Names

I have a close friend who recently had her third child, and she began the very long, detailed explanation of his name by emphasizing how important she and her husband feels names are. They believe that "a name is an essence, and is sometimes tells of a person’s qualities and strengths, perhaps even of his/her destiny."

Enter Beth, who comments on her own friend's practice of referring to her kids, in her blog, by nicknames that describe an element of their personalities. Beth mentions that she knows all the kids and wouldn't have thought of them as particularly possessing the characteristics their mom identifies, but now that she regularly hears about them according to these nicknames she magnifies those characteristics in her image of the kids' activities.

I'm trying to decide whether it's good or bad that people don't usually associate all the defining characteristics of a known name with a person, the same way they would if the name were a commonly used word. Would it be better to give an infant a name, trusting that there is some force (presumably Hashem) guiding your choice, which ensures that the name is appropriate to that human being? Or might there be a risk that the influence of the name will affect what kind of person the child develops into? Or is this likely but not a risk at all, because you are choosing a name that has wonderful connotations, associations and implications?

Just a thought.