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Right now I'm writing a paper on when the people of Europe stopped naming their children meaningful words, and started simply handing down strings of syllables that have no obvious meanings (like instead of naming your daughter your words for "Beautiful", or "Battle Maiden", you call her "Catherine" or "Elizabeth" because it was her grandmother's name). I'm also writing on why they did this, and what affect it has had on us.
I was just wondering if anyone might have some thoughts on this subject?
~Margaret
I was just wondering if anyone might have some thoughts on this subject?
~Margaret
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Replies
No idea what the people of Europe got up to and when (which people of Europe? Europe's b-i-g!), but on local (South African) TV this morning they were interviewing a senior manager from the Post Office whose name was Mr Newyear Ntuli. No danger that anyone will ever forget his birthday ...
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My opinion is meanings are important, but being named after your parents and relatives is very meaningful also. My name is latin and means lovable, but the reason that I love my name is because I'm named after my parents. My mom is Mara Lee and my dad is Randall who is called Randy, so they got Mandy. Good luck on your paper.
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It might have made some loss of Identity, but a chance to create your own. If you were named Beautiful, wouldn't you feel as if that's what your parents wanted, and that's what you had to live up to? But if you were named Elizabeth, and neither you nor your parents knew what it meant, it might give you more of a chance to be yourself.
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