Does a name have any effect on a person's character?

Praise be to Allah.

There is nothing wrong with giving names that do not have bad meanings and which have good meanings but do not imply excessive praise of the one who is so called. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did change some names because they were ugly or because they had bad meanings. 

A name does not have any effect on a person's character, apart from reflecting optimism for him. On this basis, one should give one’s children good names and not give bad names. So we should use names like ‘Abd-Allaah (“slave of Allaah”), ‘Abd al-Rahmaan (“slave of the Most Merciful”), Muhammad, Ahmad, etc., and we should not use names which have bad meanings, such as Sa’b (difficult), etc.