# What does Ratzinger mean?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ratzinger-mean/300130>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 19, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ratzinger-mean/300130 "2005-04-19T21:06:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 46

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**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ratzinger-mean/300130/46 "2022-12-30T21:46:44Z")

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> [@Melbourne](#):
>
> > [@Jenaroph](#):
> >
> > Only in very special cases.
> > 
> > Like being named Pope.
> 
> Or joining a religious order, for example, taking vows as a nun. Or actually, confirmation, although in Australia, it’s unlikely that many people would actually go to the trouble of using a confirmation name in civil society.

It used to be standard that when joining a (Catholic) religious order, the candidate chose a new name along with their vows. This was a form of putting the past behind, starting a new life, etc. Not sure about generic parish priests, but the members of assorted orders that I encountered decades ago - nuns, brothers, priests - all had names they picked on joining.

As part of the modernization of the church (Vatican II?) they seem to have departed from this centuries-old tradition, and many go with their real name. (Kings of England do it too now.) Popes, so far - not.

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