Ignatius

[DaisyJoy1]

Looking for a saint name for next baby! For a girl we have picked Helena and Marina, (we love both, have already posted a thread about this and got lovely feedback, so decided if baby is a girl just to see which names she suits most and save the other name for a potential future daughter!)

For a boy, my husband has decided he loves Ignatius. Which was unexpected! It was suggested on another thread where I asked about saints names for boys and he took a liking to it.

Other names that were suggested that we liked were Moses, Cassian, Fabian.

Was wondering what everyone's thoughts are on Ignatius? Does it seem OTT - is it a bit Jacob Rees Mogg? (DH isn't British and doesn't see any issue with the name, but I feel British people might feel differently. While we don't live in the UK, we still have family there and will be returning every so often, children will be British citizens so British opinions on the name are definitely important!)

He likes nickname Iggy which I feel is the only natural shortening anyway.

@ZoyaTheDestroyer I get that the UK is the UK and not a predominantly Catholic country. But it's not like the average European is on their knees getting mass twice a day. The average thinking in the uk is that anything catholic is wrong/weird/foreign/chav, like the WHOLE rest of Europe should join with the UK to revere the one set of names, Charles, William, Edward... There is no understanding that there are other establishments, other elites even. This is the thinking that is insular.

@J0y I won’t disagree with your analysis but I don’t see much sense on this thread that the name is wrong / weird / foreign / chav.

I have just had a quick look out of curiosity and note that Ignatius is a more popular name in England & Wales than Ireland. Fewer than three in Ireland in 2020 compared to a dozen in E&W. Make of that what you will.

Yes pp but op is in another country anyway so their dc might as well have good catholic names. They aren't likely to move to East Belfast by accident.
It's more of a problem if people think it sounds too JRM. That's a different kind of political.
Some of us might feel it's a bit too Jesuit but that's a whole other bundle of neuroses.

Well clearly I love the name, I have never ever met an Ignatius in RL and think it's a big thing to saddle a child with.

I don’t think people should choose names based on whether a handful of 10 year old boys would remember it a week later.

He won’t thank you for it, OP. Parents want their kids to be special, clever, amazing and try to reflect this in their name. But to be brutally honest most kids aren’t, they’re just pretty normal and want to fit in. Anyhow it sounds like Iguana

There is a character in New Amsterdam called Ignatious. Iggy for short and that's where I recognised it from.

I used to work with a child called Aloysius - Al for short. Cool but I much prefer Iggy!

Sorry just realised my typo on the spelling. It's been a long day 🤦🏻‍♀️

I really like Iggy.

I love Aloysius but folk can’t pronounce it. He’d get a-loy-zee-us.

I've heard it shortened to Nash

Where? I have a traditionally Catholic name and have had no bother at all.

Ooooh no, it’s so pretentious. If you want a good solid Catholic name that people can pronounce then choose Bede.

Will he be going to Eton or the equivalent in your country? If not, it’s too much imo. It does come across very JRM to me.

I actually really like Fabian. Anthony is a lovely saint name as well.

Same!

Much of Northern Ireland
Parts of Glasgow
Parts of Liverpool

Remember how Tony Blair didn’t publicly acknowledge his conversion to Catholicism until after he had left political office?

That was years ago. I’ve had no problems at all with my Catholic name, in fact most people don’t even know it is!

2007. Recent living memory. You’ve sort of made my point for me - when Catholicism is a minority culture many people won’t recognise the cultural context of a name.

How much time have you spent in the locations I mentioned?

@ZoyaTheDestroyer I live in Liverpool and have never heard any negative connotations to 'obviously' RC names

I love the 'Catholic' names but would not choose to use one because of possible prejudice.

i like Ignatius for a middle name. Cassian is a wonderful name I love it

@Livpool , it is well-known that Liverpool has a history of anti-Catholic issues. Why do you think it has two football clubs?

I love it! I prefer Nate to Iggy though.

That said, I quite seriously flirted with Theophilus (Theo) as a name for my DS so maybe take my vote with a pinch of salt!

What's wrong with Theophilus? apart from it being yet another Theo
www.discogs.com/artist/396241-Theophilus-P-Wildebeeste

Are you aware that there are approximately 100 lodges of the Orange Order across Liverpool and Bootle?

All I can say is I’ve lived in the U.K. for over 30 years with a ‘Catholic’ name and have had zero issues. There may be a hangover from the past among certain age groups, but younger people now are well past it, if they’re even aware of what the issues are (I’m not including real sectarian hot spots, but even then, I’ve been to a few and zero issues). I also object to people saying not to use Catholic names because of ‘cultural appropriation’ (I couldn’t care less) and ‘not to use them because of prejudice’ (wtf? Would you say this about a name from any other culture?).

All that said I still don’t like Ignatius…