Would you rather use a name that has a lot of meaning or a name you really love?
I would rather use a name that I really love, but if a name did have a lot of meaning, I might use it in the middle so I get both.
I would chose the name I loved. Names with meaning are nice if they fit but in my family the names aren’t worth reusuing.
I wouldn’t even consider a name that didn’t have some kind of special meaning to me. It could be related to the literal meaning (like [name]Felicity[/name],) some place with special importance ([name]Charlotte[/name],) or some family name or variant of it ([name]Rose[/name] or [name]Rosalie[/name],) but I’d never consider using a name I just liked, no matter how much I liked it. For me, my favorites often change. There are names I used to absolutely love but now I just think they’re nice- not even on my favorites list anymore. There are also names I once hated but now love. I’m sure I wouldn’t feel the same way about a name based on style for the rest of my life. At the moment, I’m loving [name]Coraline[/name], but I probably won’t next year. [name]Coraline[/name] has no special meaning to me, so I’d never use it because I know I won’t love it as much forever.
The names I’ve loved the longest mean something- [name]Annabel/name, [name]Marie[/name], [name]Margaret[/name]- they’ve always been names I’d consider. They mean something to me, and always will. I also think it’s nicer for a child to have a name with meaning. I know I’ve always loved my middle name, which is my grandmother’s name, because it had that connection. I don’t like the name at all- it’s a bit grannyish, though I could see some berries liking it- but I like it because it’s my grandmother’s name, something we share. My first name was chosen based on style. I like it enough, but my name style is different from my parents’ and I certainly don’t love it the same way I would if it had some story behind it.
I would use a name I loved up front and a meaningful name in the middle unless I absolutely loved the meaningful name.
I think it’s important for each child to have their own identity. For the first name, I think I would use a name I love, and that I think suits the child best, but for the middle name I plan to use a name with personal meaning, such as a name that honours a family member.
A name I love is the first priority. If by meaning you mean a personal meaning to me - if a name has a great personal meaning to me and I love it as a name - that’s a bonus. (such as, it’s a name to honor a family member and I really love the name, or it’s a name related to my favorite place or something like that). If you are talking about the literal meaning of a name, I don’t care much about that. - I want to know it, but a bad literal meaning would not put me off a name.
For me, a name that I have chosen because I love it (and it does not relate to a family member, place, my favorite flower, occupation, etc) still has meaning. - because I have chosen it out of all the names I could use.
Name I love! My middle name honors my grandmother and as much as I loved her I dislike my middle name a lot.
I don’t give a crap about meaning. I can understand how it’s important to some, and meaning in the sense of it belonging to a family member or something is nice.
But I would never choose a name because the word meant xyz.
My name means something like “from the royal meadow” which I’ve always thought was dorky, but meaning rarely has any effect whatsoever on the name itself.
For me, a name I love is more important. I don’t care THAT much about meaning as long as there isn’t some sort of terrible association (like [name]Adolf[/name], for example. I don’t like the name but even if I did I wouldn’t use it). I like the name [name]Caleb[/name], and I think it means dog or something like that. I’d still use it even though it’s a strange meaning! As for personal meaning, it’s not a huge deal. It’s not a big tradition in my family to name after others. Some people do, some don’t. I think it would be nice to have honoring middle names, but it’s not a top priority.
A name with meaning. I don’t care so much for the literal meaning, but what the name means to me. Personal significance/meaning is part of what makes me love a name.
For me, names have to have meaning and I have to love them. 
For me, it’s more important to use a name I really, truly love, but then I’d use a MN that’s truly meaningful. Usually, though, I find that most of the names I love, as I fall more and more in love with them, I make associations with things (and people!) that are very meaningful to me. So much so that when people post the “what are your favorite combos and why do you love them” threads, mine are 5 times longer than everyone else’s. Honestly, it might be nice to have a less meaningful name! haha.
I would use the name I really love as a first name and a name with a lot of meaning as a middle name. Because I’m going to be calling my child that their entire life and I want to really love the name, but I think that it’s important to honour family as well. I can’t imagine using a middle name that didn’t have a personal connection.
[name]Both[/name]! I would use a name I love that also has meaning for me. I also wouldn’t use a name if I didn’t like the meaning of it. Meaning is part of the reason I love certain names. For example, I like [name]Kennedy[/name] as a fn, but read one day that it meant “ugly head.” I wouldn’t use it because of that, and it’s a reason that I dont love the name. On the other hand, I love the name [name]Adrian[/name] but think the meaning is boring (from [name]Hadria[/name]). However, the meaning isn’t negative and I still love the name and would use it. As for a personal meaning, that matters too. If it honors someone (family or a literary character), I still have to love the name or I wouldn’t use it.
For a first name? [name]One[/name] that I love, hands down.
I really don’t care much about meaning - either literal meaning, as in ‘it means singing bird’, or family connections. I think middle names are for honouring family, if you’re that way inclined.
I’ve been struggling with this. I always thought that the meaning was really important to me, and it is, but I have a couple of names that I really love more than anything, just for the way they sound and I think I would regret not using them. So at the moment, I’m leaning to towards names I love. In any case, a name that has a meaning has to be one I really like (if not love) otherwise I don’t think I’d use it.