By Martha Ogles
Four years ago I would have given you a different answer to that question than what I am going to tell you today. After we started our personalized first name gift business, YouNameIt, four years ago, we began to see something that simply amazed us. In our mall locations we look up on our computer program a name for a customer for free and let them read the meaning and information available for that name before we ever print and make the customers order. We started seeing our customers eye’s light up as they would read the information, they would exclaim “that sounds just exactly like them!”. How amazing this was not only to our customers but also to us. We once even went so far as to have a linguistic expert from a local University evaluate the software we use. He advised us, to date, that our software was the most extensive and accurate he had seen. How did the actual meaning of the name fit a person so well when half the time the person looking up the name didn’t even know what their name even meant before hand. Does the meaning of your name pre-dispose one’s personality as they grow and mature?
Every name has a meaning, ever word we use has meaning, therefore every time a name is spoken regardless of if you know the meaning or not, the meaning goes forth with the name in a sense. Have you ever heard the term “the power of positive thinking”, well how about the power of positive speaking? Once a pastor dropped by the shop on a very slow day in January and we looked up a few names for him, he was amazed as he read his children and grandchildren’s names, never knowing before what they had meant. As we chatted and got into a deep discussion about the meaning of the names and the accuracy to their personalities he had some thoughts and scriptures we pondered. He stated that even if you were to look at this from a non-religious point of view, a theory applied…YOU GET WHAT YOU SPEAK. Speak negatively and you generate a negative energy, speak positively and you get a positive force. Speak the name of a child over that child for years and their personality traits will develop into the meaning for that name. This was his opinion.
Now how accurate are my findings? Well, there are no scientific studies or tests that will prove what I am telling you is right, so just take this as food for thought, the past four years of running this business tells me that this theory is correct according to our customers. So be sure to give the meaning of the name a little more thought when you decide on what you want to name your next child… this might just be true!
Article by Martha Ogles of You Name It.