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AIBU?

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Original poster

To not understand why people call their baby...

570 replies

smellfunny · 15/01/2018 08:20

Not to be goady, but I don't understand why people give their babies names with negative connotations or meanings. Examples from the top of my head being:

Cain (murdered his brother in Old Testament)
Hector (hector also being a synonym for bullying someone)
Tristan (this one is a bit contentious because it can either mean 'tumult' or correspond to 'sadness')

Is it just that people don't think about the meanings behind the names? Feel free to add more names to the list...

Bonus name: 'Claudia' coming from the Latin word for 'lame'. I gave this one a pass because it's so established and the connotation is generally unknown...

OP posts:
SilverdaleGlen · 15/01/2018 08:21

You have your own answer really, they either don't know or feel the connotations are lost in the mists of time.

MoistCantaloupe · 15/01/2018 08:21

Adolf Hitler

insancerre · 15/01/2018 08:21

You missed off Willy

honeylulu · 15/01/2018 08:22

Mary means bitterness. Plenty of girls/ women called that!
It was also my s name

Trills · 15/01/2018 08:22

Maybe people (rightly) think that nobody thinks about whether Claudia means lame - we just see it as a name.

PinkSquash · 15/01/2018 08:22

My sons name is on your list Grin I don't look into the meanings, my name is a derivative of loveable and it really doesn't suit my hot tempered nature so it makes no odds to me...

Baubletrouble43 · 15/01/2018 08:23

I like all four of your examples. When I hear them I think of different connotations eg hector of troy- brave, eldest son etc or Tristan and isolde....

FuckMyUterus · 15/01/2018 08:23

moist I have a cat named Adolf

Original poster
smellfunny · 15/01/2018 08:23

insancerre

You missed off Willy

Grin

There was an unfortunate boy in my school called Benedict Williams whose name was shortened to Bendy Willy. Made me think that regardless of effort, kids will always find a way to ruin a name!

OP posts:
PantPlot · 15/01/2018 08:24

I think some people just well, don't give a shit really. I know I didn't.

I have three DC and chose names we liked- meanings and derivatives didn't come into it at all.

60sname · 15/01/2018 08:24

I wouldn't really care about the meaning if I liked a name as they're generally not well-known, but wouldn't choose a name with a famously negative connotation such as Cain.

Baubletrouble43 · 15/01/2018 08:24

Lots of names have daft meanings and are widely used.

Henrysmycat · 15/01/2018 08:24

I’m going to get flamed but I detest misspellings of “names”. One I saw yesterday: Destyny Joi.

Believeitornot · 15/01/2018 08:26

You assume that names have the same connotations for all people. They don’t.

There might be a serial killer with your name OP, for all you know.

honeylulu · 15/01/2018 08:27

Oops my MIL's name and it suited her ... bitter by name and nature.

Gideon means lame too. Quite popular now.

Imogen means "last" so an odd choice unless you're sure it's your final baby.

We named our stillborn son a name that means sadness, but that seemed appropriate.

Most people don't know or care about meaning of names though.

MoistCantaloupe · 15/01/2018 08:27

fuckmy that’s a cute cat name! Is he black and white?

Original poster
smellfunny · 15/01/2018 08:31

Believeitornot

I think considering the number of people in the world, then it's highly likely that each one of our names is shared by a notable criminal/murderer.

I was mostly interested to know why people would choose names that have an intrinsically negative connotation. Either through their original meaning or origin. But I guess that that question has been answered in the above responses - people simply don't worry about it Smile

Obviously none of this really effects me. But I had two long-standing childhood friends called Hector and Tristan and I was always curious to know why their parents named them that. To me the negative meaning behind each name was obvious and it felt a bit strange to me!

OP posts:
Pengggwn · 15/01/2018 08:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mailTo · 15/01/2018 08:32

Try being a headmistress married to a headmaster. Every name has a negative connotation!

LoniceraJaponica · 15/01/2018 08:33

“I’m going to get flamed but I detest misspellings of “names”. One I saw yesterday: Destyny Joi.”

I’m with you on that. I know someone who called their son Konner.

OP I think you are overthinking it. I had no idea about Tristan and wouldn’t have associated Hector with bullying. In fact it reminds me of Hector’s House which was a children’s programme back in the 1960s. I had no idea about the meaning behind Claudia either.

surlycurly · 15/01/2018 08:34

I called my son Jonah. We love it. He loves it. It clearly had negative connotations. He, however, has been the greatest blessing of my life.

TheQueenOfWands · 15/01/2018 08:35

Amelia is a disease.

Also the name of quite a famous serial killer.

Baffles me that it's so popular.

Pengggwn · 15/01/2018 08:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

tiptopteepe · 15/01/2018 08:36

Tristan is a beautiful name though and some people find a name that means sadness, dramatic and romantic, not negative.

Mara
Deirdre
Dolores
Lola

All of those names mean sadness. I think people use it interchangeably with meaning soulful. Its not necessarily negative.

Other dramatic names:

Maura means 'dark'
Mallory means 'unfortunate'
Lilith means 'of the night'

sausagerollsrock · 15/01/2018 08:36

I think most people just select a name for their baby that they like rather than go into the ins and outs of what it means. Hmm

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