According to Paul, the name was suggested by fellow Austrian Peter Hajek [de] and his film script Sarah Roncalli, Tochter des Mondes [Sarah Roncalli, Daughter of the Moon], named after Pope John XXIII[1][2] whose civil name was Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli.

Paul and Heller agreed because of its pleasant sound and the pope's reform agenda.

[2] The first performance of the circus was on 18 May 1976 on the Hofgartenwiese in Bonn, and the tour finished on 16 August 1976 in Munich.

(In September 1976 there were already performances without Heller in Vienna, but the show closed after a short run owing to a dwindling audience.)

Model-turned-photographer Ellen von Unwerth worked as an assistant at Circus Roncalli in Munich for around a month when she was eighteen years old.