Meanings of the names -are they not important?

[MUMOF5]

There are also so many differences and variants of meanings when you look them up on different sites and books. I looked up the name Molly earlier, and one website said it meant 'longed for child' and another said it meant 'bitter' ,I also looked up Brody, one site said it meant 'second son' and another said it meant 'muddy ditch'.

 

[Lara310809]

Name meanings are important to me; I can't use a name that has a bad or negative meaning. For example there was an actor and his name was Tam, short for Tamlyn. That's a cool name, I thought, but turns out it means "dirty little thing" - hmmm, maybe not I wouldn't name my kids anything obviously religious, because that's not who I am and in all honesty I don't want the questions of "so why did you name your baby Christian if you're not one?"

My kids names are both positive, meaning "green shoot" (as in something new growing), and "light" respectively.

I suppose you could say that its because I am not Christian so I had no idea haha. I say that only because it made me laugh kind of in an inside joke kind of way. I am not Christian and therefore I couldn't tell you if there was a name on my list that was Chistian let alone part of any religion across the globe.

TBF a lot of different names are used in the bible, and since I haven't read it I have no idea about half of them; this week I found out that apparently there is a Chloe in there, and thats the name we chose for our eldest. I've given up on discreetly biblical/religious names now, because there are so many, so I'll just steer clear if the more obvious ones - Jesus, Joseph, Mary, Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel...

As for Amelia, I was blissfully unaware of that, but I agree it is an unfortunate meaning. there are other meanings for it too though; apparently from the German "amal" meaning work, industrious, and fertile. Another site said defender and striving. Those aren't so bad. And I hadn't heard if the serial killer; I suppose it depends on where you grow up and live though, as to the connotations you get with different names. My only objection to Amelia is that it's so overused in the UK (where I'm from).

As for Cohen; I love that name, but I'm not Jewish. Sad to think that you can offend someone with your name choices

 

[onetwothreebp]

read the link, its a highly religious Jewish name that can only be given to people that have a pure bloodline (basically a specific race of people that has been humanly created) and highly offensive for a non Jewish person to use... you might aswell call your kid the Pope

Hmm, I never knew that. Good to know!

I love the name but I would never want to offend a culture by choosing it.

 

[Indi84]

Not massively important to me, but I'd look the meaning up first. My lo's name means blonde warrior, I was convinced he'd be blonde though and he has a mass of very light blonde hair, phew ;-) I also picked it though cos it has Scottish roots, and does lo. Sad about the meaning of Cameron, has put me right off!

 

[JJKCB]

read the link, its a highly religious Jewish name that can only be given to people that have a pure bloodline (basically a specific race of people that has been humanly created) and highly offensive for a non Jewish person to use... you might aswell call your kid the Pope

Hmm, I never knew that. Good to know!

I love the name but I would never want to offend a culture by choosing it.

I think its always hard, I didn't know of it until recently either but its often harder as sooo many modern names have Hebrew roots as well so its awkward to know whats ok to use since its not my religion

 

[stiletto_mom]

Meaning is very important to me. Also to choose a secular name.

 

[Varenne]

Cameron means crooked nose. I haven't been able to think of people with the name in quite the same way since I learnt that! Poor little Camerons!

As far as I'm aware Tristan either means "loud noise" or "sad" (like the French, triste)

Bryony is a poisonous weed, and Damian has connotations with the devil.

Anyone who knew the meaning would have that in their minds (and no, I'm not religious, but it's still not a great thought!)

Besides, having a good meaning behind your name adds a nice dimension to your self-identity I think, in a very small way of course. I love that my name means "the greatest fruit garden" rather than "murderer" or "crooked nose" or something!

I will definitely avoid names with bad meanings when there are so many with lovely meanings.

 

[Varenne]

It's up to you how much you read into a names meaning, for instance a current very popular name is Amelia....which means a deformity of a limb, or birth defect in medical terms, most people who name their child that probably either don't know or don't care, it personally puts me off what is otherwise a very pretty name...but only as I work within the medical profession and a lot of my associates/friends are aware of the meaning.

As long as its nothing horrific I'm not too fussed about a name meaning being attributed to a personality....that's got nothing to do with your name IMO.

I've never heard the limb thing. Every source I've ever encountered gives the meaning as "industrious, hard working"

 

[Varenne]

not a nice name link and yet people go on about my sons name because its a 'mythical' character that murdered his brother... and why would I name my child after a killer

Yeah, but that particular story book has influenced peoples thinking for thousands of years! Most educated people are familiar with it and its characters. Honestly, I do think of the Cain of the bible, mark of Cain etc. It was taught to me as a child.

 

[onetwothreebp]

I am not religious in the slightest and the only Cain I've heard is the Biblical one. It was definitely a brave choice to name your son that.

Asher means 'happy' and it certainly fits him!

 

[LoolaBear]

to mean meaning behind the name is more on a personal level but i do like to think that the names i choose have a 'nice meaning' behind them as well as the more deeply rooted meanings.

 

[AP]

Tori's name hasn't got a reason or meaning as such, we just liked it, and it was short and "nickname" I guess, like her older sister Alex.

We didn't mean to, but they are quite royal names if you think about the traditional versions (Alexandra and Victoria)

Alex was a common name,many Alexanders and Sandra's in our families, so I liked it for that reason, and it has the same meaning as mine

 

[Proserpina]

Jesus is a very common name in some parts, I bet not all are religious though

I'm aware that Jesús is very common in Spanish-speaking countries (not sure about others), but the origins of that are still religious. Those are all countries with huge Catholic populations. Certainly there are avowed non-religious types who use the name now, but only because it migrated over from the predominant Catholic culture. (Just like the names Isaiah, John, Paul, Mary, and Micah no longer have religious connotations in Western English-speaking countries.)

Re: Cohen, it's not a given name to Jews/Israelis, it's a surname from the Hebrew word for "priest." Many Jews believe that people with the Cohen surname are the remnants of the tribe of Levi, the priestly order. You wouldn't name your kid "Cohen" because priesthood is given by God, not your parents.

I think that Cohen sounds awesome, I love the meaning, and I'm not attacking anyone for liking it. I'm not Jewish myself. I just know that some Jews find it offensive that a lot of non-Jewish (and often non-religious) people are using "Cohen" as a given name when it's kind of a sacred term for them.

 

[Mocha_Baby XD]

I believe the meaning of a name is important =), When we found out we were having a daughter i didn't want her to have a "fad" type of name. We decided on Freya because of the goddess Freya, at least when our daughter looks up the meaning of her name she'll see that she was named after a goddess =). Funnily enough our daughter loves cats, and the goddess Freya rode a chariot drawn by cats

 

[AP]

Was just having a look

Alexandra:

Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "protector of man"

Victoria

Victoria is the Latin word for 'victory' or 'conquer' and is used as the feminine form corresponding to the name Victor.
In Roman mythology, Victoria was the name of the goddess of victory, corresponding to the Greek goddess Nike.

She was a victory she was term

 

[JJKCB]

I believe the meaning of a name is important =), When we found out we were having a daughter i didn't want her to have a "fad" type of name. We decided on Freya because of the goddess Freya, at least when our daughter looks up the meaning of her name she'll see that she was named after a goddess =). Funnily enough our daughter loves cats, and the goddess Freya rode a chariot drawn by cats

lol I didn't know that

my sister in law has a cat called Freya lol they had picked Loki but ended up with her just feeling like a Freya apparently so they named one of their birds Loki instead

 

[Varenne]

Re: Cohen, it's not a given name to Jews/Israelis, it's a surname from the Hebrew word for "priest." Many Jews believe that people with the Cohen surname are the remnants of the tribe of Levi, the priestly order. You wouldn't name your kid "Cohen" because priesthood is given by God, not your parents.

Good job I don't believe in that stuff!

 

[xprincessx]

I could never use something morbid but generally name meanings don't bother me.

I know Callum means 'dove' which symbolises peace but it couldn't be further from the truth

 

[HHenderson]

With my first it didnt matter because her daddy named her. She has his initials and he sort of made her first name and the middle name had to be an S and he only liked Shea to go with her first name. This time around Im due Aug 29 and my daughters name is picked out and her middle name is from Sapphire because of her being a virgo but if she is early she might be a Leo so we have a back up just in case. And the back up also means something because she will be born in the summer as well. Still not too many choices because were keeping with the KSH theme. I have KSH, KSH2 now KSH3. LOL At least thats what my shopping list looks like.

 

[Butterball Ma]

Tori's name hasn't got a reason or meaning as such, we just liked it, and it was short and "nickname" I guess, like her older sister Alex.

We didn't mean to, but they are quite royal names if you think about the traditional versions (Alexandra and Victoria)

Alex was a common name,many Alexanders and Sandra's in our families, so I liked it for that reason, and it has the same meaning as mine

We have a Victoria "Tori," too...

I don't find a meaning and then search for an associated name, but I always look up the meanings of names. But that's how I am, I am kind of a word/name geek. I am fascinated by historical connotations. My DD's father wanted to name her after me (Nicole--victory), which I stopped due to its over-popularity. Victoria, though, also means victory, but is less common (at least here).

DD wanted to name this baby Danielle if he were a girl. It's a bit common for me, but I considered it, until I found out it means "God is my judge." That is fine for devout Christian families, but I feel that it would be an affront for us to use that name.

Which leads me to my nephew, Christian, who has never been to church. It's such an odd name choice to me, in that case.

Anyway, most people have no idea what the meanings of names are, unless they're pretty obvious. So yeah, it's probably not that big of a deal if your kid's name means "grasshopper who can't jump," it's just something that interests me.