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Baby Names
shellylovelee
member
How seriously do you consider name meanings?
shellylovelee
member
in Baby Names
We are romantics and want the name for our little guy to have some type of meaning to us... I recently had a name I loved at the top of our list - Maximus - and then later read that it also can mean "the largest". Since our last name means "large or big" I was pretty bummed to learn this!
Italians would probably laugh at this combo, but I just can't decide how much credence I should give such a thing... Just curious about your thoughts on the meanings of names...
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Re: How seriously do you consider name meanings?
IMO, regular people do not go out of their way to know meanings of all names. You wouldn't meet a "Mallory" and think to yourself, "oh how unfortunate that her name means unfortunate." Maximus is a legit Latin (and presumably Italian) word, so Maximus Big, Biggest Big...that IS kind of funny! However, I don't think you should let it stop you. Max is a GREAT name
. And even though I am intimately familiar with the Latin language, my first reaction to Maximus wasn't "biggest," it was "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius...father to a murdered son...etc". Then my next thought was, "Russel Crowe is so hot."
Edit: Just realized I didn't really answer your question. We don't give much thought to the meaning of a name IF it's a name we already love. For us personally, we named our daughter Eve, and the only negative feedback I've gotten was from my friend's ultra-conservative-Christian boyfriend, who asked me why I named my daughter after "the woman who created the sin inside of us."
We didn't name her because of that, we named her because I loved the name Chava but DH nixed it...but both Eve and Chava mean "life," and we loved it.
I think a lot of people know the meaning of Maximus. How many people would know what your last name means in italian? Is it obvious?
I'd have to hear it all together. Coming from an italian background and from an italian neighborhood, i could see it making for some teasing. If you dont have to worry about any of those things i wouldnt worry about it.
Meh. I don't pay too much attention to them. "Molly" means bitter, and we are okay with that. If a name had a particularly sinister meaning, that might turn me away, though.
I'm more worried about the connotation a name carries than its actually meaning. How does it come off? Sure, everyone has a different style, but some names strike people as too fru-fru, weird, stuffy, etc. Also, is there someone with this name that is going to create an overwhelming association? Obviously, there are enough Williams in the history of mankind that nobody is going to say "after William Wallace" or "like Bill Clinton" if someone chooses that name. In the height of Britney Spears success, though, choosing the name Britney would have come off as a little odd. So to me, the stuff that people are going to actually notice is weighted more heavily that a meaning that they have to look up.
Unless your kid's name would be Maximus Largo or something kind of ridiculous or obvious like that, I think you're overthinking.
lol@ Maximus Largo
The actual name meanings don't mean very much to me. Our last name is Italian as well but it just means that we're from some town in Italy, so there's not much for me to think about there.
However, I would consider cultural and historical implications. I don't think too many people have Adolf on their name list, for example.
ooooh, these are great replies!! Some of them are hilarious too! Thanks all!
We would probably call him Max and I tend to think of Maximus as "the greatest" and didn't even know it could also mean largest. Still going to think about it...we live in the northeast, very close to an iconic Italian neighborhood, so we'll def give it more thought...
Thanks again!
one of the names we're considering is Lorelei. this is the meaning/backround:
In Germanic legend, Lorelei was a beautiful siren who sat upon a rock in the Rhine River and lured sailors to shipwreck and death.
I don't care about name meanings at all. I only care what the name is and how it flows with the mn and our ln. Children aren't destined to carry out their name's meaning- who cares? What people will call them all day every day is more important than what it means, at least IMO!
This made me laugh so hard!
Haha... I agree with this.
My husbands full name translates to "King of a town of Little Devils". We have fun looking up what they mean, but we don't use that to determine our choice. Though if I ever had a son I might have to name him Ryan because it means "little king".
Oh and I'm Sarah "Princess".
I take it pretty seriously. If it has a bad meaning then I won't consider it. If the FN and MN are identical in meaning then I don't consider it either. An example is: Nancy Grace. Nancy means gracious and Grace is pretty clear. Lol, I just realized that's the name of that lawyer talk show lady, but whatever. Also, I take the meanings in conjunction. For example: Rebekah means bound, so I'd be careful about what other quality I "bound" her with. A name like Mary I would want to temper with something cheerful and happy, since it means bitter.
But I wouldn't take a non-English last name meaning into account. My last name is Bowman, so I wouldn't choose Archer as a FN though. But Maximus, which is Latin btw, is probably fine. Most people won't know the meaning of your last name and most people probably wouldn't know the meaning of Maximus, I'm just kind of psycho about meanings.
Another option would be just plain Max or Maxwell.
I think about meanings a lot. We travel around the world frequently with work (and take our kids) so we are constantly meeting other cultures that put a huge importance on meanings. If it's a good or even a neutral meaning its fine. I just couldn't ever use a name that had a negative meaning.
Most people don't care about the meaning of last names so I wouldn't worry unless its very obvious what your last name means.
Same here. Sorry. If a name has a horrible meaning like pp said of Mallory = "Unfortunate"? I wouldn't use it. I want a name that means something good and strong. We are most likely naming our son Keegan and it means "Fire" which is something we like and think it's a strong name.