Do you think first names can reflect your personality?

I agree with Canadiangran, I think we often become who we are because of our names.
I have a fairly common name, but oddly, until I went away to college, I never knew another one.
I was apparently named after a long dead relative, who was ‘no better than she should be’ and comparisons were always been drawn by my gran, had I been named after a more loved dead relative, I may have developed a different personality, a more nice one.
Or is that just a load of rubbish?

I don’t know about within families (although presumably your parents had affection for the relative?) but I do think that names can sometimes influence how people turn out, in a ‘Boy Named Sue’ kind of way.

We have seen how (some) teachers allow names to influence their feelings towards children, and that could very easily cause them to do less well in those teachers’ classes. If others also make assumptions based on names, the cumulative effect could shape children’s behaviour and life chances.

I think that the choices parents make are likely to be indicative of their general attitudes too, and this is likely to transfer to their child-rearing. So someone who likes to think that they are ‘unusual’ or ‘different’ will give their child an unusual name (or an unusual spelling of a more conventional name), and go on to bring up the child to see themselves as free-spirited or unconventional, whereas a more conforming parent might choose a more traditional name and bring up their child accordingly.

Nine of this allows for differences in personality though, and won’t apply to everyone.

Never met a Zoe that I’ve liked. And Olivia has always seemed an unlucky name to me. Julie’s never seem to have much luck in relationships, in my experience. All nonsense of course!

My friend and I both have virtue names but neither of them match our personalities.

That got me thinking, kittylester. What if someone called Honesty was a thief? Or someone called Faith had none ? One of my middle names is Diana but it doesn’t feel right, I don’t feel like a Diana. However, when she heard it a friend said, ‘that’d be right,’ so maybe she sees something I don’t!

I have 2 names and my parents called me by the 2nd one. So when my first name is called out, at the hospital for example, I have strange feeling of being a different person.

I think both first and surname together make a difference. My married name is alliterative, think Laura Love, which sounds light and friendly whereas my maiden name was more formal sounding such as Laura Rossiter. For this reason I kept my maiden name during my professional life. It worked well too because it separated my professional and private life.
Does ‘maiden’ name now sound rather odd? I hadn’t noticed until now.

It’s easy to dismiss this as rubbish, but as a Data Science student at university of são paulo, I’ve learned that patterns rarely exist by accident. While it sounds like a coincidence that susans are sensible or pauls are thoughtful, there is a concept called nominative determinism where people tend to grow into the expectations or sounds associated with their names.

From a numerology perspective, names aren't just letters, but they are frequencies. Every letter corresponds to a number and those numbers create a vibration. I personally checked my own details using numerology calculator and found that my name perfectly complements my 29/11 life path.

We once had five Lewis’ in Year 2. They were all naughty.

Marydoll

I'm Mary, which I think has connotations of being plain, sensible and boring.
I sincerely hope I'm the opposite!!!! ?

IMO Mary is a lovely name!

This is an old thread, but I’d like to add Luca to the names I’d never use.

I once read of someone saying that if he wanted a girl to grow up good and beautiful, he’d give her my name!
(A ‘royal’ one that was popular when I was born, no big prizes for guessing!)

How predjuced this is.

ginny

No way can a name reflect your personality. A name is usually given at birth and probably chosen before that. How would anyone know how that person will develop ?

Probably possible to live up to the"idea" of your name or react against it ( " A Boy Named Sue").
My generation of Catholics were all called Mary, Ann , Patricia , Clare etc ( I'm Not !) so possibly we didn't pay a lot of attention to our Christian names and became who we are in spite of them.
Varies from individual to individual I expect.
Who knows ?

Kim19

I changed my name when I was about 30. Nowadays only a few people (cousins) use the original whereas friends since then have no idea that there had been a previous. All fine with me and no complications whatsoever.

Kim19 - me too at age 40, newly divorced, new me.
I could not return to my original name ever as someone upstream said, this is no longer who I am.

Did you know? France had a list of 100 names children
were permitted, until 1993 when there was a burst of
Kevin and Tristan.
Even now, the Civil Code means that childrens names
should not be ‘detrimental to the child’s interests’

I just noticed this is an old thread

I have never met a Matthew who isn't lovely. Any nickname given as a full name is a sign for me! They usually end in ie, like Alfie, Archie, Freddie, Reggie, Ronnie, Ellie, Millie etc.... I know it's the parent's fault not the child but it really winds me up. Give them a proper FULL name.

1 don't think my personality matches my name. I wish it did!
A few years ago someone actually said to me that they wouldn't have had me down as an Xxx - in other words, I didn't match their mental image of someone with that name.

I blame my mum 😂 because she only decided to give me this particular name while in labour, when the midwife suggested it as a 'nicer' name than Karen, which is what I was originally going to be.

Hmm, before Karen became an insult, I think that name would have suited me better than the one I was given!

How can a name you're given before you’re born or just after have any bearing on your personality !!!!
That’s daft

Marydoll

I'm Mary, which I think has connotations of being plain, sensible and boring.
I sincerely hope I'm the opposite!!!! ?

Marydoll has a special place in the hearts of Glaswegians. Nothing to do with plain sensible and boring, though.

"What a woman, eh? "

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxWQBs2rxew>