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.

I think it's a great name, though my grandfather, whose name it was, used his middle name. I would associate it with an affinity with the Jesuit tradition of Catholicism. (Very big in my family).

Other names you might like:
Stanislaus
Casimir
Ambrose
Dominic

Wrt the Catholic thing -
Surely the only reason this has been brought up in relation to the name means there is still some sectarian feeling floating around?

For me, a Catholic habituee of the baby name boards, Ignatius is a family name and my family sent three generations of boys to Jesuit schools. Its a Counter Reformation name par excellence. However I suspect for some it is a name that would cause their radar to beep for other reasons.

It's a pity Jacob Rees Mogg has become emblematic of English Catholicism instead of an emblem of a certain strand of both English Conservatism and conservatism. The emphasis on his religion and the persona he has cultivated distract from how mainstream he is in his party and how generically conservative he is underneath it all. He is a 'character', and as seen in the career of Boris Johnson that will take you a long way further in English politics than it should, but underneath it all he is saying what many conservatives want to hear, in a way that they enjoy hearing it.

It makes me think of ignorant and pugnacious.

Also a mental image some corrupt medieval pope (don't know my catholic history so not sure if that is likely)

What about a Celtic saint like Aidan or Patrick?

I didn’t know it was a specifically Catholic - the reason I said it was JRM was because it sounds comically over-pompous to me, not because he’s a Catholic. Honestly if you named your child Ignatius I would be more likely to assume you didn’t like them very much than that you were Catholic!

Well we can't expect everyone to know everything about all religions and cultures. I have heard names from different religions and cultures which sounded horrible to my ear but which i respected had an importance to them due to their faith. It's one of the interesting things about being from a multicultural society, surely? 😊

To be honest, while I respect your opinion and appreciate you sharing, within the circles of people that I know in the UK (friends and family etc) I doubt there are any who don't know who St Ignatius is. So it's not like most people will think we chose the name out of thin air.

The whole point of history is that it's a tapestry composed of a multitude of strands. There isn't such a thing as 'Catholic history'.

No, but in fairness to pp there is such a thing as a history of the papacy. AFAIK there has never been a Pope Ignatius. I think I might also be correct in saying that Pope Francis is the first Jesuit pope.

I don't know why I'm quite so invested in this! But people who are interested in the history of the papacy would probably know about Ss Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier.

It is a constant surprise to me that things I consider to be "general knowledge" are not very well-known, and also that I am ignorant about vast swathes of culture and history which others expect to be "general knowledge." 😕

I have heard of San Ignacio de Loyola but didn’t know who he was specifically. IMO it’s kind of like naming your child Balthazar or Nebuchadnezzar, even if it’s a name that’s people have vaguely heard of through religion it comes across as very OTT. Whereas Fabian or Cassian doesn’t as much IMO.
Moses I would actually assume you were Jewish.