how much emphasis do you put on meaning

meg1974 · May 2011

With DD, we put a lot of emphasis into the meaning of her name so I kind of want to do that with LO#2. But, there are several names I like that don't care for the meaning of.

I know the meaning doesn't affect their personality or anything, but I guess I kind of like having a neat story to tell DD about why we chose her name.

Manderlin923 · May 2011

What is the name?

ETA- I see you have a few you said you liked. It depends on the meaning, imo. If it's really really bad, then I'd ditch that name. I like cool meanings too

SnoopyLuv · May 2011

Because the names were our grandmother's we didn't even look them up, to be honest. We also didn't look up the names we just liked the sound of. I don't think the name makes a person other than the personal bias someone has toward the name.

For example: Mallory has a bad meaning but I don't dislike or think the name Mallory is bad or trashy. However if I met someone named Nevaeh I would think they were trashy even though their name has "nice" meaning, the thought that it's a Teen Mom/trash name would likely effect how people treat them thus their name sort of "colors" their personality if you will.

ye77ow+lette · May 2011

I try not to let it get to me much but my favorite girls name is Claudia and it means "lame".... It makes me sad everytime i think of it but i LOVE the sound of Claudia.

Sunshine is mine · May 2011

I'm really in the same boat...I love the name Mara but it means bitter and for some reason, I just can't get passed it.

Keri Marie · May 2011

I think everything about a name is important.

forensicmama · May 2011

Well... If the name was Claudia, which is beautiful but means lame, I would still use it. If the name was Judas, which is the name of the guy who betrayed Jesus... I would never use it!

zaramarie81 · May 2011

I personally do focus on meanings and love a great story. I think kids pick up on that too. I have a bunch of nieces and nephews who can share their name "meanings" and obviously they enjoy the thought their parents put into that.

That said, as long as a name doesn't mean anything terribly negative, I don't think the meaning has to be totally perfect for the child or totally amazingly unique.

ETA: Some seemingly negative meanings can have a positive spin. For example. a pp mentioned Mara (any variation of Mary) means "bitter." From a religious standpoint, that's a reference to Mary sharing in the sufferings of her son, and is not inherently negative but points to her "specialness" (if that makes sense). But if you are not "into" Catholic tradition, I can see how it would be a turn-off (Dolores is another... the 7 Dolores of Mary, etc). So maybe do some research and see if you can find a positive spin on the names you love?

rubyjem00 · May 2011

I think that we are going to pick a few names that we like the sound of and then go back and look at the meanings. I think that the meaning is important but I don't think that it would be a deal breaker if I had a name that I was absolutely in love with.

waterfly · May 2011

Sunshine is mine:
I love the name Mara but it means bitter and for some reason, I just can't get past it.

Eh, only if you stick with the Hebrew meaning...the same collection of letters, with the same pronunciation, translates to "of the sea" in Gaelic...and probably several other things in other languages. I like the name, personally, and since I'm neither Christian nor Jewish nor do I possess Jewish ancestry, I don't see why a child I name should be stuck with a meaning from someone else's religious book, just because other people are fixated on said book. (Sadly, for me this one is kind of a moot point, since DH doesn't care for the name itself.)

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