My husband’s late mother was called [name]Cecily[/name] which is such a pretty name and I had always thought that it would be nice to include in one of the names of our little girl. But the meaning of the name is Blind so I just can’t bring myself to use it…
Then there is [name]Elodie[/name] - a lovely French sounding name which is name of a [name]Saint[/name]. But this was a saint that was beheaded at a young age in a really gruesome manner!
Am I thinking too much about the meanings of the name or do you feel the same?
To me, it doesn’t matter much. I love [name]Cecelia[/name]/[name]Cecilia[/name]…and don’t care if it means blind. It’s not like the name is going to define what kind of child you have.
I’m sure if you look hard enough, there will be a negative connotation to every name. Should people stop choosing the name “[name]Charles[/name]” for their kids because of the killer [name]Charles[/name] [name]Manson[/name]? I don’t think so. For every negative thing against the name, there will always be lots of positives. Think of it that way.
I think it’s because my middle name is an [name]Indian[/name] name meaning Moonlight - I loved the meaning and I loved that my parents gave it to their only daughter - it was nice when telling people that
But I see your point - for every negatives, there are many positives.
I actually love [name]Cecilia[/name]'s meaning. It derives from a really old [name]Roman[/name] family name meaning blind; [name]Cecilia[/name] actually means the way of the blind, which always makes me think of kindness, guided paths and a deeper understanding of the senses. And the there’s the patron saint of music.
Most saints were killed and tortured in pretty horrific ways, that’s how they became saints, so unless you want to scratch all those names off… Try to focus on the positive things. [name]Just[/name] because something bad’s happened to someone shouldn’t define their whole persona and history.
[name]IMO[/name], meaning is important when naming children, but not necessarily the meaning listed in baby name books. I think personal significance is most important. So, in your case, you like the sound of [name]Cecily[/name] and it’s a name that honors a family member. I would use it. Nameberry might say it means “blind”, but to your family it means your husband’s late mother and all of her wonderful qualities.
I named my daughter [name]Maura[/name]. The meaning listed for it is something like “sea of bitterness”. I don’t even understand what that means. We chose it because we like it and because it honors my husband’s Irish heritage and Catholic faith; it is an Irish version of the name [name]Mary[/name]. Should everyone just stop using all versions of the name [name]Mary[/name] because it means “bitter”? I think that would be ridiculous. It’s an important and significant name to many people, so I don’t think the “definition” matters at all.
Also, if using a [name]Saint[/name] name has significance to you, don’t worry about how they died. A lot of the Saints suffered horrific deaths because they were persecuted for their faith. However, it was [name]Saint[/name] Alodia who was beheaded. The name [name]Elodie[/name] is related to the name Alodia, but it wasn’t the saint’s name. She was Spanish. The name itself means “riches”.
Well if you’re looking at meaning, [name]Elodie[/name] means “[name]Marsh[/name] [name]Flower[/name]” the saint thing is history, and I don’t think history really matters unless it was recent or offensive/inappropriate like Hitler or Satan.
For me it doesn’t matter too much unless like I said, it’s offensive/inappropriate. As long as the name has a pretty sound then I like it.
However, when it comes to Chinese names, which I have been toying with idea of for possible middles, meaning is what matters. This is because they don’t have an alphabet of sounds, each character is a word. So you can’t just put two random characters to create a name, you have to work to make a “meaning” or word. So I focus a lot on meaning there.
Well, all the saints were killed or/and tortured. That’s the way they become saints so if you don’t like this, you’ll have to cross off all [name]Saint[/name] names. But, actually, I don’t think something horrific may happen to a person just because it happened to the patron of the name.
Think [name]Jesus[/name]: he was crucified and died but there are a lot of people named [name]Jesus[/name], [name]Yeshua[/name], [name]Joshua[/name] and I suppose none(or almost none) were also killed that way.
And about just bad meanings…Honestly, I can’t make myself love [name]Cecilia[/name] or [name]Claudia[/name] because of their meanings. But as for other names, that’s not an issue for me. Each name firstly means a person who bears the name and the person’s characteristics and only then meaning.
According to nameberry, my daughter’s name means “horned”. Obviously you can tell that’s not a meaning every girl wants her name to have - but I did a small research and found other hipotyses that say it means “heart;beloved” for real. I prefer to trust the second meaning so nothing really matters in that case.
Try to concentrate on your own reasons why to use the name; the beloved sound and other issues. Good luck.
