To not understand why people call their baby...

[smellfunny]

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...

No I like judus

You look at a name in three different books and name sites and you often get 3 different supposed meanings.

Yes, but in most cases at least two of those are bollocks. It's especially true where names are 'of uncertain origin'. Websites particularly seem unwilling to admit this and just make up some old crap, or they choose a famous person/character of the name and say that's what the name means e.g. Cassandra means 'doomed prophetess'. It doesn't; it's just that the mythological Cassandra was a doomed prophetess.

The relatively new negative connotation with a name which saddens me the most is Isis.

Isis is the Egyptian goddess of the earth, magic, fertility, birth, death, life, healing and rebirth (depending on where you read).
In ancient Egypt Isis meant throne.
She cured the sick and brought the deceased back to life and was the role model of a mother to all women.
She was said to be a beautiful, strong, kind caring woman.
And its just a very pretty name (why i like it)

Sadly the name has been ruined for the foreseeable future if not forever, thanks to the Islamic extremist group Isis.

This saddens me particularly as i always loved Isis since studying ancient Egypt in primary and secondary english and it was always on my baby names list for if i had a DD. I wouldn't saddle and child with the name Isis now as i think it would be unfair but i still like to remember the goddess Isis before her name got tainted.

However, as someone not religious or familiar with the bible i wouldn't think twice about naming a baby Cain (love the name, might well use it) or Jezebel for the negative biblical connotation (though i don't like Jezebel for other personal connotations that i cant help but think of and have a giggle about)

Zeelove - so do I!

should say studying in history not english

should say studying in history not english

You're right about Isis - it's a lovely name with (previously) good connotations!

I love the name Jude and really wanted to name my DS that. Until my gran told me Jude is the saint of lost causes. Then I went off it. I am especially glad I chose a different name for him now as he has some additional needs so Jude, the saint of lost causes would have been bit more of a kick in the teeth. In my opinion anyway. I still love the name. Just can’t bring myself to use it.

I must see things differently from most people because I think the saint of lost causes is a lovely thing to be named after. Sometimes i look at my children and think if everything was lost and i had no hope, having them might just pull me thru and if it didn't just knowing they had existed would give me comfort. I always loved Jude as a name and it was on my list for the boys and the girl - i like it for both.

Candida is a latin name meaning (shiny) white. In spanish it means pure/white. It's more common in latin speaking countries obviously, but "yeast infection" is not necessarily the inspiration for it,as some seem to assume.

I just don't understand why people use really common names. I mean who looks down at their cherished baby for the first time and says "yes, I'll call you John".

Chicken maybe because they know you don’t have to have an unusual name to be an individual and they like the name?
With regards to Ophelia and Cordelia as bad names because the characters died unpleasantly - I think their lives are more important. Ophelia was loved and well regarded. Cordelia was loyal and honest and brave.

Same reason people don't call kids 'Fanny' anymore, cultural and historical names change with times and current affairs affect people's views on them too. My name originally means 'the Blessed Virgin' and I'm anything but

@ChickenVindaloo2 DD has a very (old school) common name. As a result, there aren't any children in her age group with the same name. Actually there's only one other girl in the whole school with that name. None in the school I work at.
On the other hand there's Emily,Amelia and Amelie in her class.

@ChickenVindaloo2 DD has a very (old school) common name. As a result, there aren't any children in her age group with the same name. Actually there's only one other girl in the whole school with that name. None in the school I work at.
On the other hand there's Emily,Amelia and Amelie in her class.

@ChickenVindaloo2 DD has a very (old school) common name. As a result, there aren't any children in her age group with the same name. Actually there's only one other girl in the whole school with that name. None in the school I work at.
On the other hand there's Emily,Amelia and Amelie in her class.

@ChickenVindaloo2 DD has a very (old school) common name. As a result, there aren't any children in her age group with the same name. Actually there's only one other girl in the whole school with that name. None in the school I work at.
On the other hand there's Emily,Amelia and Amelie in her class.

ChickenVindaloo2
Is John common? Do you really know lots of little Johns?

Oh ffs didn't mean to post a billion times. It kept saying couldn't send,try again.

Hector has extremely positive connotations: the Iliad. The verb 'to hector' is very much a secondary meaning, given that the poem was composed several centuries before the development of the English language. I considered Hector as a name because I love the Homeric character (went with something else in the end, for various reasons).

doesn't Rachel means sheep or something?

I love names with meaning. Luckily my DH is Indian and we gave our kids Indian names which are pretty 'bespoke' (they're not made up per say, it's like a puzzle really, all the bits and pieces already exist but it's how you put it together that makes it unique) and certainly v meaningful. I like that v much.

Not so much a negative meaning but I have a real dislike for some double barrelled names, something rose, something may. We live In an area with a lot of travellers and some of the names both traveller and not are ridiculous, I. Feel sorry for some of theses kids when they become older, we all know how unkind kids can be!

Double barrelled first names are naff but better than two names joined.
cf Sarah Jane, Sarah-Jane and Sarahjane.