What makes a name?

I posted something similar on another forum and got a varying response. But I still can't stop thinking about what really makes a name.

I am really struggling to come up with or agree on any names if this baby is a boy. And honestly I am struggling with the whole idea of names and why we choose the names we do... Half the time they are just arbitrary sounds with little meaning to us and I think this is what am struggling with.

Have you ever thought about names in this fashion? What are your thoughts?

I don't take much notice of what a name means, I only go by how it sounds, and what images it evokes for me. Sometimes I look at babies and see a name - rarely the one they've actually been called ;) - and I think that if/when I have a baby of my own, if I saw a name when looking at my bub, I would throw aside the ones we've planned and use that one.

Can you wait and see what feels right when bub comes, even if it's not a traditional name?

Names for me need meanings. And I like family names.

For example my first son's name means strength. He needed strength when he was born early.

My second son's name is a family name meaning kingly ruler. Which suited his 10lb4oz babyness!

The other names I had for them just didn't suit.

Our girls names have always come to us. And they have always been the first ones said. Their names felt right, and like they fitted the baby growing inside of me. I dont take interest in what names mean because they mean something different in every book, website, or family meaning.

But what is a "traditional" name?

And Div, that make sense to me, but I guess it also opens up another question. Why do we use names and not just the word that it means... Does that make sense? Like the north American Indians, they would name a child something in their language that represented that person.

Urgh... I think too much!

I have an image of what my child will be like, and I also have an image associated with names... and they need to match or it's too foreign.

In a fantasy series I read, they names people for the virtues or traits they wanted the child to have. Historically, that's what a lot of names are. Verity - truth, Hope, Justice, Victory, Honour, Love, strength, Prudence. Or characteristics in nature: Rose, Bear, Lion, hill, valley, rock.

What's in any name? The history and evolution of culture and language to form and influence a person's identity.

For DS1, we had a short list. His eventual name was about 3 or 4 on the list. When we met him, he looked like his name. Coincidentally, it turns out he was born on a full moon in Leo, with ginger hair and a strong build. He was our little lion. For Ds2, he chose his name. DH and I had our preference, both started with J but neither were great. I liked the ooo sound for some reason. We played him a song and we felt he chose his name by kicking up a storm listening to it. I wasn't sure about it but it suited him too.

Mmm I know what you mean and I guess a lot of names do conjure up an image or impression good or bad depending on your personal experience with a name. Many names were off our list simply because I taught kids with the same name and didn't like it for whatever reason. We ended up with one name simply because we loved the sound of it, we felt it was timeless and loved that it could be shortened to a name we liked as well as the full name and then DS's name we loved for the same reasons but it is also a family name.

For me, the name has to have some significance to me. Going to a book and choosing is just too daunting, too much choice. We chose a name to reflect dh and my ethnic backgrounds so wasa short list. I Like the concept of the American Indians.

I tend to be similar to Div - it's more about the meaning of the name. We are also struggling with this bub - no idea what to call it.

I love the name Chloe - but it means "green shoot". So that's going to be a no for me because I don't really like that meaning. Beautiful name though!

As for why we don't just use the actual word - I'm not sure, I guess it's just tradition?

DD's name was from a song and was decided before we met her. Thankfully it really suited her and she knows when the song comes on its "her song". The song has lyrics which I felt strongly about. Her middle names are family names which are carried down through each generation.

This bub's name came to me in a dream when I was 12 weeks pregnant (girl name at 9 weeks).

When I do find a name I like I look up the meaning but because they can be so varied its not always the deciding factor for me

Our DS's name came in a round-about way.

Before I knew I was pregnant my Mother came to me in a dream (she had passed away the year before) She told me I was pregnant and that this baby would be a fighter.

We had a CVS procedure and a 10weeks I knew we were having a boy. We wanted a 'traditional' name but not a common one.

One day during my pregnancy I was reading the book Gone With the Wind when I came across the name Cade. He was a character in the book just briefly. I loved the sound of the name and knew that the Author had written the book in the late 1800's, so it definately fit the 'traditional' name by my way of thinking.

Then I looked up the meaning of the name and wouldn't you know, the meaning was 'little battler'. That was it for me. Mum said he would be a fighter and its exactly what his name meant. It was meant to be.

For me, a name is just a random grouping of sounds that is known generally as a name (eg, apple & suri are sounds but are not names IMO). DH likes traditional names - as in names that have been commonly used throughout history as he knows it (so the common names of 1980 lol). So Jay was in as he knew a Jay growing up but Mabel was out as "too old-fashioned".

We choose names that were traditional in the sense that they have been known to be used as names in the past and that we liked the sound of. I particularly like the "ay" sound. Many of the names on my list had that sound. Meanings never came into my decision although I have looked them up. DS's combined name means a barrel maker from the valley of hay. Not exactly awe inspiring :lol: I can't recall DD's. Something about a tree. ETA: I googled it & got several different meanings. The one I like best is hard-working tree.

I think of traditional names as names that have been used comonly as names by prior generations on an ongoing basis. For english speaking australians, these would probably be names like Mary, Elizabeth, Jane, Margaret, Rosemary, Hannah, Catherine, Charlotte, Sophie, William, Charles, Henry, Robert, Donald, Alexander, Richard, Benjamin, Joseph etc. Obviously other cultures and countries would have their own traditional names.

i wouldnt know the meaning of my sons names.
DJ was named after a friend of DH's who changed DH's view and was a good person one middle name is my maiden name - to honer my father (still living but first grandshild/grandson)
Vic's name was that of my grandfather and and uncle that had passed but i felt very close to and looked up to. plus DH's grandfathers name.

If we had another boy at least one name would be that of DH's cousin (living) because he has no children and has overcome alot but it the most amazing person dispite it.

To me, in this thread, a traditional name is kind of exactly what you've said - why do we use names instead of meanings? So, rather than calling your baby a name with a meaning, which is traditional, call your baby the meaning instead, or some variant that you're happy with!

At the end of the day, it's your baby. Make up a name! :)

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I tend to be similar to Div - it's more about the meaning of the name. We are also struggling with this bub - no idea what to call it.

I love the name Chloe - but it means "green shoot". So that's going to be a no for me because I don't really like that meaning. Beautiful name though!

As for why we don't just use the actual word - I'm not sure, I guess it's just tradition?

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I'm the same. I have to go by the meaning of the name. Funnily enough I used Chloe, because to me it signified a new start, a part of us starting a new path, a fresh shoot off the tree :)

Also we had a few names but when she was born we chose on how she was :) a determined strong little person!

Ohh its a hard one!

For me my Son's name was about meaning, and about heritage.

I wanted a name that matched his personality, and had to be a little about his heritage.

We chose Aidan for the following reasons:

* It means Little Fiery One. He was very hard to birth and put up a fight the whole time
* He was born in November (Scorpio) in the year of the Tiger so has a good fighting spirit and a fiery nature....which is him to a tee! LOL
* Aidan is also an Irish name. My Husband's family is from Ireland and Isle of Man.

But - in saying all these things. A name can be what ever you want it to be - it doesn't have to mean anything or be because of anything :)

Best of luck choosing!

My older girls names didn't have much meaning. I was young & just didn't think that much into it. DD1 shares a middle name with a cousin I hardly know (I did do that on puyrpose, I wanted some sort of family name in there & it was the only one I liked). DD2's middle name was more to suit DD1's first name (both flower names).

DS & DD3 had a bit more meaning, middle names more. DS's name had been a fave of ex's for as long as he could remember. We were going to use his only uncle's (dec) name for a middle name, but MIL didn't want us to, as all 3 in the family with that name had passed at a young age, including a baby of hers at 3 months old. So she thinks its a bad luck name.
Instead we gave him FIL's middle name. To let FIL know how much he means to us. He's ex's step dad, but the 'step' word is never used or considered. Its also his fathers middle name, my uncles middle name & my cousins middle name :)

DD3's middle name is my grandmothers name, FIL's mothers name & SIL's middle name. Her first name is just a name we finally agreed on, that wasn't on our list at all, the day after she was born.

I do wish I'd put a bit more meaning into the older girls names, but the names suit them. They're names that will grow with them. They all have middle names they can use that are more 'traditional' & 'strong' sounding if they want to go that way.