Why do names have meanings?

Ask what a name means and you are really asking a historical question. Most names in use today did not start out as names at all. They began as ordinary words or short phrases in a particular language, chosen because they said something about a child, a family, a hope or a belief. The words have often dropped out of everyday use, but the names built from them are still with us.

The study of names

The scholarly study of names is called onomastics. Encyclopaedia Britannica describes it as the science that studies names in all their aspects, and the American Name Society defines it simply as the formal study of names and naming. The study of personal names in particular is a branch of onomastics known as anthroponymy, and the study of place-names as toponymy (or toponomastics).

Names that began as words

Britannica’s account of personal names gives many examples of names that were once transparent phrases. In ancient languages, compound names often linked the bearer with a god; these are called theophoric names. Sanskrit Devadatta meant “given by god”, and the Greek name Isidoros, the source of modern Isidore, meant “given by Isis”.

Other names grew from single everyday words. The Greek name Stephanos meant “wreath” and became Stephen; the Latin Laurentius was associated with the laurel and became Lawrence. Roman surnames such as Cicero (“bean”) and Pictor (“painter”) show how nicknames and descriptions could become names.

For most people who carry these names today, the original meaning is no longer obvious. Someone called Stephen is not usually thought of as “wreath”. The meaning belongs to the name’s history rather than to the person who bears it.

Where surnames come from

Family names follow similar patterns. Genealogical guidance from FamilySearch groups English surnames into four broad types: names from places, names from occupations, nicknames, and patronymics based on a father’s name. The Library of Congress gives familiar examples. Occupations produced names such as Miller and Smith; where people lived produced names such as Atwood and Meadows; and in many countries surnames meaning “son of” or “daughter of” once changed with every generation.

The Library of Congress also notes that surnames were not always chosen by the people who carried them. Some were given by neighbours, and some changed during a person’s lifetime or were set by law.

Why this matters when you look up a name

A name’s meaning describes the words it came from, not the qualities of the people who carry it. That is why The Name Journal separates meaning and origin, which can be researched, from claims about personality or fate, which cannot. When the evidence for a meaning is weak or disputed, the honest answer is to say so.