Names and Their Meanings
No Study of Names and Their Meanings Would Be Complete Without A Corresponding Look at Names and Their Impact on the Name-Bearer
Perform a quick bit of research into how often the phrase "names and their meanings" is searched on the internet and, according to Google, you come up with approximately 27,000 searches per month. That means there are a lot of people who want to learn the meaning of their name, and it's a safe bet that there are many more people than that who are at least marginally interested in the topic. I've talked to a lot of these people, and I have studied names, naming, and nameology for several years, and the primary conclusion I have drawn is that it's far more important to determine the impact your name has had on your life and personality than it is to uncover the origin of names and their meanings.
The primary problem with spending much time on names and their meanings is that those meanings often have been lost or watered down over time. A name that was once associated with a powerful meaning in it's original familial or cultural context, most likely has lost it's association with that meaning because the family or cultural context no longer exists. Sadly, in as few as two or three generations, name meanings can be partially or completely lost. Even if the original meaning is retained within the family or extended family, the meaning is utterly lost on outsiders, who most likely are completely unaware of the importance of family names and their meanings. Unless you wear your name's meaning around on a hat or t-shirt, who is going to know? More importantly, if no one knows the meaning of your name, no matter how powerful it once may have been, what impact can that name have on your life or personality?
On the other hand, a wisely chosen name - a name crafted for optimum energetic frequency and power impact on the personality and success of the name-bearer - can make a tremendous difference. Through such fascinating tools as Name Tuning, Name Therapy, and Name Attunement, it really is never too late to fine-tune and retro-fit your name for success and maximum impact on your life and prospects. Truly, understanding names and their meanings is barely scratching the surface.
Let's consider a friend of mine as an example, a man named Bennett Bennett. Yes, his parents quite seriously named him Bennett Bennett, and no, I don't know what they were thinking. Having lived with this incredibly awkward name through his mid thirties, Bennett found himself having trouble being taken seriously, especially as he progressed in his career. Ultimately, he came to a point where he, and those around him, felt he had progressed in his profession as far as possible. Together, we took a close look at his name and it's impact on his life and career, and we made a determination that Bennett could benefit enormously with a Name Attunement. We began to look at his options.
I first asked Bennett his middle name, and he told me it was Morgan. Ahh, now there was something we could work with. I put pencil to paper, and after a bit of tweaking I asked Bennett how he would feel being known as B. Morgan Bennett, or simply as Morgan Bennett. He tried those two options on for a few days, and decided he preferred the option without the first initial (less pretentious sounding, he said), and he began using his "re-tuned" name immediately. It did take some time for his co-workers and friends to get used to, but after a few weeks they made the adjustment, and he's been known as Morgan Bennett ever since.
Now, obviously I have over-simplified the process for the purposes of this article, and not every situation is as easy to work through as this one, but as an example it certainly clarifies the importance of looking at the impact of your name, rather than just taking into consideration names and their meanings.
One other comment on this process. Life throws changes at all of us, and a name can reflect where the name-bearer finds him- or herself in life, also known as the life phase. Native Americans, as they moved through the various phases of their lives, often took new names to reflect each of those phases, and it helped them to identify themselves and become comfortable in that place. It also helped others to relate to them appropriately. There is absolutely no reason we can't do the same through the creative use of Name Tuning. A simple example would be from Morgan Bennett's life. Should he find himself in another phase of life anytime in the future, he could easily decide to adopt the first initial at any time, thus becoming B. Morgan Bennett.
Don't let the study of names and their meanings become a hangup for you. Rather, let it become a starting point on your path to discovering how your name has impacted you and your personality, for good or for ill.