:38

Oh wow, another good reason not to be Catholic Grin

GoldFrakkincenseAndMyrrh · 11/01/2011 09:39

The state no longer restricts (as such) first names in France, explained in French here but the registrar can, if they think a name is too ridiculous, inform a judge who can change the child's name.

BuntyPenfold · 11/01/2011 10:19

Marjoriew Shock can you reveal your 'inappropriate' name?

Marjoriew · 11/01/2011 10:26

Wouldn't dream of it :)

BottleOfRum · 11/01/2011 10:30

Does anyone know where I could find a list of names that are 'acceptable' by the Pope's standard from this Christian calendar? I am very interested to see which names cut the mustard!!

Maternelle · 11/01/2011 10:31

DrSeuss, it used to be the case but not anymore.

ValiumTinselton · 11/01/2011 11:21

What a load of tosh. Wonder how he feels about bible names that aren't catholic saints? probably not too keen but won't come right out and say it!

anyway my little gooseberry might well be the first saint Gooseberry. And my son might be the first Saint TVR

toddlerama · 11/01/2011 11:44

marjorie, do you go by your original name now, or have you stuck with Margaret? As a mother of an unusually but traditionally named daughter, I had a lot of raised eyebrows. But it suits her perfectly. We gave her a very mainstream middle name in case she wanted to be known by something else, but I can't imagine at what point she would want to change her name even if she didn't like it IYSWIM.

Bucharest · 11/01/2011 11:46

Happy Saint Igino!

(according to dp's saints calendar hanging on my wall)

Dd called unSaintly, unCatholic name, priest didn't bat an eyelid. T'was the Brown Envelope we pushed under the table.

Marjoriew · 11/01/2011 11:51

I go by my original name now. It was the only thing my parents ever game me as they left me to the mercy of the nuns, but I didn't know until I got married in 1975 and I needed to get my birth certificate from Ireland that Marjorie was my given name.

FingonTheValiant · 11/01/2011 12:05

DFIL had to take a book of Saints and a family bible when registering DSIL in France 20 years ago. Her name was allowed (there is a Saint) but it was so unusual that the registrar tried to veto it. Even when there was a list in France you could have a name that had previously been used in the family - hence the family bible.

The French have really run riot with names since they had a free choice - good on 'em :o

kreecherlivesupstairs · 11/01/2011 12:24

I was at school with a family of 15 or 16 children. All boys with the exception of a girl. All the boys had names of popes, so there was Julian, John, Peter, Paul, Innocent, and a few others. The mum took great pride in calling her DD Joan. Allegedly the only female Pope.

MistletoeMush · 11/01/2011 12:33

I think actually in the UK registrars can veto names if they feel that they are inappropriate. But I think that this is only in extreme cases

kreecherlivesupstairs · 11/01/2011 13:05

I once heard of a registrar refusing to register a BJ. No other name, just BJ. The woman who wanted the name was a colleague and she refused to consider the blow job connotations.

Lovecat · 11/01/2011 13:14

Funnily enough, our first name choice for DD wasn't a Saint's name or in the Bible (although it is an Irish derivative of a Saint's name), so, bearing in mind my mother's dire warnings of the priest not letting us have it unless there was a Saint/Biblical name in there too, we decided on Rebecca as a middle name.

At the meeting with the priest to discuss Baptism, the (deeply camp - think Graham Norton as Father Noel Furlong) Father didn't bat an eyelid at our Irish first name, but on hearing Rebecca squealed "ooh, that's very Jewish!"

Confused

Having attended Catholic school oop North with multitudes of Rebeccas, Rachels and Ruths, I was somewhat taken aback by his reaction!