# How do they name the Popes?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-name-the-popes/199670>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 5, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-name-the-popes/199670 "2003-09-05T05:14:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-name-the-popes/199670/41 "2003-09-07T05:46:00Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by moriah \*  
> \*\*Now, WRT baptismal and confirmation names: In the 1917 Code of Canon Law, people were made to take ‘Christian names’ (presumably, the names of Saints). In the new Code (1983), the only restriction is that one can not use as a baptismal or confirmation name a name that is ‘contrary to the faith.’
> 
> So, if you want your child baptized ‘Crystal,’ that’s OK. If you want to take, ‘Summer’ as your confirmation name, that’s OK. If you want to take ‘Satan,’ ‘Hatred,’ or ‘Anti-Pope’ as your name, that’s right out.  
> \*\*

This jibes with my experience. When I was confirmed three years ago (as an adult), most of my OCIA classmates kept their own names as their confirmation names - Scott, Courtney, etc. I took “Gilbert” as my name, which is a saint’s name, but my instructors were well aware that I took it in honor of G.K. Chesterton. The priest never asked about it, nor any of my classmates’ monikers.

(OCIA - the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults - the classes and rites an adult goes through to be confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church).

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-name-the-popes/199670.md?page=2)