Is the meaning of a name important?

[carlottawales]

How important is the meaning of a name really?
Lots of websites use prettified and inaccurate meanings which don't ring true and some people actually base their choices on these.
Do meanings matter to you? If so, shouldn't you research first to check the accuracy.

DDs is ruler of the household - or French Girls version of Harry

DSs is the greatest

Never knew that until now so didn;t pick them for that reason just liked them - no isn;t important!

It's not very important but it is important.
DD1's name was picked for family reasons - but it means pearl, and we were living in Japan at the time, so that had a resonance for us.
DD2's name is a Cornish (my family is Cornish) feminine version of my FIL's name - so the direct meaning is not appropriate but the derivation very much so.

For us, the meaning of our daughter's name was a bonus. What really dictated our choice was that it's the name of a very admirable character in a play we both like. And it was the only name on which we could both agree ...

We have always looked up the meaning-but if the meaning wasn't that nice it wouldn't put me off a name if i really liked it.

We named DS3 Keenan which means little red one (or something along those lines).....he is very little for his age and does have strawberry blonde hair whilst his other siblings are all blonde!.....i think that is cute!

my dds names have different meanings in different references and different cultures.

i chose them because i like how they sound and because they are short and sweet. i still like them for those reasons.

i really think a child puts a character into a name and not the other way around

Yes. My DH vetoed Claudia because it is derived from Claud which means 'lame'! What an arse.

Nah - unless it means 'ugly little bastard' in latin or something like that! Or something rude in a foreigh language (say the name 'Anne Reed' to a Persian).

Junebug - I just vetoed Claudia for the same reason!
Also AMelia means Limbless.

I think meaning is fairly important.

Forgot to say- I am utterly obsessive about names!

Not really sure how important it is - expecting number 3 in Dec and one of the girls names we like can mean "bitter" in hebrew or "longed for child" in Aramaic. Don't feel partic put off by first meaning and the second has really helped indear the name to us - so who knows .

I'm not bothered by what they mean historically, but am bothered by what they make me think of now. I like Claudia, but I do think of 'clawed' which isn't nice, or the Italian pronunciation Cloudier. Similarly, I don't much like Harry or Harriet because of the meaning of the verb 'to harry' and 'harrier hawks'. While I like Constance, which has a lovely meaning, I'm not keen on Connie because it reminds me too much of a 'con'.

So I'm a bit obsessive and weird too.

Amelia doesn't mean limbless. It means "industrious, hardworking"

fanjolina - you're so right! Sorry, dunno where I picked that up from

singersgirl Dh says that about Connie too! (we were thinking of Constance for this one, but its a boy)

Personally I don't think it matters - if you're into that sort of thing then great, but don't let it worry you if the name you like has a negative meaning. Also, lots of these name books spout absolute drivel about what names 'mean'. I know a fair bit about Latin and ancient Greek, and some of the tripe they come up with about what names 'mean' in these languages is laughable.

Within a short while, your name will come simply to mean your child. I remember with DS, for the first few weeks it seemed really arbitrary to be attaching this word to this tiny little baby (especially as we chose quite a 'grown up' name), but now he couldn't be anything else. Go with what you like!

i think if you like the name enough to will ignore the meanign.
well i did, however i think i chose the name once dd was born and then saw the meaning. i did give me a little jolt but i dont dwell on it.

and she is a claudia

I think it is, yes, especially if you chose a more unusual name.

I really, really wanted dd to be Xanthe - it has quite an emotional personal association for me and dh understood and agreed........ however I then found out it meant Golden / Blonde and decided that as dh and I are both dark skinned and dark haired (as are our families) it would be almost impossible for us to have a blonde child.

As it was an unusual name, I had looked up the meaning thinking other people would ask (didn't really want to explain the emotional attachment to it, to people I didn't really know). I just dont think it would have 'looked right' IYKWIM.

(and dd is very dark haired and dark skinned, so we were right!)

Mind you later on I did hear a mother shouting "Ebony" at the top of her voice in a local supermarket..... and sniggered when this truely white blonde little girl then came running round the corner

Mousemate - you could always argue that a little Xanthe would be precious as gold, no matter what her hair colour. We loved that name too, I recall it was the name of a Greek mythology nymph from the yellow/golden end of the sun's spectrum. Something like that anyway, so not strictly blonde.

I like names with meaning or resonance, but also names that remind you of a person or character are great, even if the meaning is less appropriate. Ds2 shares a name with the 3rd Wise Man, but it would seem that wisdom is not currently something he has a great deal of .

There are always a few corkers out there with such specific and obvious meanings that it is wise to consider carefully. Same with names that are from different cultures and societies - perhaps need a little consideration as could cause endless grief over pronunciation/spelling etc. However, if the name means "from a hilly town" then surely you should not avoid it just because you concieved in Holland? Bit of common sense and don?t take it to real extremes I guess.

Dagnammit Wilbur wish we'd had this conversation 3 yrs ago! You are, of course, totally right - and I wish I'd thought of that!

(hmmmm good reason to ttc no 2? )

Oh and ds2 - very cool name!

Name comes first. If you like it AND it has a nice meaning, it is a bonus. Ds's names means 'Olive tree' or 'Olive something'. Wonder what it could be...just liked the name though. I may think twice if it had a really horrible meaning, although Jacob means 'usurper' and there's plenty of those arounds.