Do you consider meanings when choosing names?

Just curious on how most people approach their baby names. The meanings of words are just as important to me as how nice the names sound together, but I was curious how other people think of names to use. Do you study meanings? Are you honoring a relative? Do you just like how the name sounds? Something else?



Just curious. No right or wrong answers. Thank you. :)Do you consider meanings when choosing names?
I definitely do not consider meanings when choosing my favorite baby names, and I'll tell you why. First of all, the word "meaning" is hardly accurate because rarely are names a literal translation in another language. (Lux actually means "light" in Latin and Natale literally translates to "Christmas" in Italian, but does Ashley literally mean "of the ash fields" in English? Not so much. I speak English and so do you, and we can attest that this is not a literal translation.) So basically, a number of the so called "meanings" have been affected my time and interpretation; anyone who studies linguistics knows that languages evolve and therefore so does the context in which words are used.



Additionally, many of the "meanings" come from name sites like babynames.com or behindthename.com, which are fantastic websites, but they're not academic or even credible sources. Anyone can purchase a domain name and post anything they want on any website, so how do you know for sure that what you're reading it accurate?



According to babynames.com, the female name Amira is Arabic in origin and means "rich" or "cultivated". But Arabic has a completely different set of characters than we use in English, so how can you be sure? And does the owner of babynames.com actually read and write Arabic? No. It's more likely that she/he just took this meaning from another baby names website.



For me, it's very important that the names sound good with the given last name and honor family members. Meanings, in my opinion, hold very little influence to me actually using or not using the name. The only exception would be, as mentioned above, if the name literally translated to a word in a language I am familiar with like Spanish or French.



I hope no one's offended at what I wrote. I realize I'm in the minority and that probably 95% of people do consider the name's "meaning" before choosing a name. This is just my opinion. :]
I find the meanings of names very intriguing, but certainly wouldn't let them put me off an individual name. If a name sounded gorgeous but it meant 'evil serial killer' then I would still go for it! Honestly! :)



Thankfully, most of my favourite names have attractive meanings. However, I do love the name Amelia which means 'work'. Not exactly very pretty, but at least it's not 'lazy'! :)



I would never name a child after one of my relatives, however much I may have liked them. I think a child should be allowed to develop their own personality, and not be compared to someone else just because they share a name. (This may sound silly, but people constantly compare my mother to my great aunt, just because they share the same name!) Also, when the person dies, it could be upsetting for the child as they may feel particularly attached to that person, because of their namesake.



Hope this helps! :)Do you consider meanings when choosing names?
I do like to know the meanings of the names on my list, but it doesn't affect how much I like it really. I still have names with really bad meanings on my list, like Kennedy/Kennadie which means "Unattractive; Ugly Head" so it doesn't make me like it any less. On the other hand, finding out that a name that I like has a really cool meaning just makes me like it even more. My daughter's name means "Little Dragon" which I think is awesome. My other daughter's name means "Queen" which is cool too.



We always honor family with the middle names. My first daughter has my middle name, which is also my mother's, my grandmother's, and my great grandmother's first name: Marie. My second daughter has my mother's middle name (and the one she uses): Louise. If we have a third daughter, she'll get either my first name: Emilie, my mother's second middle name: Christine, or my grandmother's middle name: Theresa. My sons have names from their father's side: James and Garrett. If we have a third, the name is coming from my side and will be either Allen, Terry (my father's first and middle name), or Charles (grandfather's middle name).



Most of all though, I just like how the name sounds in general. Spelling is really important to me. And I refuse to use anything in the Top 10 and try to avoid the Top 100 at least. I don't want something common at all, though I gave in with my youngest.



Jason Alexander and Emily Marie (my husband and mine's names)

Caida Marie (18)

Micaiah James "Ciah" (15)

Raena Louise (4)

Elijah Garrett "Lijah" (18 months)



TTC #5 - Alaina Christine "Lainey", Hannah Emilie, Jacey Theresa, Isaiah Charles, Ephrem Terry, or Fraser AllenDo you consider meanings when choosing names?
My parents named me after my grandmother but it does happen to mean Pearl which I think is nice. On the other hand, my sister's name means "Little dark one" and she has blonde hair. I do consider meanings though.



Edit: No her name is Kerry. :) It comes from the county Ciarra铆 here in Ireland and the names Ciar谩n and Ciara. She has brown eyes too and is a little dark in nature so maybe the name rings true anyway!
Bit off everything really



I would like to honor Family like calling a son Robin after my dad Robert



and some names i Love the meanings



but i like names like Thor which sometimes have hard meanigs like 'Thunder'



but i would use Thorben as the meanings softer (Thor's bear)
Well I personally would look at what the name meant, just in case the name didn't have a nice meaning. But i wouldn't choose a name because of the meaning. :)
Yes. Names can be rejected because of meaning, A euphonious flow is a must as well, and as an after thought, do the initials spell something awful - I once knew an old lady whose initials were ef*U*kay - poor planning imo