I love names and study them because a name sake is a powerful thing in this day and age. When everyone is so technological saying a person’s name is like touching them on the shoulder.
It’s also the beginning of a person identity, who they decide to be. Whether they change it or keep it, accept it or don’t. It’s what makes them something other than just another_____.
What is your reason for loving names as much as you do?
I’m not really sure I have a set reason, but for the most part it’s about the etymology, history, and meanings associated with names. Names are a very powerful thing because who would we be if we didn’t have personal names? They give people an identity, something to help us define ourselves.
I love cultural anthropology, and I think names are a pure expression of cultural ideals. A name has no cost, so a family can choose any name they wish. The name they choose is based on their traditions, ideals, and world perspective. I think it is fascinating. I love to see how trends rise and fall, and how these are connected to real events and changes in the way we think and live.
On a more personal level, I’ve always thought that we will keep our names in heaven. When I read in the Bible how God calls us each by name, and how there is a book of life with names written in it, I believe it. I think a name is one of the only things we carry with us past death. That is the core reason that names, especially the giving of names, fascinates me. It’s not just a gift for this lifetime, it is a gift for the eternal soul.
That’s an excellent question. I like that names are one of the few things with visible trends that no one is orchestrating. There isn’t a PR firm out to make [name_f]Emma[/name_f] a more popular name than [name_f]Gemma[/name_f], and yet it happens.
It also appeals to my love of making lists, and is oddly calming.
What’s funny is that when it comes to naming actual things (just pets so far) I’m pretty indifferent!
These are great! I just love hearing the different thoughts and perspectives.
@tavimh how blessed are we He knows our name!
@eizariya great point! They’re fascinating to track!
Weirdly, I’ve never actually wondered this! Great question!
I think for me it’s all part of my love of language. I love words and sounds and rhythm and grammar and flow, so I guess it kind of makes sense that I love fitting names together and dreaming up “perfect” combos and sibling sets and the like. I’ve loved doing that for as long as I can remember.
Now, I find it endlessly fascinating coming across new names [name_m]IRL[/name_m] and looking at the naming stats each year too. It’s really interesting to observe rising and falling trends play out on a huge scale, and how parents (whether consciously or subconsciously) are following these trends or trying to break away from them. I’ve genuinely thought about working in childcare purely for the names, but I think that would be the wrong motivation! 
I think my reason is different for most on here. I don’t gush over names due to their history, I don’t read statistics and compare them between years, I am just very creative. Since I was around 8 or 9, I made up imaginative families with names fitting the same trend and little stories about them. I then found an interest in all of the names available to us when I was searching for my fake families’ names and it went from there. I have always been eccentric and different compared to other people in my family so I thoroughly enjoying finding uncommon names.
Awesome question! My love of Names rises from four very different reasons:
I love the sound and “feel” of certain Names, e.g. Melusina, and combinations of Names, e.g. [name_m]Hugo[/name_m] and [name_m]Felix[/name_m]. They excite and delight me, bring me great joy and a feeling of deep satisfaction!
I love searching for “perfect Names”, which for me have to have a wonderful meaning, beautiful sound and also look attractive, e.g. [name_f]Cordelia[/name_f]!
The Etymology of Names, particularly their meaning, is endlessly fascinating to me. It is very interesting that some Names can sound exactly like their meaning, e.g. [name_f]Lucia[/name_f], while others clash terribly, e.g. [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] (soft, floaty, elegant Name with a harsh, aggressive meaning.).
Names are, in some ways, the very essence of who we are. As Tavimh beautifully put it, " When I read in the Bible how God calls us each by name, and how there is a Book of Life with names written in it, I believe it. I think a name is one of the only things we carry with us past death."*Unless we reject or change them, our Names are eternally connected to our very souls! Often our Names clearly reflect our Family of Origin, Cultural Heritage, [name_m]Race[/name_m], Cultural Context, Upbringing, Religion, Personal Identity, and so much more! They are INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT on SO MANY levels! When I meet someone I don’t just want to know what their Name is, I also like to ask why they were given that specific Name!
These, then, are my many and varied reasons for loving Names and Naming! Thanks so much for asking and getting me to stop and really think! 
As an aspiring writer, I’m always looking for names for story characters. Also, I like making lists of my favorite name combos for any children I might have someday 
Those are my reasons for why I love names as much as I do.
You basically just described my reason for loving names!
I would also like to add that, when choosing the names of my daughters, I tried really hard to put a little bit of me in them. I wanted to pass forward some really important aspects of my cultural identity, in the hopes that they will come to respect and appreciate it too. Also, My eldest and my youngest have middle names that honor women I really, really admire. Either for knowledge or humanitarianism or art or female empowerment…
I love language, I love the flow and combinations of sounds that become so important that people give them to their children and characters and pets.
I also love people, and understanding why people choose names for their children, characters and pets gives a very interesting insight into who they are.
I also just find it interesting to see how culturally names are chosen. What makes the people in a certain country prefer certain types of names? I’m from the UK, and lots of people on this site are American, and the choices people make are really distinct, especially when you consider how culturally close we are meant to be.
A wonderful idea for a thread O.P. As PP’s have said it is our names, not our footprints or how we look that bring memories of who and what we are or were.
I do not find it easy to explain my fascination with names but that there are so many others who share this passion, validates that it’s worthy.
It is endless, the search for new names. It is challenging and creative to make combos or sibsets.
There is the appeal and gratification to all who love sounds and every aspect of language.
I was not a ‘girly girl’, never going to marry - and now I just have to hope the babies come.
Yet always I have asked school friends and everyone I meet, what they named their children. It seems to tell me so much about how they feel and their approach to and perspective of life.
The research into different eras, trends, cultures or naming traditions is so interesting then add to that, logging on and reading the thoughts of so many amazing minds.
It just need someone to keep reproducing and adopting even non - human babies to add that touch of magic to this pastime. The cryptic crosswords, logic problems etc., lay dormant since I adopted this Guilty Pleasure.
Gosh. All of these are so wonderful. It’s even a little emotional to see them all.
Interesting thread—I’ve never really thought about this before!
I guess for me it’s because names are such a great intersection of language, culture, and personality stuff. There’s nothing else like names—they’re so universal (pretty much every human culture has them) and when you think about it, the concept is just impressive. I mean, a name is a thing bestowed on you by your parents that you (probably) carry with you your whole life. And there’s such infinite variety, and every name has its own history and meaning and connotations…basically I don’t understand how non-name-nerds can manage not to be fascinated.
This is something I’ve honestly never thought of lol.
I like learning about the origins of things, which is why I’m going into evolutionary biology. I like hearing about how things come to be and what attracts people to them.
@geeknamezyo I totally agree! we’re so different on here because were like little name obsessors. One more [name_u]Jayden[/name_u] comes into this world with a weird spelling and we all die a little inside together. Namenerds unite!
I love names because I am a language person. I adore reading and writing, and am in love with words. Names are your parents’ first gift to you. My own name was chosen in a whirlwind because I was born incredibly premature, and my parents hadn’t had time to agree on a name beforehand. I love the beauty of choosing names, seeing their history, their imagery. Take my combo [name_f]Luna[/name_f] [name_f]Cosette[/name_f]. This to me, evokes a thing of elegant beauty. A dancer on the dim stage of a performance hall, the moon and stars shining down through your childhood bedroom window, the moment when you’re driving home in the car with the people that you love. Each of my names creates this sort of imagery for me, and when I know I have the right combo, it’s magic. Because it’s a hobby. [name_m]Just[/name_m] like I like to read, and write, and create things, I like names. I am a literary person, and that’s what my love of names stems from. I love unique names and classic names and names in between, and that stems from me being literary and yet also having an extremely popular name, so I want a happy medium between my love of [name_u]Fable[/name_u] and my love of [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u], and somewhere in the middle I get something like [name_f]Luna[/name_f] [name_f]Cosette[/name_f].
This is really got me thinking. I’ve never really thought about it. I’ve always loved names. As a kid I’d draw tons of pictures of people and families and just give them all different names. I guess I just love thinking of all the different possibilities, the personalities I associate with them. As @eizariya said I also find making lists very calming and stress relieving.
Btw, I [name_u]LOVE[/name_u] @eizariya’s point that no one out there tries to turn names into a PR stunt to make one name popular than another. Its a very good point, and thought of that happening terrifies me!
I don’t know if this really counts as a reason, but I got my start on finding names as a hobby by looking up character names. Occasionally I would find one that I’d really like, but not for a character. So I’d set it aside, which eventually lead to a while collection of names that I just liked the sound of or the meaning of, which then lead me to making accounts on websites like NB so I could keep better track of them all.
Beyond that, what I find most appealing about names are the sound of them. To a minor degree, I also like the history of names, but by that I mean I’m far more interested in mythology and names with cool associations than I am to knowing exactly how many people had a specific name in the year 1802.
I find it interesting that so many people who have replied to this thread also have a love of language. I’ve gotten speech pathologist on a recent job aptitude test I took for school. The correlation between being a namenerd and being a language-nerd would make for an interesting study, haha.
I don’t know if this really counts as a reason, but I got my start on finding names as a hobby by looking up character names. Occasionally I would find one that I’d really like, but not for a character. So I’d set it aside, which eventually lead to a whole collection of names that I just liked the sound of or the meaning of, which then lead me to making accounts on websites like NB so I could keep better track of them all.
Beyond that, what I find most appealing about names are the sound of them. To a minor degree, I also like the history of names, but by that I mean I’m far more interested in mythology and names with cool associations than I am to knowing exactly how many people had a specific name in the year 1802.
I find it interesting that so many people who have replied to this thread also have a love of language. I’ve gotten speech pathologist on a recent job aptitude test I took for school. The correlation between being a namenerd and being a language-nerd would make for an interesting study, haha.