Baby name meanings, where did they start?

I love the name Jacob but it has a terrible meaning.. It means supplanter .. Just wondering where all these name meanings started, how far back do they go. Why does jacob mean supplanter?

Baby name meanings, where did they start?
JACOB





One of the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah. The brother of Esau, he was known also as Israel %26lt;Gen. 32:28%26gt;.


Jacob was born in answer to his father's prayer %26lt;Gen. 25:21%26gt;, but he became the favorite son of his mother %26lt;25:28%26gt;. He was nicknamed Jacob because, at the birth of the twins, "his hand took hold of Esau's heel" %26lt;25:26%26gt;. According to the accounts in Genesis, Jacob continued to "take hold of" the possessions of others-- his brother's birthright %26lt;25:29-34%26gt;, his father's blessing %26lt;27:1-29%26gt;, and his father-in-law's flocks and herds %26lt;30:25-43; 31:1%26gt;.





And so Jacob means "supplanter" as well.





As far as names go in general, of course we need a way to distinguish ourselves from each other. So words were used for names that described the child, or at least the parents' hopes for the child--whether the child would be large, small, peaceful, war-like, etc. People from different countries used words from their own languages, and so different names, pronunciations, etc. were created.
Reply:Jacob was a man in the Old Testament of the Bible I think......
Reply:Well Jacob was a man in the Old Testament of the Bible, so that one goes back to pretty much the beginning of time. The definition I have found for Jacob means "held by the heel". Not that that makes any more sense!:-) To me? It doesn't matter what a name means. If it sounds nice, who really cares?