Name meaning vs. the name you love

sugarpumpkin716 · September 2011

Someone tried telling me that the name meaning should trump how I feel about the name. For example, the name that my husband and I seem to have chosen doesn't have a great meaning. It doesn't mean anything bad...it's just kind of "whatever." So someone is telling me that it isn't worth it because I'll be calling my child this every day. Am I crazy or is that kind of ridiculous? Shouldn't how I feel about the name (don't worry it isn't anything yoo neek or insane) trump its meaning?

PhilsWife07 · September 2011

I don't give a whole lot of thought to the meanings of names. The name would have to mean something really freaking awful for me to decide not to use it.

couliegirl · September 2011

and the name is?

sugarpumpkin716 · September 2011

mj.reilly:
I think that is kind of ridiculous.
I do, however, think meaning trumps the flow of a name.
Name the kid what you love. If you love it, that means something.

agreed about flow and well said: Name the kid what you love. If you love it, that means something.

metzy144 · September 2011

I don't think meaning should be more important than you loving the name. I don't really pay attention to the meaning of names.

sagoon · September 2011

Use the name you want. Unless the meaning of the name is truly awful, go for it. My name is Susanna - it means 'lily'. It's a pretty meaning, but not really deep or meaningful. The name my husband and I are using for our little one has no deep meaning. We just like the name.

plunderb · September 2011

Depends on what you mean by "meaning." If its meaning is "my grandfather's name" or "a classic German name that honors my heritage," I think that's important.

If you mean the so-called "meaning" of a name posted on so many name sites, I could not care less. Those etymologies are so fishy. Half the time, they are made up. If you look up "Katelynn," it will say it means "pure" because Katelynn is a respelling of Caitlin which is a form of Catherine, which may have derived from an ancient Greek word that had "pure" as one of its meanings. Whatever. Unless the name has a plain meaning in the language you speak (Rose, Ace, etc.), I don't put much stock in the "meaning."

juniper19 · September 2011

It depends. Cecilia was my girl name, ven though it means blind. But I think it is terrible when people use the name Cane, because his role in the bible is so terrible (and I'm not at all religious).

kellyrn9956 · September 2011

I personally don't give a crap about meanings of names. But that's my personal opinion.

My name means "female warrior".

Although that does adequately describe me on my Clomid right now...

sugarpumpkin716 · September 2011

plunderb:
Depends on what you mean by "meaning." If its meaning is "my grandfather's name" or "a classic German name that honors my heritage," I think that's important.
If you mean the so-called "meaning" of a name posted on so many name sites, I could not care less. Those etymologies are so fishy. Half the time, they are made up. If you look up "Katelynn," it will say it means "pure" because Katelynn is a respelling of Caitlin which is a form of Catherine, which may have derived from an ancient Greek word that had "pure" as one of its meanings. Whatever. Unless the name has a plain meaning in the language you speak (Rose, Ace, etc.), I don't put much stock in the "meaning."

excellent point. i meant "dictionary definition." funny thing is the middle name has a gorgeous meaning, both family wise and dictionary wise.

tusshie2004 · September 2011

mj.reilly:
I think that is kind of ridiculous.
I do, however, think meaning trumps the flow of a name.
Name the kid what you love. If you love it, that means something.

This! If you love the name, you love the name. Tell who ever told you that, that it is a crock of bullsh*t! The name we choose for DS fit him perfectly. Amari, means strength. But the meaning wasn't the reason on why we choose his name. We loved the name!

HappyMrsK · September 2011

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Some people do place a lot of emphasis on the actual meaning of the name. If the meaning isn't important to you then it doesn't matter and just pick what you love.

da731 · September 2011

I think some people are totally over the top when it comes to their perfect name formula (perfect first and middle names + perfect nickname/s + perfect name meaning -- not to mention it all has to actually fit the baby in question). I think that if the parents choose a name that they like that is special for their child then it should be a done deal.

My first and middle names mean: "From the white island" and "Ewe" respectively, but I've really enjoyed being Whitney Rae for these past 29 years, regardless of the nonsensical combined meaning behind the mantle.

ETA: Edited because I somehow inadvertently inserted a smiling crescent moon graphic by having the "[" and ")" side-by-side...(?) Twice.

BrittKav · September 2011

We liked the name Mallory, which means 'unfortunate'. If we had been in LOVE with the name, it wouldn't have mattered. As it was, it kind of made me not like the name quite as much and we chose something else we loved.

austenreader85 · September 2011

I think I'm an oddball, I've always been interested in the meaning of a name. So I could never love a name that had a meaning I hated it. If you love it use it.

melody921 · September 2011

That's ridiculous. DS's name meaning is fine, nothing special, nothing horrible. But we love the name. I would never choose a name I didn't love as much bc of a good meaning. You're not going around introducing him by his name meaning.

35baby · September 2011

My boyfriend likes the name Cecile which is okay so I thought why not. Then I looked up the meaning and it means blind in English and latin. I have legally blind family members I am very close to so I told him we couldn't use it. Sometimes if you love and name it's meaning isn't really bad then go for it. If it meaning is badly associated with someone or something important to you let the name choice go. There are tons of other choices to go with. Just my 2 cents.

HAFranklin · September 2011

DS's name is Cole. It means "dark or swarthy", neither of which describes him. I really couldn't care less. I've loved his name since the first time I heard it, and DH and I just knew it was the right choice. We really didn't even consider any other names.

My name is Heather, which means "Flowering shrub". I've never felt jilted for being named after a bush. lol Wink

kerribear1717 · September 2011

No one that I know ever goes around in life meeting someone and commenting on name meaning. Most names who will ever know the meaning except you? And I bet you had to look it up. Unless the name is Lily or Rose, something with an obvious meaning. No one will ever know or care that my son Connor's name means "wolf lover".

Moneypenny424 · September 2011

juniper19:
It depends. Cecilia was my girl name, ven though it means blind. But I think it is terrible when people use the name Cane, because his role in the bible is so terrible (and I'm not at all religious).

I agree 100%. Cecilia is also our girls name. My SIL was going to use Cassian (they live in Germany) which means "poor," but they went with a different name. Unless the name means "serial killer" or is Cain (I do have a problem with people naming kids after the first murderer), I wouldn't let a meaning dissuade me.

Eilis123 · September 2011

Meaning is pretty important to both my husband and I when it comes to names. Both of us have meaningful names, and all our names on our list are there because of meaning or family association.

But it is not only the literal meaning of the name; a name like Cecilia with a dull literal meaning has particular significance because it is after a saint, and usually people who name their kid Cecilia with a care to the meaning are not using the name because it literally means "blind" but because they are naming her after the martyr and patron of Music.

526SadieSadie · September 2011

juniper19:
It depends. Cecilia was my girl name, ven though it means blind. But I think it is terrible when people use the name Cane, because his role in the bible is so terrible (and I'm not at all religious).

St. Cecilia is the patron saint of music, if that helps at all. I remember several friends from my high school choir chose this as their confirmation name because of that.

I don't put a lot of stock into the baby name book meanings of names, I like names with personal meaning to my husband and me.

My name, FWIW, has a "whatever" type of meaning - Gianna is Jane in English, which means "God is gracious."

Pick a name you love.

natalie_wn@yahoo.com · September 2011

Name meanings are BS. My name means born at Christmas. I was born in April. My parents loved the name, so they used it. My brother, however, just llllloves that his name means "gift from God". lol

hmr22 · September 2011

That is ridiculous. If you love a name go for, most people don't go around saying "oh, your name means ...."

Ms5586 · September 2011

Ugh, really? How many people actually know what their name means (as in, literal translation)? Find a name that you like, and if it has meaning to you (as in, a family name), then that's icing on the cake. But I don't think twice about literal translation of a name, because no one I know could say what their name actually means.

curlylocks3 · September 2011

I think it means different things to different people. I just met someone who had a beautiful reason behind the name they chose. My name list is all made up of names I like though and for the most part I haven't even looked up the meanings.

KatelynEA90 · September 2011

I prefer how much I like the name over what it means. I'm not even sure what our top names mean, it doesn't much matter to me. My sister on the other hand insisted that their son be named Dylan because it means "water/ocean loving" or something like that so their son will for sure like the ocean. I personally think she's crazy and I'm going to laugh if he hates water and swimming.

To each their own.

When people tell me how/what to name my kids, I remind them that they either already got to name their children or one day they will get to name their own children and I will be naming my children.

MrsMeMo · September 2011

I don't care AT ALL about the meaning of a name. A name could mean "ugly little girl" for all I care. How many people really know what a name means anyway? JMHO.

MaybeMore · September 2011

It killed Cecilia for DH. (Cecil means "blind.")

DH also doesn't like "flimsy" girls' names--those that mean "pretty" or the like.

MaybeMore · September 2011

juniper19:
It depends. Cecilia was my girl name, ven though it means blind. But I think it is terrible when people use the name Cane, because his role in the bible is so terrible (and I'm not at all religious).

The little Delilahs put my teeth on edge.

CdnFarmGirl08 · September 2011

I'm torn on this issue as well. I really love the name Kennedy, however it means "ugly head or deformed head" which I could not believe when I looked it up. I don't think I can name my child that. I know as a kid, I often went and looked up names of all my friends and family to find out what it meant. So I don't think we will be using that name.

KatieLG04 · September 2011

It was definitely a big factor in my decision. DS is Benjamin which means "son of my right hand". I liked the meaning. DH had liked Luke which means "man from Luciana" or something like that and it didn't speak to me lol. Our top girl name was Adrianna which means something like "dark" which doesn't thrill me, but we probably would have still used it anyway.

Jermysgirl · September 2011

My daughter's name means Spoils of War. But it was important to me that my daughter be named for my beloved aunt. Loving the name means more to me than the kind of awful meaning.

ten17 · September 2011

plunderb:

Depends on what you mean by "meaning." If its meaning is "my grandfather's name" or "a classic German name that honors my heritage," I think that's important.

If you mean the so-called "meaning" of a name posted on so many name sites, I could not care less. Those etymologies are so fishy. Half the time, they are made up. If you look up "Katelynn," it will say it means "pure" because Katelynn is a respelling of Caitlin which is a form of Catherine, which may have derived from an ancient Greek word that had "pure" as one of its meanings. Whatever. Unless the name has a plain meaning in the language you speak (Rose, Ace, etc.), I don't put much stock in the "meaning."

This!

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