Category: Meanings of Baby Names
Good Names with Bad, Bad Meanings
A visitor to our forums posed this question to the Berries: Would you give your child a name, a wonderful name that you truly love, if it had a negative meaning? How meaningful is the root meaning of a name, anyway?
The name in question was Kennedy, a name that has so much going for it: illustrious relatives, a stylish surname feel, a rhythmic sound, and growing popularity.
Some websites will try to tell you that Kennedy means “royal” or “loving” but it doesn’t. It means “misshapen head.” And that is the problem.
Or it’s the problem when, in fourth grade, the teacher decides to have the class do oral reports on their names: Where they came from, what they mean. And poor “misshapen head” is forced to announce her name’s unfortunate meaning in front of the whole class.
Baby Name Backstories: Hidden meanings and secret significance
In this week’s Nameberry 9, Appellation Mountain‘s Abby Sandel talks about names with some personal significance that’s not necessarily obvious on the surface.
Sometimes the craziest name becomes instantly charming the second we learn the backstory. Meaning matters, and I’m always impressed when parents take the time to seek out names rich with personal significance.
Passing down family names is great, but this idea takes it one step further. It’s a process of thinking about what’s important to your family. Favorite places, artists, experiences that signify something about the pregnancy. Think of Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt’s middle name, inspired by architect Jean Nouvel, or Zuma Rossdale, possibly a nod to a Malibu beach important to his dad.
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Twin Names: More individual names with shared meanings
One of our favorite twin names blogs ever was on distinct names that had shared meanings: Esme and Imogen, which both mean beloved, for instance, or Asher and Felix, which mean happy.
So we’ve decided to reprise the idea with a whole raft of new pairs of twin names. As before, the idea is to choose names that are compatible yet clearly individual — no shared first initials or other overly-obvious links — yet that are joined in a more subtle way by a common meaning.
In the girl-boy pairs below, the girl’s name goes first as per Nameberry style; in single-gender pairs, the names are organized alphabetically.
Happy New Year Baby Names
The ringing in of a new year brings with it a sense of fresh beginnings, a new dawn dawning, and bright hopes for the future. And so with that in mind, and with our warmest wishes to all of you for a great year, we once again offer some names drawn from a variety of cultures that suggest those very things–and all of them appropriate for a New Year’s baby.
NAMES THAT MEAN HOPE
ARRAYAH
NOZOMI
SPERANZA
NAMES THAT MEAN DAWN
Christmas Baby Names
It’s now an annual nameberry holiday tradition, presenting the comprehensive blog written for us by Elisabeth Wilborn, creator of the wonderful name blog youcantcallitit.com, so here it is!
Christmas seems to arrive sooner every year. Once again, I am running frantically to cross things off the list, get the baking done, trim the tree (first we have to get that tree…), and find the ever elusive Christmas stockings before it’s too late. Some may have bigger –or smaller– things on their minds this season. An impending birth, perhaps? If your new child shares a birthday with the most famous baby in the world, you may be tempted to incorporate the season somehow into their name. There’s a lot more to holiday baby naming than Nicholas and Noel. Here are a few ideas that might help broaden the list:
Names related to the Holy Family and the birth of Jesus:
Balthasar, Balthazar- One of the Magi
Casper, Gaspard, Jasper- While he doesn’t appear in the Bible, this is also said to be the name (here in several versions) of one of the three wise men
Christian, Christine, Christina, Christopher, Christabel (girl) and Cristobal (boy) – Followers of Christ
Emmanuel for a boy, or Emmanuelle, for a girl
Epiphany- For the celebration just following that commemorates the visit of the Magi
Estelle, Estella, Estrella, Esther, Seren, Stella- All have meaning related to “star”
Eve- For the night before
Joseph, Josepha, Josephine (also cognates Giuseppe and Jozef)
Yeshua- Other versions of the name Jesus
Maria, Mary- The mother. Miriam is also etymologically linked to this name
Melchior- The third king to visit Jesus
Natalia, Natalie- Derived from natal which means “birth”, Natale is the Italian word for Christmas; Natasha is an Eastern European nickname for Natalia
North- After the guiding North Star
Theodore/a, Dorothea, Dorothy- “Gift of God”
Virginia- There are any number of names that represent the Virgin Mary. Plus you can say to her, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”
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