Question of the Week: How meaningful is meaning?

Question of the Week: How meaningful is meaning?

Some parents put a lot of  stock in the etymological definitions of names, while others brush that element aside as having little to do with a name’s real meaning and image in the modern world.

So, our question today is: how important a factor is the literal meaning to you when considering your name choices?

Would or did you actively seek out a name that means, say, strength or hope or love or beauty?

Would you rule out a name with a negative meaning, such as “pig” (Portia)  or “crooked nose” (Cameron) or “crooked mouth” (Campbell)  or “misshapen head” (Kennedy) or “bald” (Calvin), on the chance that your child will constantly be checking himself in the mirror for signs of a prophecy bestowed?

Or is this way down on your list of considerations—or maybe not even there at all?

NAMEBERRY WANTS TO KNOW!

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About the Author

Linda Rosenkrantz

Linda Rosenkrantz

Linda Rosenkrantz is the co-founder of Nameberry, and co-author with Pamela Redmond of the ten baby naming books acknowledged to have revolutionized American baby naming. You can follow her personally at InstagramTwitter and Facebook. She is also the author of the highly acclaimed New York Review Books Classics novel Talk and a number of other books.