ive seen on multiple baby names site articles that people have disputed the true meaning of [name_f]Claudia[/name_f]/[name_m]Claudius[/name_m] being something other than lame.
however they never mention what people think it means.
does anyone know?
I read that researchers now think that the name [name_f]Claudia[/name_f] does not come from the latin word claudus (lame) but they also do not know yet what the true meaning is. Some name pages also explain that the name probably comes from the house of [name_f]Claudia[/name_f] which has been a patrician house at [name_m]Rome[/name_m].
I think it’s pretty unlikely that it’s anything other than “lame.” [name_f]Every[/name_f] reliable source I know of connects the [name_m]Claud[/name_m]- family of names with “lame.” A name’s meaning may not be good, but that doesn’t mean it’s not the “true meaning.” Some names have crappy origins. People don’t want the name they love to have an undesirable meaning, so they’ll assign meanings that are unrelated but more complementary (case in point: [name_m]Declan[/name_m] and “full of goodness.” No one knows [name_m]Declan[/name_m]'s meaning. Ditto for [name_m]Dashiell[/name_m] meaning “from heaven.”)
In reality, [name_f]Claudia[/name_f] is probably an apotropaic name, meaning that it’s a name with an intentionally bad meaning. The bad meaning is an attempt to trick spirits from harming the child. (Short article here: Apotropaic Baby Names - Baby Names)