St Paddy’s Day verses St Patty’s Day

Each year on the 17th of March, Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated in honor of Ireland’s Patron Saint Patrick. The day honors his continued legacy, long after his death on March 17, 460. St Patrick was known for his outstanding works as a missionary. There is some controversy over whether an abbreviated version of the day is correctly called St. Patty’s day or St. Paddy’s. We’ll get to that, but first some history of St. Patrick and this special day.

Captured and enslaved at the age of sixteen for six years, St. Patrick eventually fled, returned home to his family and became a cleric. Over his time with the church he was able to rise to the rank of Bishop. So where does the tradition of the shamrock as a symbol for St Patrick’s come from? The Shamrock was said to have been used as a symbol by Patrick in describing the holy trinity.

So is it correct to say St. Paddy’s day or St. Patty’s day? Today many people have shortened their greetings to Happy St Patty’s Day. The general feeling is that Pat is short for Patrick thus being Patty. This is incorrect however. It’s actually “Paddy’s Day”. According to modern day Irish, the name Patrick comes from Pádraig. Paddy is a male nickname for Patrick, while Patty is a female nickname for Patricia. As St. Partick was clearly not Patricia, “Happy St. Paddy’s Day” would be correct.