# People w/ given names denoting beauty/virility/charm/a virtue &c: Ever considered them embarassing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 15, 2013, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998 "2013-11-15T17:31:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2013, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998/21 "2013-11-16T01:45:59Z")
Theodore, Matthew and Benedict all mean “gift of God.” As the result of a pregnancy that catastrophically altered my parents’ plans for their and my older brothers’ future, I was so named to remind them that ultimately, this was all part of God’s plans. still, which tastes better: the cookie straight off the cooling rack, or the one that was dropped on the kitchen floor? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2013, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998/22 "2013-11-16T02:15:52Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > How’d you like to be saddled with Chastity? That reminds me of Terry Pratchett’s \*Lords and Ladies: \* > [@](#): > > The Carter parents were a quiet and respectable Lancre family who got into a bit of a mix-up when it came to naming their children. First, they had four daughters, who were christened Hope, Chastity, Prudence and Charity, because naming girls after virtues is an ancient and unremarkable tradition. Then their first son was born and out of some misplaced idea about how this naming business was done he was called Anger Carter, followed later by Jealousy Carter, Bestiality Carter and Covetousness Carter. Life being what it is, Hope turned out to be a depressive, Chastity was enjoying life as a lady of negotiable affection in Ankh-Morpork, Prudence had thirteen children, and Charity expected to get a dollar’s change out of seventy-five pence – whereas the boys had grown into amiable well-tempered men. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2013, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998/23 "2013-11-16T09:43:19Z")
Mulva. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_York](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_York](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_York)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2013, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998/24 "2013-11-16T11:24:37Z")
There was a girl called Virginia, they called her Virgin for short, but not for long. ---
**Author:** ![JuliaSqueezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@JuliaSqueezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JuliaSqueezer)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2013, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998/25 "2013-11-16T14:13:14Z")
In the 1990’s a big story in Detroit was the murder of a gent named Malice Green by two police officers who were convicted and served prison time. At the time, I was curious about the fact that nothing was ever said about the victim’s name. I mean, who names their infant child Malice? ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2013, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998/26 "2013-11-16T17:12:08Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > It’s not my name, but I do always feel so sad for people called Dolores. What an awful name to give a baby! And it really is the first thing I think of “how sad that your parents called you sorrow.” I know it’s not the intention of the parents, but heck, that’s what your name IS. ☹ (Sorry all you nice people called Dolores, it’s not your fault.) I understand this sentiment but I find it funny that I feel the exact opposite! I love love love the name Dolores because of its meaning. I guess to me it feels more like a romantic, bittersweet sorrow? ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998/27 "2013-11-16T20:03:40Z")
My name means hidden/secret because Odin sacrificed himself to himself on the tree for nine days to learn their secret, and for which reason we used to sacrifice a bunch of animals and pretty virgins once a year to celebrate it. I’ve many times tried to convince my fellow countrymen to revive this excellent festival. So far with little success. So that’s a bit of a bummer. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998/28 "2013-11-18T15:04:13Z")
My name means “the girl with the beautiful eyes”. It’s not something Americans know but Indians know immediately. I don’t care. I do have beautiful eyes. 🙂 My parents named me that for a reason. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998/29 "2013-11-18T15:52:02Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > Gülcan Turkish for ‘flower soul’, of Persian origin (گلجان _Goljān_ in Persian; Turkish c is pronounced like a j). > [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Theodore, Matthew and Benedict all mean “gift of God.” Except that Benedict means ‘blessed’. > [@JuliaSqueezer](#): > > In the 1990’s a big story in Detroit was the murder of a gent named Malice Green by two police officers who were convicted and served prison time. > > At the time, I was curious about the fact that nothing was ever said about the victim’s name. I mean, who names their infant child Malice? I’ve always wondered that too. As a w.a. guess, perhaps he was named after a beloved aunt or grandmother named Alice, with M- prefixed to signify ‘male’? Kind of like the neologism “murse”? OK, I got nothing. ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998/30 "2013-11-18T17:03:22Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > It’s not my name, but I do always feel so sad for people called Dolores. What an awful name to give a baby! And it really is the first thing I think of “how sad that your parents called you sorrow.” I know it’s not the intention of the parents, but heck, that’s what your name IS. ☹ (Sorry all you nice people called Dolores, it’s not your fault.) There’s a whole bunch of names with unpleasant meanings. I mean, Mary and all its variations means “sea of bitterness” but that’s not what I think every time I meet a Maria or a Molly. Claudia means lame; Cecilia means blind. No big deal. Catherine/Kaitlyn/Kathleen/Katrina so on and so forth also mean innocent or pure. No different than calling a girl Chasity. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998/31 "2013-11-18T17:59:41Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > It’s not my name, but I do always feel so sad for people called Dolores. What an awful name to give a baby! And it really is the first thing I think of “how sad that your parents called you sorrow.” I know it’s not the intention of the parents, but heck, that’s what your name IS. ☹ (Sorry all you nice people called Dolores, it’s not your fault.) Well, the full name is María de los Dolores, after, as you correctly translated, Our Lady of Sorrows. It has its own feastday post-Vatican II, but previously it used to be celebrated on the so-called [Friday of Sorrows](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_of_Sorrows), the Friday before Palms Sunday. The meaning of the advocation is of Our Lady as protector of mothers who suffer because of their children - which as of last count is any mother worthy of the name. Naming your daughter Dolores is asking Our Lady, who went through the worst sorrows a mother can go through because of her Son, to protect you and your daughter from the same. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998/32 "2013-11-18T23:51:26Z")
> [@sugaree](#): > > There’s a whole bunch of names with unpleasant meanings. I mean, Mary and all its variations means “sea of bitterness” but that’s not what I think every time I meet a Maria or a Molly. That’s based on an assumption that it’s Semitic, because it looks like a compound of the Hebrew words \*mar \*‘bitter’ and \*yam \*‘sea’. IMHO it’s more likely that it derives from the Egyptian root _mry_, which means ‘love’ or ‘beloved’. The original Miriam came from Egypt. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998/33 "2013-11-19T04:21:50Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > How about Jesus? Every Jesus I’ve met was a complete dick. I wonder if it was “boy named Sue” syndrome. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998/34 "2013-11-19T04:37:49Z")
> [@sunstone](#): > > My name means a man from a particular region of Europe - and few people seem to say…“Ah Hah! You must come from xyz” Oddly enough, my ancestors do come from that region, but my parents apparently just liked the name… It seems ever so slightly odd to find lots of non-French people named Francis, Francisco, or whatever the equivalent is in the local language. There’s an argument, however, that it can also mean “Freeman” in addition to “Frenchman” ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998/35 "2013-11-19T05:18:25Z")
I once knew a guy, born in 1900, with the name Ernest. I’m guessing that his parents were unaware of the Oscar Wilde play _The Importance of Being Ernest_, which opened in 1895 in London. At any rate the fellow once told me, “You know, I never liked that name.” He wanted a name, not an adjective. I understand that many common names have meanings in their original language. John means, “God is gracious”, Richard means “Brave ruler”, etc. Ok, I got those meanings from a dubious website, but I retain my claim anyway, pending contradiction. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998/36 "2013-11-19T06:17:45Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > I once knew a guy, born in 1900, with the name Ernest. I’m guessing that his parents were unaware of the Oscar Wilde play _The Importance of Being Ernest_, which opened in 1895 in London. At any rate the fellow once told me, “You know, I never liked that name.” He wanted a name, not an adjective. > > I understand that many common names have meanings in their original language. John means, “God is gracious”, Richard means “Brave ruler”, etc. Ok, I got those meanings from a dubious website, but I retain my claim anyway, pending contradiction. In some circles it’s a very common name, and almost nobody names a kid based on whether somebody wrote a play with that character’s name. (The adjective is “earnest.”) Wilde made a play on an existing, fairly popular name–he didn’t invent one and give it a meaning. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998/37 "2013-11-19T07:24:57Z")
> [@sugaree](#): > > There’s a whole bunch of names with unpleasant meanings. I mean, Mary and all its variations means “sea of bitterness” but that’s not what I think every time I meet a Maria or a Molly. Claudia means lame; Cecilia means blind. No big deal. > > Catherine/Kaitlyn/Kathleen/Katrina so on and so forth also mean innocent or pure. No different than calling a girl Chasity. It is different. Nobody says “Today I helped a cecilia man cross the road” or “don’t you act all catherine with me”. You don’t tell a coworker complaining about her marriage “wow, mary much”. Yeah lots of names have meanings when you look back, but they’re not just regular everyday words. Chastity and Dolores are normal words that have meanings, and the meanings are pretty nasty. > [@Nava](#): > > Well, the full name is María de los Dolores, after, as you correctly translated, Our Lady of Sorrows. It has its own feastday post-Vatican II, but previously it used to be celebrated on the so-called [Friday of Sorrows](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_of_Sorrows), the Friday before Palms Sunday. > > The meaning of the advocation is of Our Lady as protector of mothers who suffer because of their children - which as of last count is any mother worthy of the name. Naming your daughter Dolores is asking Our Lady, who went through the worst sorrows a mother can go through because of her Son, to protect you and your daughter from the same. But would you call your kid Shit, and then say it actually means “I Hope You Never Stand In Dog Shit”? Like I said, I know it’s not what parents intend but someone still ends up being called Dolores. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998/38 "2013-11-19T08:23:13Z")
I met a young man a few years ago called ‘James Bond’ who was desperately shy and gawky - I felt quite sorry for him having to introduce himself. It might have just about been okay if he’d been a super-confident polymath sportsman or something, but he was quite slight and ordinary (I’m in the UK, so there’s no escaping the name recognition). ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998/39 "2013-11-19T17:51:01Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Theodore, Matthew and Benedict all mean “gift of God.” So does Nathaniel, which is my youngest son’s name. My oldest is named Owen, which in a roundabout way means “well-born”. I hope neither of them take their name literally! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-w-given-names-denoting-beauty-virility-charm-a-virtue-c-ever-considered-them-embarassing/673998.md?page=1)