# Is it St. Patty's Day or St. Paddy's Day? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 17, 2017, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391 "2017-03-17T11:43:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391/1 "2017-03-17T11:43:19Z")
Before you pass out, please answer this important question. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391/2 "2017-03-17T11:56:54Z")
It’s St. Paddy’s day. “Paddy” is the diminutive for the Irish name Pádraig, which was his name. No self-respecting Irishman would let anyone call him “Patty.” > **["Paddy, not Patty" website clears up common St. Patrick's Day error](https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/craic/paddy-not-patty-st-patricks-day)** > > When shortening the phrase ‘St. Patrick’s Day,’ many people erroneously turn to ‘Patty’ instead of ‘Paddy’ to replace the Patrick. No more! Although my phone wants to keep calling it “St. Party’s day,” which works just as well, I suppose. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391/3 "2017-03-17T12:16:15Z")
It’s Patrick, not Patricia. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391/4 "2017-03-17T12:16:40Z")
I voted Paddy, but my spouse is horrified at me. So…half each way? ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391/5 "2017-03-17T12:24:13Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > It’s Patrick, not Patricia. Quite, Patty is a girl’s name. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391/6 "2017-03-17T12:27:13Z")
For non-Gaelic speakers (like myself) I guess I feel that if it was popularly known as “St. Padraig’s Day” it would be okey dokey to say “Paddy” but for us English speaking monoglots “Patty” will have to do. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391/7 "2017-03-17T12:34:21Z")
I’ve never heard “St. Patty’s” seeing at “Patty” is not a variation of “Patrick” but “Paddy” is. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391/8 "2017-03-17T12:49:32Z")
Never heard Patty. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391/9 "2017-03-17T12:57:48Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > For non-Gaelic speakers (like myself) I guess I feel that if it was popularly known as “St. Padraig’s Day” it would be okey dokey to say “Paddy” but for us English speaking monoglots “Patty” will have to do. Except that Patty is still a girl’s name, and not a diminutive of Patrick in the English language. Paddy is universally used in the english language as the short from of Patrick (along with Pat). ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391/10 "2017-03-17T13:15:25Z")
I just assumed that after a few whiskeys all Ts start sounding like Ds. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391/11 "2017-03-17T13:22:32Z")
Its neither, in Ireland we say Patrick. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391/12 "2017-03-17T13:27:44Z")
I hate cutesy nicknames. If you can’t call it St. Patrick’s Day, don’t talk to me about it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391/13 "2017-03-17T13:39:50Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > “Paddy” is the diminutive for the Irish name Pádraig, which was his name. No self-respecting Irishman would let anyone call him “Patty.” It’s the dark secret of St Patrick: he wasn’t Irish. He was an English missionary who went to Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391/14 "2017-03-17T13:42:14Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > It’s St. Paddy’s day. “Paddy” is the diminutive for the Irish name Pádraig, which was his name. This is what I was going to post. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391/15 "2017-03-17T15:15:59Z")
While I agree with the use of “St. Paddy’s Day” as the shortening (and also agree that I usually just call it St. Patrick’s Day), **Little Nemo** is correct to point out that Patrick wasn’t Irish. He was born in Roman Britain, and the few extant works that are believed to have been written by the man himself are all in Latin. Writing in Latin as he did, the only name he ever actually calls himself is **Patricius**. It’s not certain exactly where he was born, so we can’t really say what the form of his name might have been in his native vernacular, if indeed he spoke a language other than Latin in his daily life. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391/16 "2017-03-17T16:30:20Z")
I didn’t vote. I’ve heard from enough sources that “Paddy” is the correct spelling that I’m not going to stubbornly insist that it’s not. However, Patrick get shortened to Pat, not Pad. And by that logic, Pat should turn into Patty, not Paddy. And all this stuff about Paddy being short for Padraig seems completely beside the point to me, since it’s not called St. Padraig’s Day. While I will not claim that Patty is the \*correct \*spelling, I will say that it’s the spelling I prefer, whether or not it’s officially correct. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391/17 "2017-03-17T18:18:09Z")
Is St. Pat’s OK? That’s what I say/type. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391/18 "2017-03-17T18:30:54Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > While I agree with the use of “St. Paddy’s Day” as the shortening (and also agree that I usually just call it St. Patrick’s Day), **Little Nemo** is correct to point out that Patrick wasn’t Irish. He was born in Roman Britain, and the few extant works that are believed to have been written by the man himself are all in Latin. > > Writing in Latin as he did, the only name he ever actually calls himself is **Patricius**. It’s not certain exactly where he was born, so we can’t really say what the form of his name might have been in his native vernacular, if indeed he spoke a language other than Latin in his daily life. I’ll concede that, but I’ll bet he was known as Father Paddy to the locals. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391/19 "2017-03-17T18:48:19Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > “Paddy” is the diminutive for the Irish name Pádraig, which was his name. Well technically his name was Patricius. He was Romano-British and wrote his name in Latin. Padraig is the Irish spelling of his name, as Patrick is the English version. Edit: Or what **MrAtoz** said. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391/20 "2017-03-17T18:48:56Z")
I vote Patty’s, but AIUI many Irish vehemently loathe anything other than the proper “Patrick’s.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-st-pattys-day-or-st-paddys-day/782391.md?page=2)