How important are "meanings"?

[DocHudson]

I put "meanings" because clearly a name is simply a moniker by which to identify and distinguish one person from another. Isn't it? Or do some people feel the "meaning" of their child's name will have a part to play in their life? So if you name your son George, would you be expecting him to become a farmer? Or if you name a child Belle, is that because you hope she will grow up to be beautiful? If the name means, bringer of death - will she? And if it means close to God, does she have to go to church a lot?

I ask because people on this board often refer to "nice meaning" or "don't like the meaning" and I wondered whether people believe the meaning will be intrinsic to their child's personality?

If that's true, then it's back to the drawing board for me...

My youngest daughter's middle name means Light. I knew this when I choose it. I had no expectations of her personality but she is my "light". She was delighted with the story when she asked how her name was chosen. She is very grown up now (smile)

I have no idea what names mean and tbh it's not something that interests me. I very simply either like a name or I don't! Some people do choose names based on meanings, but when asked dd name no one ever replies by telling me what it means!

Many names, especially newer ones, have no meanings.

However, a lot of names derived from Latin and Greek, do. And some of these have very obvious meanings! In that case, yes, they do matter in that many people will be aware of it and your child probably will also come across it.
For that reason I would avoid names with obvious negative meanings.

I think it depends on how well known the meaning is - I bet not that many people knew about the agriculture in the etymology of George.

But yes, it's a factor. If the meaning is unfortunate, they yes think carefully before using it.

(And I tend to think if Belle as the Fench version of Bella, which in Latin also means "of the war")

I don't think the meaning is going to influence the child's destiny in any way, but a really horrible meaning would put me off just because the child will come across it at some point and might be rather disappointed! If you choose an unusual name people will be much more likely to ask 'where does that come from?' 'What does it mean?', so you might want to keep that in mind too. Also, the other difficulty is that for many names the meaning is different in different name books/websites. Just goes to show really, it's not that important!

I have always been interested in the meaning of names and I do think it's quite important to give your child a name with a meaning that you like and which doesn't have any negative connotations. After all if they, one day, find out that their name means something really awful, they may develop a complex about it, or be subjected to bullying...

In some ways, people do grow into their names and certain names do come up against a lot of prejudice and that can significantly impact on how your child 'gets on' in life (as wrong as this is).

I know the meaning of my name and I like the back story. It actually encapsulates everything that I'm about...but I didn't realise this until I was a teenager (when I learned the meaning), there's no way my parents would have known this when I was born, but it's funny how it's worked out.

Yes, to me the meaning and the origin of the name would be important. I don't necessarily believe in any nominative determinism, but I think the name you give to a child is something that does reflect your ideas and wishes of and for the child - even if that's just a case of naming them after someone you love and respect, or the name having beautiful associations for you.

I like my own name, but it does have a pretty dragic story of origin, with a meaning close to loneliness and being separate. I've struggled a lot with depression and dissociation through my life. Certainly I don't think the two are actually related, but it does seem oddly appropriate...

^dragic = what happens when you change your mind from dramatic to tragic mid-word...

I am not into meaning in that sense ie. if the name means strong etc.
I like family names though. Our child is named after Dh father.

it depends on the name and how well it sounds and how well the meaning is known. a lot of irish names have tragic or not so nice meanings but I still love the sound of them..bronagh (bro..nah)means sorrowful one..siofra(she o frah) means fairy changeling child (evil nasty irish fairys not the disney type) the main traditional story of deirdre is tragic.