Having remarked elsewhere that my real name was a bit grander than 'Samuel', I thought that it might be of some interest to have a look at the meanings of our names.
http://www.behindthename.com/ is a good start and 'Google' has many other sites.

My own names mean
First Name : Born of the Yew tree, which suggest a bastard conceived under a Yew, or born (base or no) of an archer or having the attributes of a Yew bow.
Second Name: Nobleman

Family Name: Descendant of the princely Lord

Tribal Name: People of the Sea Warrior

and the
Sire Name : the son of the Well Born of the Red (haired) King

I use the accepted diminutives

People can mask or hide themselves, or even use a name to protect or armour themselves against society. Many people change their name to better "fit into" their local society/country etc. A name is a name, and usually, but not always, bears little relation to the person.

Well, the Sire name, tribe name and family name were all there before I was born and the second name was heriditary and the first name was after the father's father and his father. I like it though, has a hint of the hunter/warrior about it. I still hunt but I've long since given up the warrior bit, except on ANZAC Day.

I beg to differ on this point Airzone, in a few cases anyway.

I knew an Alannah who admitted herself that Alannahs were bitches, and the three I've known lend themselves to that description quite well.

Whereas the Olivia's of my aquaintance have been totally loveable actually.

Someone did some research that showed names did have an influence on the outcome of an individual's life. Can anyone else remember it?

What my names "means" is, well, meaningless. But, parents who choose to give their children bizarre names are not doing them a favor. For example, I knew a young man who's name was Shay. That was his first name, middle name, and last name. Shay Shay Shay.

When I was in the military I met a young man whose family names was Ste. Germain. When we were signing in at a new unit a sergeant called out, "Stegerman." The young man said, "Here." I asked if he was going to correct the pronunciation of his name and he said, "I've given up. As far as the military is concerned I'm Stegerman."

I live in Mexico and Jesus is a common name. But, if Jesus moves to the U.S. he will encounter people who find his name offensive because they feel there can be only one Jesus. A friend here was having a baby and if it was a girl she wanted to name her Virgen. I suggested that would be an awkward name both in Mexico and the U.S.

In the specific region in which I live some girls are given Zapotec names. I know Bizu, bee, Niza, water, and Veany, light. It's popular and well received. I asked a friend if boys get Zapotec names and she looked at me like I was crazy.

I named my son Sean well before it was common in the U.S. Out of respect for my son I also gave him a respectable name, David. The only problem he encountered was having to tell people, usually teachers, how to spell his name and in the third grade one teacher sent me a note saying, "Shawn can't spell his name. We expect children to be able to spell their name by the time they're in the third grade." I responded, "Sean can spell his name and if you ask him politely he might teach you to spell it."

What names mean in themselves in sometimes interesting trivia but nothing else but names can have an effect on a young person. Oh, my accountant is a very professional woman named Melody Smiley. I doubt her name helps her business much.

Patrick

Did you choose your accountant because of her name, and does she live up to it I wonder?

I chose my accountant because of his name although I don't really know why. Its Clynk.

Pronuciations can cause a bit of trouble anywhere, we had a well known and incidentaly quite courageous politcian whose name was St John but apparently it's pronounced 'Sinjin'. Then there is Cholmondley pronounced 'Chumley' and Montague pronounced 'Montarg'.
There was a lady that I met in Sydney who spelt her first name 'Mhaire', being a bit versed in the Gaelic, I pronounced it correctly (more or less) as 'Vai-ree' and was promptly told that it was 'Ma-hyree'. So I said nought other than to apologize but I did wonder why anyone would spell their name in the genative case.
My favourites however are the well known Australian sisters named Minogue who pronounce their name 'Minn-oh-guh' instead of plain old 'Min-ogg'.

Samuel,
you might be able to hazard a guess as to how to pronounce the child's name in this story.
It definitely has a Gaelic look about it.

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/outcry- ... 5864976369

Patrick,
that Ste Germain name sounds like it might have originally been St Germain.
I read that when immigrants arrived in the USA some couldn't spell their names and it was left to the clerical staff processing them to write them however they saw fit.

I have a Dutch surname courtesy of my marriage, that is all but impossible for English speaking people to pronounce. I found its easier not to be too precious about it and just use a pronounciation that may not be correct but at least everyone can say.

Christine,

'Tear-nah Far-hee', with 'tear' rhyming with 'ear'

Samuel

Its a pretty name but I hope Tiarnah is ready for a lifetime of spelling her name out.

There are some nice Irish girls names, I like Siobahn and Ailish.

Christine: No, Melody Smiley was picked by the attorney handling my father's estate. The law required an audit. I needed a new accountant so I just continued to work with her.

Patrick
Sorry I can't leave this topic alone until I know if Melody Smiley lives up to her name.

Sorry, Christine, but I've never actually met the woman. I live in Oaxaca, Mexico, and pay taxes in the U.S. so we communicate via email.

I think that Padraig O'Ceallaigh sounds pretty good.
Here's a link to one of the name, Googled at random; there's plenty of others.
http://www.aislingmagazine.com/aislingmagazine/articles/TAM19/Gaeilge.html

Christine O wrote:

... I beg to differ on this point Airzone, in a few cases anyway. ... Someone did some research that showed names did have an influence on the outcome of an individual's life. Can anyone else remember it?

No need to beg, just differ. Yes, I agree it can seem that some people suit or reflect their name. Is it cause or effect? Does it matter? And of course, some people also seem not to reflect their name. So, I reckon it's pot luck. And yes, having this or that name will impact a person to some degree. Being named Hilter in Poland in 1950 would have had a major impact on a child!

The popularity of certain names reflects the social circumstances at the time. Some names are more popular at certain periods. So maybe we associate certain cultural manifestations with certain names. In Australia Sky was very popular in the 70's for example. But I do think one should be very very careful is anticipating a person's behaviour or appearance by their name.

I think it is interesting that many people really like the sound of names which originate outside their own country, as is shown by several people in these posts on this topic. I also like Siobhan, Amanda and names which seem to have rhythm to my ear. But I do know, that depending upon one's language, what sounds pleasant to me may not sound pleasant to someone who grew up in central Mongolia for example. And of course, we all have seen the movie "The God's Must Be Crazy" which gave us a little exposure to the language of the Kalahari Bushmen. I would have little or no hope of pronouncing names from that culture.