Anyone here into onomastics? I came across the neatest website yesterday.

[BlueIris]

http://www.alphabetickle.com/alphabetickle/onomastomancy/site.nsf/pages/namelist

Well, neatest in the sense that many of the names deemed "unlucky" there are the names of profoundly "unlucky" people I know. Kinda creepy, even for someone who "believes" in that kind of thing. I'm also a bit creeped out by the number of "unlucky" names on that list that I like and was thinking about using for my putative child(ren). Yes, I know, the babies pick their own names and there is no point in stressing about it. Still, sorta unsettling. As were the number of names deemed "auspicious" that belong to some of the luckiest damn people I have ever met it my life.

[Blaze Diem]

1. Interesting, but many of my favorite names are on the "??hmm" list

Like you, I also know good and successful people who's names reflect the opposite.
well now.

[Celebration]

2. Barack, Hillary

Auspicious combinations (boys)
*ba*

H:

Auspiciousness as a starting letter: Medium
Auspicious combinations (both sexes): none
Unlucky combinations (both sexes): none

[BlueIris]

3. Oh, come on. This site is awesome!

[I Have A Dream]

4. I went to it yesterday, and it is interesting.

However, I don't resonate with what it is saying, so I didn't respond. I'm not saying that what it's saying isn't true; I just didn't feel drawn to the subject -- maybe because I don't plan to ever have children. I personally didn't notice a pattern in reference to the people who I know who have either the favorable or unfavorable names.

[crispini]

5. The site is a hoax

It says so right on its 'Disclaimer' page:

I figured out that a word like "onomastomancy" could be coined from the "onomasto-" prefix and "-mancy" suffix, and sure enough, when I did a quick search at Google, I found that the word actually does exist with the meaning I had in mind. I don't have any idea how onomastomancy might really have been practiced in the past, and I don't really care to find out at this stage (although it might provide an interesting bit of obscure knowledge bring up at a dinner party). I loathe to think that charlatans who pass themselves off as medicine men and mystical sages deceive people by perpetuating all sorts of superstitions. I live on a continent where the majority of people ascribe to harmful beliefs in supernatural powers which, if they exist at all, could only be evil. Inspired by these primitive beliefs, people brutally beat one another to death, cut out their freshly slaughtered enemies' hearts and eat them, chop off children's genitals to make them into magic potion, and rape babies to cure themselves of AIDS. Just so that you don't misunderstand the satire: The theory of onomastomancy expounded at this Web site is nonsense.

Did you find any of it convincing, though? If so, it was because I structured it according to a specific technique of deception, and this should be a warning to you to look out for similar tricks practiced in many belief-systems. (I was a bit lazy to do it systematically, though, so if you saw through it all from the start, you are probably used to having to separate the wheat from the chaff.) Most people would not be easily taken in by a blatant lie told out of the blue: "Hi, Kelly, nice to see you! Oh wow! There's a big orange elephant perched on top of your head!" However, carefully blend the lie with a couple of things which your subject accepts as true, and you're well on your way to getting people to believe in orange elephants and onomastomancy.

http://www.alphabetickle.com/alphabetickle/onomastomancy/site.nsf/pages/disclaimer

[BlueIris]

6. Okay, now I'm kind of embarrassed.

I finally found the "disclaimer."

Blech.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. Question from your opening post

You say "babies pick their own names". Interesting if true, because all my life I've HATED my birth first name. Its meaning is "stranger", and it aptly described my place in the world until I found my spiritual path. At that time, I was given my first spiritual name, Ayesha, which means "woman". The particular Ayesha I was named for was the only virgin bride of the Beloved Prophet, a strong woman in her own right, yet one who had her own inner devils to contend with. I took her as a role model, and found my self-perception changing. Years later I was given my second name, Haqqiqa, which deals with "truth"--very interesting as my birth middle name also means "truth".

Would a child choose a name they hate? Would this be because it would be an impetus to finding more about one's true self? I don't know, but I wanted you to know that your post has gotten me thinking. Thank you for it.

[BlueIris]

8. This question might be better asked of the person who told me about the babies

choosing their own names, our own stellanoir. It's hard for me to believe I picked my own name, either, as I hate it (with the passion of a thousand blazing suns). Maybe our parents didn't "listen" to us?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

9. Or maybe there was a lesson to be learned from the name

with mine, I think, it was to direct me on the "road less traveled by", as Frost said in his poem. But I will ask stellanoir.