Oh, they certainly did insist back in the day (1943). My own mother was supposed to be named Carolyn, but Father flat-out refused to baptize her with that name.
My mother’s godmother and godfather took her to church on the day she was born (at home). Her godfather was about to be shipped out to the war and they wanted to get the baptism done before he left. So off they went, in the dead of winter, and walked over to the church. That’s when Father made his pronouncement.
He said he’d baptize her Carol Anne, but not Carolyn.
Rather than traipse all the way back to the house, Aunt Jean made a Command Decision. The child would be named Barbara. And so it was.
Grandma was surprised, but my mother loves her name.
Regards,
My husband was given the name of a 2nd century pope as a middle name (which he never used) because his father had an obsession with giving his kids names with the first initial of his own name, and he seemed to have run out of saints’ names by the time he got to my husband. So the priest insisted that they pick a saint’s name and my husband’s mother picked a name she knew belonged to a saint...because it was the name given to her in a women’s club to which she belonged! Some women’s clubs and also sororities used to give their members “secret names” at that time, early 20th century, and when he was born (mid-century), that was the first thing that occurred to her.
However, my husband did know about this saint (Cletus) and said that it was good to know this and he would never have thought of him otherwise. And it certainly was a distinguishing feature...