Questions to berries who often use “imagery” to help in choosing a name.
[name_m]How[/name_m] much do you feel attached to the imagery you have formed in your mind, in particular when it comes to your favourite names? If you meet someone with the name you love and he/she is nothing like what you imagine, do you (even slightly) feel disappointed? This can be different in any way, but I especially care about different attitude/personality.
For example, I imagine [name_f]Seraphina[/name_f] (my favourite/top choice for a girl) to be feminine, brave, very opinionated kinda person. Someone who’ll stand up for herself and others. Someone who is passionate and energetic, though not necessarily athletic. Someone who is fiery, just like its meaning. If I meet a [name_f]Seraphina[/name_f] who is tomboy or very shy, I admit I’ll be a little disappointed, though of course I won’t say anything to the person and I’ll eventually get over it. It’s just to me, a very shy person doesn’t feel like a [name_f]Seraphina[/name_f]. It’s almost feel like a mismatch in my mind.
Oh and a real experience. A few years ago, I had a best friend/roommate who was baptised [name_f]Angelica[/name_f] (she went by different name previously but asked people to call her this in college). At some point we argued a lot and even didn’t speak to each other -she was just less than angelic and the way she said her own name annoyed the hell out of me (super irrational, I know). A while after that we became friends again and we let go of any problems between us, but back then, yes, it annoyed me when someone didn’t live up to the expectation (regarding names) I have in my mind.
I realise imagery is very subjective and of course a name doesn’t simply define us. I just wonder if anyone feel the same. If you love a name and imagine a kind, sweet person and then you encounter a mean girl/guy with that name, do you feel irrationally angry/annoyed? Or does it automatically alter your imagery, so you don’t imagine it to be kind and sweet anymore?