In the classroom I’m currently in the year below me have the meanings of there names of crests some are very wrong here are some the wrong one is in italics and thats the one they put:
[name_u]Courtney[/name_u]: queen short nose
[name_f]Melissa[/name_f]: [name_f]Bee[/name_f] and honey honeybee
[name_f]Monique[/name_f]: unique meaning unknown
Sachi: colourful wisdom child of bliss (maybe its not on behind the name)
[name_f]Harriet[/name_f]: responsible estate ruler
[name_f]Gemma[/name_f]/[name_f]Jenna[/name_f] heaven [name_f]Gemma[/name_f] means gemstone, [name_f]Jenna[/name_f] means white shadow (according to nameberry)
[name_u]Darcy[/name_u] responsible from D’Arcy in [name_f]France[/name_f]
I’ve noticed quite a few discrepancies between names and meanings. Nameberry puts [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] as meaning “free man” whereas quite a few name sites and baby books have it as meaning “strong man/woman” (which I prefer).
I don’t think any one source is right or wrong; there are often different meanings in different cultures and religions, it makes sense that meanings would differ over time.
I hate things like that, lol. Sounds like they just made some things up when they realised some names don’t have meanings/have meanings they didn’t like.
The one that got most angry about was [name_u]Courtney[/name_u] meaning princess how can a boys name mean princess?
[name_u]Courtney[/name_u]: queen short nose
[name_u]Courtney[/name_u] is close, it means “short nose”. Meaning, origin and history of the name Courtney - Behind the Name
[name_f]Melissa[/name_f]: [name_f]Bee[/name_f] and honey honeybee
I had a friend named [name_f]Melissa[/name_f] and knew her name meant “bee”. Meaning, origin and history of the name Melissa - Behind the Name
[name_f]Monique[/name_f]: unique meaning unknown
[name_f]Monique[/name_f] has an unknown meaning. I am guessing this is what they meant. [name_f]Monique[/name_f] is a form of [name_f]Monica[/name_f], which has unknown meaning. Meaning, origin and history of the name Monica - Behind the Name
Sachi: colorful wisdom child of bliss (maybe its not on behind the name)
Sachi is not listed at Behind the name, except by user submitted. Where one does say “child of bliss”
[name_f]Harriet[/name_f]: responsible estate ruler
[name_f]Harriet[/name_f] does not have it’s own meaning. It is a feminine form of [name_m]Harry[/name_m] (a form of [name_m]Henry[/name_m], “home ruler”) and a form of [name_f]Henriette[/name_f] (a feminine form of [name_m]Henry[/name_m]). Meaning, origin and history of the name Harriet - Behind the Name
[name_f]Gemma[/name_f]/[name_f]Jenna[/name_f] heaven [name_f]Gemma[/name_f] means gemstone, [name_f]Jenna[/name_f] means white shadow (according to name berry)
[name_f]Gemma[/name_f] means “gem, precious stone” and [name_f]Jenna[/name_f] is either a variant of [name_f]Jenny[/name_f] or [name_f]Johanna[/name_f]. Meaning, origin and history of the name Gemma - Behind the Name Meaning, origin and history of the name Jenna - Behind the Name
[name_u]Darcy[/name_u] responsible from D’Arcy in [name_f]France[/name_f]
These did not seem too far off to me. So many sites give different meanings (hugely different) to the same name. It was suggested to me to use Behind the Name and I have found it to be a good tool.
I think you read the original post wrong. The italics were what went up, the plain text next to it was the real meaning the OP discovered.
@lovemysweetie what [name_u]Ren[/name_u] said, the first ones were the wrong ones and the ones in normal text were the meanings from behind the name
But where did you get that from? There’s no meaning of strength, and a bit of a connection with freedom. It means [name_m]Man[/name_m], with a diminutive feminine suffix. [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] means [name_m]Man[/name_m]-ette, or Female [name_m]Man[/name_m] if you like, or Woman. The man part is from a word that also meant husband. You could interpret it as ‘free man’, but only in the sense that a slave would not have been called a carl / karl. Mostly it just means ‘man’.
As the OP shows, people are often quite keen to insert positive meanings with no etymological evidence, as well as unwilling to admit that in some cases the meaning of a name is simply not known. Historical original etymologies don’t differ over time. They are set in the history of languages. Cultural meaning can definitely change, but not etymology.
I don’t have the names of the actual sites or the books, but back when my husband and I were looking at baby names, he sent me many links for [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] (he chose that name), and a lot said “strong woman/man”.
And it seems to be the common meaning from the baby books we got out of the library. I don’t have the names of the books, it was close to 6 months ago, but I did write down the meanings we found next to the names we liked in a notebook. And “strong woman” was one that came up a lot.
I don’t think it really matters either way does it? We’re happy with the interpretation we’ve found, and we’d be happy if we’d never found it. 
Most people take their name information from baby name books and websites. However, these often list incorrect meanings. The root of the problem is that most generic baby name books and websites are written by people who just want to cash in on parents-to-be, rather than by experts who are actually trained in languages or etymology.
Yeah, I think lumen hit the nail on the head.
The way I see it, the evolution of name meanings is kind of like a game of telephone: the original meaning of a given name might be, say, “green,” and then someone writing a baby name book might decide “green pastures” is more appealing, and then people change it to suit their own interpretations/purposes until somewhere down the line it becomes “princess.”
Yeah, I’ve seen in a name book that [name_f]Adele[/name_f] means shining bright.
Hah, I have a plaque from when I was born that has [name_u]Haley[/name_u] listed as a Scandinavian name meaning ‘hero’. Apparently the name book my parents used to name me stated this as well. It also stated that [name_f]Alannah[/name_f] is an Irish name (correct), that means ‘beautiful’. As it turns out - [name_u]Haley[/name_u] means ‘hay clearing’ and [name_f]Alannah[/name_f] means ‘rock’. Sooo, my mum and dad THOUGHT they named me ‘hero beautiful’ - turns out I’m ‘hay clearing rock’.
Oops, sorry. That was hard for me to read in the first post.