Do the names our parents give us have any effect in determining our personality?

[Salahudeen]

Do we believe names influence personality?

[ardianto]

What is our parent name doesn't give any effect to our personality. But, in many community, kids (usually boys) can be treated differently by the people just because he is son of/ibn ........... And it can influence his personality.


EDIT : Ooopss, sorry, I thought you are talking about our parent name.

[ardianto]

It's not true if our name started with "A" we will have personality like this, if started with "B" we will have personality like that.

[GuestFellow]

Salaam,

Nope. I wish that was the case.

[Who Am I?]

Do you mean your first name influences your personality, or your family name will because you are the son/daughter? Western names are a bit different from Arabic names. We don't have an "ibn" attached or anything like that. The only way to tell the gender of the child is by the first name, and sometimes you can't even tell then as there are a lot of first names that are used by both genders.

Or are you talking about changing your name when you become Muslim? I did not, for two reasons. One, most of my friends and family don't know about my conversion, so it didn't seem right to have one name for my brothers and my normal name around everyone else.

Second, I didn't want to dishonor my parents by dropping the name they gave me.

[Perseveranze]

Your environment influences your personality i'd say, more then anything else.

[ardianto]

If name really determine kid's personality, people will make a research to find which the best name for their kid's personality, and many people in the world will have the same name.

Or are you talking about changing your name when you become Muslim? I did not, for two reasons. One, most of my friends and family don't know about my conversion, so it didn't seem right to have one name for my brothers and my normal name around everyone else.

Bro Salahudeen is a Muslim since he was born.

[Who Am I?]

If name really determine kid's personality, people will make a research to find which the best name for their kid's personality, and many people in the world will have the same name.


Bro Salahudeen is a Muslim since he was born.

I knew that much. I didn't know maybe if he was asking about non-Muslims converting and then changing their name. Perhaps I misunderstood. My apologies.

I seem to be all out of sorts today. I'll chalk it up to my sinuses raging and me not feeling well.

I think environment plays a role but also genetics.

[Salahudeen]

What I meant was when people are having a child they look at all the names and find one with a nice meaning and I was wondering if the meaning of the name influenced the person's personality. But I found out anway thx.

[Abz2000]

i think it can slightly, as the name would make one think of the namesake and even possibly study the personality or meaning behind it, and sometimes feel "in the shoes" of that personality,
though not in all cases,
like say for instance - the name maryam might make one reflect on the personality of maryam (as) and it would make them think in that mode, for what qualities is my namesake revered, should i adopt those qualities? are they good qualities? etc
- every thought can influence a persons personality, so i would say a name can be a strong factor in the psychology of the person - though not always.
plus, as the brother said above, people can be treated differently simply due to their name, two african guys came to my stall together once, one's name was 'Isa, the other's was Musa, i had a great conversation with them and we also talked about the prophets, now maybe that conversation wouldn't have happened had it not been for their names, and maybe they wouldn't have remembered those Prophets at that time, so even their names are a constant source of remembrance for them - and remembrance definitely does effect your personality.
dunno if it makes sense

[Ramadhan]

In Islam, we are free to give any name to our children as long as they are good or do not have bad meaning/connotation.

I agree with what br. abz2000 said above, but on the other hand, I've also met many guys named "muhammad" whose behavior do not befit their name and how I wished their parents named them something else.

[NobleMuslimUK]

Majority of us do not live upto our names. Like I was explaining to a jehovah's witness about the names of Allah for example Raheem, which means merciful. Allah has this name because He truly is merciful. Maybe our names have some sort of influence on our lives. A man was complaining to Umar RA about his son being disobedient, the son was summoned. The boy asked Umar RA what are my rights upon my father, Umar RA said one of the rights is giving you a good name.
Allah knows best.

[ardianto]

My ethnic, Java, is a feudal society which people are divided into three classes, "Ningrat" (Royal families), "Priyayi" (Elite people), and "Wong Cilik" (ordinary/lowest class).

There is an unique custom in Javanese culture, if a boy from Wong Cilik often got illness, people will regard him bear a name that 'too heavy' that only worth for boys from higher classes. So, his parent must change his name into another name that worth for Wong Cilik class boy, in a rite that serve and eat Red Porridge and White porridge.

Maybe this custom is still performed in rural areas.