Cardinal Ammanati claimed that Barbo wished at first to be called Formosus ("Beautiful"), but the cardinals objected on the grounds that it might seen as allusion to his good looks. He then changed it to Mark, but cardinals objected again, because "Marco!" was the war-cry of the Republic of Venice. Finally he decided to take the name Paul (L. von Pastor "History of the Popes vol. 4", London 1900, p. 12). F. Bourkle-Young considers this anecdote untrue [1]