I was thinking earlier about how one of my favorite name’s has an unfortunate meaning. Mara means bitter. I personally would still use it, what about you? Do you think if you really liked a name but it had an unfortunate meaning you would still consider using it? Also what is your favorite name with a nice meaning? Just on my mind. I also know that if you make Mara into Amara, it would mean gracious. But I like Mara much more.
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meanings don’t really matter to me, although a religious meaning would probably stop me from using a name. something like “bitter” wouldn’t affect me though
I also don’t really mind what the meaning of a name is! I don’t look into meanings too much, but I really like that [name_f]Yelena[/name_f] means bright shining one!
Meanings don’t stop me unless it obviously means something truly horrible, either in my own language or a language commonly spoken where I live. Ransom and Viola are good examples.
A “good” meaning isn’t much to me either, to be fair, unless it’s a word name or honor name.
I don’t really care about meanings, since there’s a lot of f names with not great meanings, I’m just more worried about association more than meanings, tbh
A good meaning feels like an added bonus to me - sound, feel and associations are more important.
I love [name_u]Tristan[/name_u] but that can mean sadness or noise, same with [name_u]Mallory[/name_u] which can mean unhappy!
Some meanings i like:
[name_f]Sarai[/name_f] (princess)
[name_f]Cherith[/name_f] (winter river)
Mabli/Mabel/Amabel (lovable)
[name_f]Tallulah[/name_f] (leaping water)
[name_f]Cressida[/name_f] (golden)
[name_f]Orla[/name_f] (golden princess)
[name_f]Ilaria[/name_f] (joy)
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To me, meanings can be a plus but it isn’t the end all be all for name use. Like you, one of my favorites is [name_f]Mary[/name_f], which has the same meaning as [name_f]Mara[/name_f]. I’d still use it though. And if I like a name and it has a pleasant meaning, that’s great!
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A meaning or bad legacy can really sour a name for me. For example [name_f]Elowen[/name_f]. [name_u]Love[/name_u] the name! But would I ever use it? No. Because the meaning is so bland to me and that is what kills the name at being a contender for me. I add legacy because some names have associations and histories that can override a meaning.
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I adore [name_f]Mara[/name_f]! The bitter meaning doesn’t bother me- I just think of it as a reference to the ocean perhaps- lots of [name_f]Mary[/name_f] variants have bitter and ocean in the meaning, so I think of it as a salty, bitter sea- and I love the ocean 
it’s much better than if it were to have something like a violent meaning
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I’m one of those people who can’t use a name, on an actual child, with a meaning that I don’t care for (not just “unfortunate” meanings, but also meanings that I don’t connect with). This is mainly because, when I was growing up, I had a cute little wall decoration with my name and its meaning… So I’ve always envisioned my child’s room with something similar 
However, I still admire names with unfortunate meanings and I do not judge other parents for using them 
One name I love is [name_f]Amity[/name_f], meaning “friendship” 
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I don’t really care about name meanings to be honest. It wouldn’t draw me away from the name. [name_f]My[/name_f] favorite name is [name_u]Haven[/name_u], which means “safe place”.
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Meanings don’t tend to put me off of names, but they can help make me love a name more 
I don’t care particularly much that [name_f]Katherine[/name_f] means “pure” or [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] means “pledged to God”, I’m just indifferent towards that, but I love the fact that [name_f]Stephanie[/name_f] means “crown”.
I think I’m in the minority on nameberry in this area, but I actually really care about the meanings of names.
For me, name meanings are what got me into looking into names and falling in love with them (more than I already subconsciously was), so they’re special to me in that right. And also, I remember looking up the meaning of my name (my irl name, which isn’t Winter) when I was like 8 or 9 and being utterly crushed when it didn’t really mean anything. So, because of both of these things, making sure that my kids’ names have wonderful meanings (or important significance – and thus a wonderful meaning – to me) is really important to me.
So, to answer your initial question about Mara, I personally wouldn’t use it. In fact, that’s the reason why it’s not on my list. I’ve always thought it was really sweet, but that meaning is just too much for me, unfortunately. But, that doesn’t mean that I think the same for other people! I say, if you love it, use it! It’s just that, for me, I can’t really truly love a name when it doesn’t have a good meaning.
Mmm… that’s a really good question. Probably Beatrix (“she who brings happiness”), Evangeline (“bringer of good news”), Ellen (“shining light”), or Ruthanne (“gracious companion; favorable companion”)
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Personally even though I can admire names with meanings that aren’t the best I wouldn’t use a name that didn’t have a meaning that I could get on board with have a positive association with unless I was honouring someone and the honour was going to be a middle name.
Similarly too @winterara the reason why I fell in love with names was because of the meanings/stories behind the names themselves. I used to spend hours flicking through name books with a highlighter and highlighting names that I liked along with the meaning behind that name.
[name_f]My[/name_f] daughter name is [name_f]Lilia[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] [name_f]Ella[/name_f] I’m incredibly happy that when/if my daughter ever looked up her name she would see lovely meanings attached ‘lilies’, ‘pledged to G-d’ and ‘fairy maiden’ I wouldn’t want the meanings to be crooked nose or bald head.
One that has always stuck in my mind is [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] ‘bringer of good news’ I also like nature meanings [name_f]Primrose[/name_f] ‘first rose’ or [name_f]Sylvie[/name_f] ‘from the Forest’ honestly there are so many names with great meanings thankfully for me!
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I would only be put off if the meaning was offensive or specific to a group of people for example Cohen (specific to judaism).
some of my favourite name meanings are
Raena - Queen
Adele - Noble
Dora - gift
Leo/Leon - Lion
Emmeline - hardworking (ties in nicely to the Emmeline Pankhurst association)
Nora - Light
Clara - Clear/Bright
I personally couldn’t. Meanings are really important to me, and no honor or significance would be able to override an unfortunate meaning. One of my all time favorites is [name_f]Claudia[/name_f] (lame, crippled), and the meaning is simply too much for me to use personally.
If the meaning is something boring or unexciting, but not terrible I would still use it.
[name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] (good news), [name_f]Gertrude[/name_f] (spear of strength), & [name_f]Ramona[/name_f] (protector).
Your example is interesting to me, because in Italian, amara is an adjective that literally means “bitter”. I think you could find a negative meaning for a lot of names, unfortunately.
I care about meanings… to a point. I could overlook a negative meaning if (a) it’s an honour name (because I would be using it to honour a specific family member, not because of the etymological meaning) or (b) the name has more than one possible meaning/origin. Otherwise, I would probably not use the name.
Evangeline is one of my favorite’s too! I actually like Mara Evangeline since it would translate to “bitter bringer of good news”. Thank you for the response!
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Meanings are interesting to me, but not very high on considerations when actually deciding on names. One of my favorite names, [name_f]Desdemona[/name_f], means “ill-starred”. Not the most positive meaning! Still, it’s on my list because I like the sound and other personal associations override the meaning.
[name_f]My[/name_f] favorite name, [name_f]Winifred[/name_f], means “blessed peacemaking”, which I love!
Also, [name_f]Mara[/name_f] is very pretty :)) I think it comes from [name_f]Mary[/name_f], which can also mean ocean, if you like that meaning better!
Your daughters name is gorgeous! Lilia is such a pretty name.
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