New Post
Search
Help[Facts] Re: History of Melody as a Girls Name
in reply to a message by LadyBug
The oldest Melody I've known in South Africa (where we don't keep statistics, sadly) was born in about 1958. There may well have been earlier ones that I don't happen to know about.
Incidentally, this Melody was fascinated to discover that names had meanings, and eagerly asked what her name meant ...
Incidentally, this Melody was fascinated to discover that names had meanings, and eagerly asked what her name meant ...
1
Replies
Although this is funny, it really isn't that dumb a question.
When people ask "what a name means" they are usually asking about etymological origin. I wish we wouldn't use the phrase that way myself, but people do all the time.
And there are certainly examples of other names where there is a commonly used word with the same spelling and pronunciation but where the "meaning" in the sense of the historical derivation is not the same as the dictionary definition meaning of the word.
John, for example, did not originally mean either "toilet" or "prostitute's customer".
Bill did not originate with the meaning "notice of need for payment" or "duck's beak."
Dolly did not originally mean "children's toy shaped like a person."
Eve did not originally mean "night before".
Frank did not originally mean "straightforward."
So, although probably the majority of names that have an exact correspondence with a word did originate from that word, a woman named Melody could well wonder if her name was derived from the modern word or if it had some other original meaning. :)
When people ask "what a name means" they are usually asking about etymological origin. I wish we wouldn't use the phrase that way myself, but people do all the time.
And there are certainly examples of other names where there is a commonly used word with the same spelling and pronunciation but where the "meaning" in the sense of the historical derivation is not the same as the dictionary definition meaning of the word.
John, for example, did not originally mean either "toilet" or "prostitute's customer".
Bill did not originate with the meaning "notice of need for payment" or "duck's beak."
Dolly did not originally mean "children's toy shaped like a person."
Eve did not originally mean "night before".
Frank did not originally mean "straightforward."
So, although probably the majority of names that have an exact correspondence with a word did originate from that word, a woman named Melody could well wonder if her name was derived from the modern word or if it had some other original meaning. :)
1
Well put.
1
Incidentally, this Melody was fascinated to discover that names had meanings, and eagerly asked what her name meant ...
You're kidding, right? :)
You're kidding, right? :)
1