Love the Name, but Hate the Meaning?

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-05-2003
Love the Name, but Hate the Meaning?
12
Thu, 11-04-2004 - 4:49pm

Hey Folks,


More and more I am running across names that I love, but then when I look up the meaning, I'm flabbergasted. Who on earth would want to name their child that considering what it means? But I guess some people just don't pay attention to meaning. Here are some beautiful names with rather odd or not-so-wonderful meanings:


Cory/Corey=Hollow
Malory=Bad luck
Braeden=From the Dark Valley
Cecilia, Sheila=Blind
Alden=Of Old Age
Mary=Bitter

Anyone else out there surprised by great names with not-so-great meanings?


smaudking :o)


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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-05-2004
Thu, 11-04-2004 - 4:57pm
yes! i'm surprised Mary means bitter .. that name's been around forever! i'm one for meanings too.
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-04-2003
Thu, 11-04-2004 - 5:34pm
I'm not surprised in the least.. in some cultures (not America's obviously) it's common to give your child a name that means something bad to draw attention away from it so it thrives, rather than being snatched back by God. In other's it's more common to give a name praising God, so that he takes special interest in the child.

Personally I prefer happy meanings to bad or sad ones, but one of my favorite names in the world right now is Magdalena, which means tower, but has a bad association due to Mary Magdalene in the bible.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-05-2004
Thu, 11-04-2004 - 5:50pm
and i suppose Mary was intended to have attention drawn away from her in protection of Jesus as a baby/boy. makes sense.

another lovely sounding name is Delilah.. met someone named Delilah, i told her so pretty, and it is. but heard one guy, not meaning anything bad, he just blurted, that's a bad name (in association to infamous name.) though she knew, hurt her. i wouldnt give that name, be like giving Jezebel (another that sounds cool, but very bad association.)

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-05-2004
Thu, 11-04-2004 - 5:52pm
My baby name book says that Cameron means "crooked nose" and Campbell means "crooked mouth." I always thought that was kind of funny. A meaning like that would never keep me from using a name if I liked it, though.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-05-2004
Thu, 11-04-2004 - 5:57pm
well... Kirk Cameron didnt have a crooked nose! (and if he did he'd probably still have been cute on Growing Pains!) lol
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Thu, 11-04-2004 - 6:05pm
When we had our 4th Daughter We did not name her until I gave birth...We actually had NO clue what we were going to name the baby at all. Then my husband blurted out Mallory & thats what we ended up naming her , it was not until a week or so later That I relized what the meaning was & felt Really bad ( unlucky) that we named he that. I still love her name now & I could not see her with another name...BUT we have deffinetly put more thought into the last two childrens name.

Julie

Baby#6

Jarrett Stephen Edd 1/08/05

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-13-2003
Thu, 11-04-2004 - 6:55pm
I know the cutest little 3 yr old named Claudia...unfortunately it means 'lame' guess her parents never looked into that one...

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-28-2004
Thu, 11-04-2004 - 7:28pm
The first name of thought of when I saw this heading was Delaney. I think it is such a beautiful name but it means "enemy's child" or "devil's child" depending on where you look.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-28-2004
Thu, 11-04-2004 - 7:54pm

Yes!


I've always loved the name Portia, but can't get past the fact that it means "pig".


 


Avatar for amykrisb
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-30-2003
Thu, 11-04-2004 - 7:55pm
I read in a baby book that Allison means "son of Alice" and the author said she was always so surprised that people kept giving this boys' name to girls. I was rather disappointed to learn that, as I really like Allison (actually Alison) for a girl.

Madison too means "son of" something, according to the same author.

Apparently, I am behind in looking up meanings of names, because I was unaware of the negative meanings of Mallory and Delaney and I really like those names!

--Amy (beloved...I guess my parents looked that one up!)

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