Does name origin and meaning, make or break what to name a child?

Not necessarily. Origin is certainly a consideration, at least to a point, but it's not the ONLY factor. For instance, an obviously Italian or Arabic name would likely seem quite odd with my Irish surname, but that doesn't rule out ALL names that aren't Irish. Scottish and Welsh names seem perfectly normal choices, as do purely classic options (Eleanor, Catherine, Matilda, Alice, etc.) regardless of origin.





And as far as meaning is concerned, it would have to be fairly extreme to truly affect my decision. If I loved a name with a really negative meaning, for example, it *might* be enough to make me look into other options. Likewise, if I happened to be torn between two names I loved equally, one having a particularly great (or poor LOL) meaning would likely tip the scales one way or the other.





So while I certainly wouldn't say the origin and meaning definitively makes or breaks a name, they CAN be a consideration. ;)

Does name origin and meaning, make or break what to name a child?
Yes, yes, YES!!! Read the Bible, Shakespeare or any great novel. Would Scarlett O'Hara ever been the character she was if her name had been something like Jane Brown? I don't think so.
Reply:Sure it does. You don't want everybody to think your son is slow because you named him Brady.
Reply:Not necessarily, but it could cause the child problems later on. I mean, if you have a little ginger baby (red headed child)and name it Chang-Lee McDougal...yeah, that may bring the kid a few headaches.





As far as 'meaning' goes....unless you name the kid something like 'Serenity'...most people don't know what names actually mean.
Reply:I think that what people chose to name thier children can be based on several different things, some do take origins of names into consideration as they may want thier children to have names that are along thier heritage, irish, german ect.. most people don't always know what the meaning of someones name is unless they look it up, so meaning of a name is something that unless you really don't like what it says when you find the name doesn't matter, not everyone is like thier name says :) Although in my daughters case she lives very much up to the meaning of her name :) Her name is Keegan = fiery one





I say go with what sounds right to you and what you like and just keep in mind that really when naming a child you need to think of the types of nicknames that they can be called later in life as well.
Reply:No. It just gives it a nice original feel to the name.
Reply:Each of my children were named 2 ways - I liked the name, I liked the meaning of the name. If we came across a meaning we didn't like, we found a new name. So for our family, yes, it was a big deal.


One of our children has a name who's meaning is completely different than why we chose the name ... the name itself was chosen for a special reason, so in that case, the meaning didn't matter. But it did help. :)





Best Wishes