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ArchivesRe: please give me answer
in reply to a message by kazuko
Most English-speaking people select names that they think sound n ice or are fashionable - often the same thing, of course.
It's pretty rare for them to pick a name because of its meaning, or to find out the meaning once they've picked a name.
Which is strange, because once children find out that they've got names with real meanings, they get fascinated: "My name's Philippa, so that means that I love horses!" OK, it's very naive, but if it can get them hooked on etymology as well as being fun, it's a bonus.
I know a woman whose mother-in-law was Ellen, and whn she had a daughter, she was under a lot of pressure to name her Ellen after her granny, who never had a daughter of her own. She hated the name, and wasn't too impressed by its owner either, so she named her daugher Laine after her best friend, Elaine. Twenty years later, she discovered by chance that the names are identical. This would have cheered up her mother-in-law no end if she'd only known!
It's pretty rare for them to pick a name because of its meaning, or to find out the meaning once they've picked a name.
Which is strange, because once children find out that they've got names with real meanings, they get fascinated: "My name's Philippa, so that means that I love horses!" OK, it's very naive, but if it can get them hooked on etymology as well as being fun, it's a bonus.
I know a woman whose mother-in-law was Ellen, and whn she had a daughter, she was under a lot of pressure to name her Ellen after her granny, who never had a daughter of her own. She hated the name, and wasn't too impressed by its owner either, so she named her daugher Laine after her best friend, Elaine. Twenty years later, she discovered by chance that the names are identical. This would have cheered up her mother-in-law no end if she'd only known!
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