Papal Name

A papal name is the regnal name taken by a pope. Both the head of the Catholic Church, usually known as the Pope, and the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria (Coptic Pope) choose papal names. As of 2013 Francis was the Catholic Pope, and Tawadros II or Theodoros II was the Coptic Pope. This article discusses and lists the names of Catholic Popes; another article has a list of Coptic Orthodox Popes of Alexandria.

While popes in the first centuries retained their birth names after their accession to the papacy, later on popes began to adopt a new name upon their accession. This first started in the sixth century and became customary in the 10th century. Since 1555, every pope has taken a papal name.

It is customary when referring to popes to translate the regnal name into local languages. Thus, for example, Papa Franciscus (Latin, the official language of the Holy See), is Papa Francesco in Italian (the language of the Vatican), Papa Francisco in his native Spanish, and Pope Francis in English.