Check out the first link, and see what your name means. My name (Jordan) means descendant.
I found an article on personality characteristics or people's names. Let me know what you think.
http://www.articlealley.com/article_590182_27.html
The article talks about how parents actually decide on their child's name by the day of the week they are born.
There is a rhyme about choosing names for personality traits:
Monday's child is full of grace
Tuesday's child is fair of face
Wednesday's child is full of woe
Friday's child is loving and giving
Saturday's child works hard for a living
But the child that is born on the Sabbath Day Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.
Some cultures have a ceremony for the naming of a new baby, whereas other parents look at names or ones they have heard of and liked.
In Chapter 10 Reeve talks about personality characteristics. Do you think a person's name can make them have a certain personality, such as neuroticism, or how about parents who name their children Joy or June, will they have those type of characteristics just because it is their name? What's your opinion...
I have always been interested in the meaning of my name, but have never found a sufficient answer. In the majority of the books and sites I have looked at, including the link you gave, the common definition is "pearl". This is the same definition given for Margaret because Maggi is a common nickname, however my real name is not Margaret. The name is also said to have Greek origins, which I know for my name, at least, is untrue. I was named after my great-grandmother (who was born in Italy), whose last name was Maggi. Not surprisingly I have relatives whose last name is my first name and as a kid I always found that interesting. I once asked my great-grandmother what my name means and she did not know, but believed it is related to May. I think my name has affected in me in some ways, but do not believe it played a large role in the development of my personality. I always shared a close bond with my great-grandma and was interested in her life in Italy, which may have influenced my like of history.
http://www.drspock.com/article/0,1510,6024,00.html
("Names and Personality" by Robert Needlman)
In the above article it talks about how people's impression of a name may influence the way they interact with others, which then may influence behavior. In one study mentioned elementary school teachers were asked to grade paragraphs written by eight different students. These paragraphs were randomly assigned names, four names were common/desirable while four names were uncommon/undesirable. The paragraphs with the desirable names were graded higher than the paragraphs with the undesirable names. This may mean that in classrooms teachers might expect more out of students with desirable names, influencing their academic achievement. How one does in school may then affect their self-esteem and their belief in their self-efficacy. If one student is continually receiving bad grades on homework they may then stop trying (learned helplessness). However, I think the link between names and personality is weak and that there a lot of intervening variables.
This is interesting because I was just at a restaurant and my friends and I did not think that the waiters name fit him, so naturally we spent a few minutes trying decide if he looked more like a Sean or a Greg.
My parents decided to be a tid-bit mean when they named me - they decided to spell my name wrong (Krysten instead of the more common versions of the name). This meant that I never got anything that had my name printed on it, like a ruler or a toothbrush, and everyone else always spelled my name the normal way which is not actually my name. Now I enjoy that my name is spelled differently but from time to time it is still a little irritating. I came close to have a letter of recommendation go out that had my name spelled incorrectly and that would have looked bad. I am not sure that my weirdly spelled name shaped my personality mostly because I was unaware of the spelling for the first few years of my life and then it took me another couple of years to realize that it was off.
My name, according to the website that you listed, means follower of Christ. While this is technically true, since I was raised Christian, it is a bit boring. I think that the meaning of the name is less important than the reason that you were given it, and the social context in which that name is given. I, unlike Maggi, was named after a soap opera character... yeah. I was born a month early and my father was out of town so when he arrived my mother said I like the name Krysten and he couldn't argue. Since I was named after a soap opera character I think that I should be melodramatic, shallow, and neurotic. Hopefully I am none of those things. Again since I was unaware of the origin of my name until I was much older I don't think that this affected my personality - but those that grew up knowing that they were named after someone or something important there may be a greater effect.
I agree with the article that Maggi posted. It seems that the influence that our names have on our personalities has more to do with how others treat us based on our name. If someone shared a name with the meanest person from your high school, the person that made fun of you mercilessly, it would be hard not to associate the name with the other's traits. If one continues to be treated in a certain way due to their name, their personality would be shaped.
I really enjoy looking at articles dealing with these types of things (horoscopes, name meanings). On the website you provided, my name means "Supplanter" (to take the place of another). I find this really interesting, because I was actually named after both of my parents. My name "Jaclyn Jean Randall" was given to me because 'Jack' is another form or nickname of 'John' (my father's first name), and my mother's name is 'Carolyn Jean'. Obviously this is probably a coincidence, but it's kind of fun to find things like this :)
Also, as Krysten mentioned earlier (by the way Krysten, my automatic spell check is telling me I spelled your name wrong, although I know I'M right because I lived with you for 2 years... lol) her name wasn't spelled as the usual name-- and neither is mine. Everybody always comments on the spelling of my name and the best I can tell them is to ask my parents. In a way, I think my name has shaped my personality. I grew up with an uncommon name with an uncommon spelling-- which I believe has taught me to be my own person. I like to go against the grain a lot and try to be different-- I feel like this may have some sort of connection with my name and my feelings toward it while I was growing up (I have always loved my name).
I also found an article that connects parents naming their children with names of people they are fond of, but also the effect of our names in our lives.
http://www.eupedia.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24945
The second part of this article explains how people may treat a person differently with how they connect their name. An example of this is one like my roommate (her name is Tennille). When she meets new people, almost always, the other person says something like 'Did your parents name you after captain and tennille?'. Now I'm not that old, and I kind of don't know all of the specifics about captain and tennille, but I feel like their view of her is a little skewed in the sense they already have a preconceived idea connected with that name. This article explains how some people with a more uncommon name, but shares it with a celebrity, may be more associated with that person. Another example of this is my name (I usually go by Jackie) -- many people mentioned Jackie O. when they meet me for the first time-- pretty cool lady to be associated with :-)
This article caught my eye because names have always kind of interested me, given that my name is fairly rare. My full name Sedona, doesn't have any real meaning according to that site. The only description it gives it that it's a beautiful town in Arizona that is known for its red rocks and canyons (which is true-I've been there!). The town was named after the founder's wife, who was named Sedona. Her mother named her that simply for the reason that it "sounded nice." This is sort of strange considering the time period that this most likely took place, where people were usually named after biblical idols. The name that most people call me, Sadie, means princess Although this is kind of interesting, I don't think it really suites me as well as Sedona.
My parents named me Sedona because they met in Sedona, Arizona while living and working there as firefighters(romantic, huh?). Eventually, when my sister and peers at school couldn't pronounce Sedona, Sadie developed. I've gone by that at school ever sense, but my family still calls me Sedona. Given that my name is pretty rare, I also never got the cool pencils or key chains with my name on them, (unless we visited Sedona that year..then we stocked up!)There are fewer than 1,554 people with my name in the entire United States (and I am the ONLY one with my first and last name). This sounds like alot, but compare that to the 1,447,090 Elizabeth's in the U.S.! (find how many there are of your name at www.howmanyofme.com)
Because of my name I do feel that people tended to treat me differenly growing up. Sometimes it still makes me uncomfortable when people talk about how weird or different my name is, but at the same time I think it's pretty cool that I am the only one with my first and last name in all of America! I also like the fact that my name really has meaning behind it (my parent's meeting) that is specific to my family. Although sometimes I was made fun of growing up, and that it kind of makes me feel weird when everyone's dog is named Sadie, I still really like my name overall. Someday I hope to go by Sedona rather than Sadie, but that day still hasn't come (I introduce myself as Sadie out of habit...).
I found an article that is really interesting to read, but seems as though it may be a little far fetched. It reports things such as "name discrimination," and how people judge people solely based on their names. I think it is deffinately true that there are some names that we associate with old people (Agnus)just like there are some names that are associated with dogs (like Sadie...). This provides a list of names in which people feel are positive (intelligent, wealthy, talented) as well as negative names (awkward, bossy, dumb). While this is cool to see, I think that most people base what they feel about a name on the people they have met and gotten to know in the past. I knew one girl in highschool who was a dumb as a door knob, and now I always associate anyone with her name with that girl.
All of this shows how much of an influence your name has on you. It's something that you'll have with you for the rest of your life, and something that people end up associating with certain characteristics that they may see in someone else down the road (possibly why we think that someone doesn't look or act like there name is what it is...)