What names should you not name a Catholic boy?

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Don’t name him “Anathema”, because if he gets boisterous in Latin class, the teacher will tell him “Anathema, sit!”.
 
mbmulkern said:
Guadalupe is very common in the Spanish language too but very hard to pronounce or shorten
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It’s a common woman’s name in Mexico but in no other country, as far as I know. It’s commonly shortened to Lupe or Lupita.
 
I had a Spanish teacher in high school the same way. It was the only class I got an “F” in and had to go to summer school for. I ran into “J” again when I went to work for a major corporation and he was assigned to work for me. I didn’t retaliate, though. He was right to flunk me. He wasn’t a great worker, though.
 
mbmulkern said:
I had a friend whose name was “Nero”. No one ever asked him why he was named that way but I always felt sorry for him in a way.
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Nero Wolfe was a fictional detective who featured in an immensely successful series of novels and short stories by Rex Stout, averaging a book a year over the course of forty years, from the 1930s to the 1970s. There have been many adaptations for Hollywood and for televison.
 
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When it comes to unusual spellings, my paternal grandmother liked to do that with her boys. One of my uncles is my godfather. When it came time for the baptismal certificate to be filled out, hilarity ensued.

Also, a tip: If you have a weird spelling in your name, don’t ‘fix’ the spelling if you use the name in your child’s name. It will confuse others spelling out the names and your child may forget the spelling at times.
 
A while back, there was a large study in an English-speaking nation that showed that men with short names (fewer syllables) and hard consonants end up being more successful in their careers and in life. Basically names are social cues, and people associate certain names with strength and certain names with weakness, and names that sound more “tough” subconsciously cause other people to like those men more. They do better socially and get promoted more often. Also it’s best to avoid names that are too unusual; kids can be cruel.

So, saints’ names are good, but, I wouldn’t name your boy Lawrence or Gabriel (no offense to Lawrences or Gabriels). If you name him Michael and he goes by Mike, he’ll do a lot better. A name like Mark or Luke is even better than that.

By the way, the same study found that women whose names ended with a vowel, and especially an “ee” sound, also do best, and I don’t think there was a social bias when it came to length.

I have no idea how things go in other languages/cultures.
 
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I like the name Todd. I don’t think it’s soft. Last year, I had a student enrolled named Devius. (Pronounced as “devious”.) I think that’s pretty inappropriate. A colleague in another school in our district currently has an Averyce. (Pronounced “averice”) I guess this trend is the answer to “Charity”, “Faith”, “Temperance”, and “Justice”?
 
I have had at least a dozen Guadelupes over the years and they generally go by Lupe, Lupita, Pita, and I once had one go by Guadi, but I think her class made up that nick-name because there was already a Lupe in her class.
 
jfz178 said:
Depends on the last name also. I am not making this up. My brother went to a Catholic high school with a kid named Jack. Last name Hoff. Why would parents do that?
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And if your second name is Rotch you probably shouldn’t be called Michael.
 
The sacristan at a local parish is named Luther. And I really enjoy seeing that name tag’s irony. 🙂

I also have a great uncle named Luther, and most of my family is Protestant. The girls were given beautiful names, such as ‘Geneva’. It was a minor miracle my parents got together with the Anti-Catholic nature of my father’s family and that I was raised Catholic.
 
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Not sure if it was mentioned - didn’t go through all the replies, but keep in mind that just because a name is not “popular” here in the US, doesn’t mean it’s not popular in other countries.

Attila, for example, is still a very popular boy’s name in Hungary.

Personally, when it comes to names in general, I am not a huge fan of using names that have no meaning (i,.e. consisting of syllables that just sound nice together - more popular in girls names than boys), or using a surname as a forename (e.g. McKenzie) - again, though, I think that’s a more popular trend with girls names.
 
jdavani said:
There’s a trend to give your child gender neutral names nowadays. I’d say these names are a no no among us Catholics.
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It’s not a trend, it’s traditional in some circles. They’re family names.
Also it incorrect to suggest that using so-called “gender neutral” names is wrong for Catholics.
 
Wouldn’t work with my surname either “Goff” my little brother was almost Jackson…until they shortened to jack. Luckily they realized before he was born
 
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