'Serpent' - Do name meanings matter?

[MiniEdwards]

I have fallen in love with a name, but the meaning of it isn't great... it
means 'serpent' .

What do people think about choosing a baby name which doesn't mean something wonderful, glorious, and perfect etc!?

Does anyone in life really actually care what your name means?

Or would I be jinxing them from birth?!

@StockTakeFucks
Orange was she British out of curiosity?

Yes. And just of an age where her parents probably remembered hearing it somewhere and thinking it was a nice sounding name, long before Google was a thing.

'Ophelia' doesn't mean 'serpent'. I looked it up and found:

"Derived from Greek οφελος (ophelos) meaning "help". This name was probably created by the 15th-century poet Jacopo Sannazaro for a character in his poem 'Arcadia'. It was borrowed by Shakespeare for his play 'Hamlet' (1600), in which it belongs to Hamlet's lover who eventually goes insane and drowns herself. In spite of this, the name has been used since the 19th century."

It does mean serpentine. “the meaning of the name Ophelia is: Serpentine”. The “help” meaning is there as well, but so is serpentine.

Wasn't there a thread not too long ago where a poster actually wanted to name their child serpent? Or was it something similar like? I thought you were that poster for a second, OP

I'd prefer a pretty name which means serpent rather than mine which means beaver meadow!

Beverley?

Yes, I think it was a place name first, then a surname, and then a first name.

One of my middle names is Linda which apparently means snake or serpent. Yep it put me off the name.

I don't think the meaning of a name matters at all.

@june2007 it means pretty/lovely in Spanish! ‘¡Que linda!’ Means ‘how pretty!’. I think that’s a lovely name to have with a lovely translation

Linda is a nice name, it means cute, pretty.

I think it's very important. Sooner or later they will be curious to learn more about their name and may be disappointed when they realise it's bad or nothing special.
I've travelled a lot and in many countries I was frequently asked about the meaning of my name and likewise told the meaning of the person's name.

My youngest is Claudia which means lame after a Roman emperor who was crippled. But he was apparently an awesome leader so I tKe no notice of how or why the name has ended up with its final meaning. It did worry me a bit when pregnant but then I soon realised I had no idea what the meaning was for either of my other children and I'm glad it didn't put me off.

Is the name Belinda or Rosalind? ‘Linde’ means serpent in archaic German but I don’t think most people would know that or associate either name with a serpent.

I don’t think most people know or care what names mean so I wouldn’t worry about it.

Is it Phineas? I like it regardless. Ophelia, no, because she is such a weak character.

It wouldn't put me off a name Ioved.

Actually, I think to have the meaning snake tied to ones name is very powerful.

There is meaning and there is symbolism. Snake has the ability to change it’s skin literally the symbol for transformation, snake is the symbol of healing, this is transcultural. Instead of focusing on ‘meaning’ google ‘What does snake symbolise.’

If snake symbolises something negative to you then don’t use it.