Easy Question about the Pope

[BenFischer]

Can someone tell me when the tradition of Popes taking a new name originated? And why it was started? (Not counting Simon Peter.) All the early popes, like Linus, Anancletus, Clement used their own names, I think.

thx

 

[Eileen_T]

This papal tradition dates to 533 and the election of Pope John II, whose birth name was Mercurius, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Mercurius, whose name was a form of"Mercury," a pagan Roman god, believed that a successor of St. Peter should not carry a name belonging to a pagan religion, and he chose to change his name upon his election to honor a previous pope.