Where do cutie marks come from? Why do the ponies names relate to them so much?

[adelenightstaff 12]

I've been wondering for a while now, where do cutie marks come from? Also, if cutie marks aren't planned out, why do most ponies names have something to do with their cutie mark? This question has probably been asked a million times but I still wonder. Does Celestia give them cutie marks or what? I honestly think they should explore more about this in the show. Probably through the c.m.c.

[Bit Boss 213]

Oooh good question! It'd be like a 5-year-old getting a tattoo....and their name changed...and their future career all at once! 

[chili-pepper-thinker 37]

Because it's their DESTINY!!!

[GrimGrimoire 4,973]

Because it's a cartoon show with an idea that was hoping people would not think to deeply about it and now that they are it cannot really rationally explain it so just leaves it as "Just because".

 

But honestly I suppose destiny and fate are as good as anything to explain it all.

[Widdershins 9,964]

Well, now if we think about this illogically!

   Ponies are heavily magical creatures, a cutie mark could likely be just a sort of later-in-life birthmark created during an episode of extreme mental focus. We've seen many a time where about any body could ponder for a while on what it actually means. Sure, that buttmark of a spool of thread could mean your a fashionista or a good tailor...or it could have just meant there was spool of thread nearby when you got your cutie mark.

   Don't think names mean anything particularly foretelling. A parent could likely had just named them that because they thought it sounded cute at the time, and just so happens that they live up to it an odd amount of time in Equestria. Fluttershy's is likely the most blatant name I can think of, and the wing-related thing can be excused by typical naming conventions among pegusai, and the latter just what they thought sounded cute at the time which became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

    I headcannon that they're born from simply just wanting it enough. Sort of like the old wive's tale that a pregnant wife had to be given every food she wanted or the baby would be born with a birthmark in the shape of the food she was left wanting for.  Makes sense for as much importance the culture we've seen places on getting it, from being openly mocked for not having it to it being entirely acceptable to be so happy upon getting it that you shake your flank in every bystander's face.

   On a creator's point of view, ponies are basically just open shapes with maybe a splash of color on top for the mane. One simple symbol in the off-center of the shape draws more attention & gives a bit more personality & difference between such simple designs. And the more separate, unique characters you have, easier it is to sell them!

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 42,202]

Most likely the cutie marks themselves are part of the ponies magic, as we seen in season 4. So it could be that magic that manifests itself when they find the thing they love to do most. Makes sense to me. So the ponies have magical butts basically.

[Concerned Bystander 2,904]

We've seen throughout the cartoon that a pony's name, cutie mark, talent and personality are all (in most cases) quite clearly linked.  It would seem that fate takes a pretty heavy hand in Equestria.  Presumably a pony's parents don't have quite as much freedom in picking their foals names as they might think they do.

[adelenightstaff 12]

We've seen throughout the cartoon that a pony's name, cutie mark, talent and personality are all (in most cases) quite clearly linked.  It would seem that fate takes a pretty heavy hand in Equestria.  Presumably a pony's parents don't have quite as much freedom in picking their foals names as they might think they do.

Good idea, but what about when Cadence named Flurry Heart? Didn't her and Shining Armor choose the name themselves?

[Concerned Bystander 2,904]

Good idea, but what about when Cadence named Flurry Heart? Didn't her and Shining Armor choose the name themselves?

 

But did they choose it freely?  Or was their 'choice' guided?  The name was after all selected specifically to commemorate the events that took place immediately after her birth.

[Bit Boss 213]

You can always look at Equestria as the "opposite" to our world, in that it it has a totally different logic to ours. Everypony is appalled by the existence of the Everfree forest (which parallels our world) in which chaos reigns; the plants grow, no-one controls the weather and the animals take care of themselves! So while fate and magic are fantasies for us, perhaps they are everyday things for inhabitants of Equestria. Fate guiding the naming, talent and subsequent marking of a pony just wouldn't be weird for them!

[silvadel 1,393]

You can always look at Equestria as the "opposite" to our world, in that it it has a totally different logic to ours. Everypony is appalled by the existence of the Everfree forest (which parallels our world) in which chaos reigns; the plants grow, no-one controls the weather and the animals take care of themselves! So while fate and magic are fantasies for us, perhaps they are everyday things for inhabitants of Equestria. Fate guiding the naming, talent and subsequent marking of a pony just wouldn't be weird for them!

 

So for some their fondest dream might be to be free from the destiny imposed upon them by their cutie mark.

 

I am kind of surprised we didn't see any really staunch supporters of Starlight Glimmer in her debut for that very reason.

[Bit Boss 213]

So for some their fondest dream might be to be free from the destiny imposed upon them by their cutie mark.

 

I am kind of surprised we didn't see any really staunch supporters of Starlight Glimmer in her debut for that very reason.

How would they write their way outta that one?!

Wasn't part of the problem with the Starlight Glimmer episodes that everypony lost their memories when they lost their cutie marks? But yeah, I never thought of that and you made a really good point! It'd make a great story-line

[Ganondorf8 11,693]

I'm going to go with magic being a cause and because the writers have yet to come up with an explanation that would be considered satisfying to the fandom. I suppose fate and/or destiny could also be a factor given that ponies get their cutie marks when they discover what their special talent is.

[Holy Sword Excalibur 87]

Fools, it is obvious. They are a form of mind control created by Celestia and Luna to control the destinies of their subjects. This is why young children get their cutie marks symbolizing their destinies so early and why ponies tend to have cutie marks that are quite fitting for their names.

[Vlazamal 338]

Wasn't part of the problem with the Starlight Glimmer episodes that everypony lost their memories when they lost their cutie marks? But yeah, I never thought of that and you made a really good point! It'd make a great story-line

 

It would. It seems this kind of enivitable desent was skipped over.

[silvadel 1,393]

Troubleshoes would have been a real candidate for it.  I mean he HATED his cutie mark until the CMC showed him what it really meant.  If he had known of Glimmer's village a year earlier -- I have little doubt he would have made his way there.  And he would have been very upset to get his unlucky mark back.

 

I can see other marks that could be problematic.  What if you had a pony like Diamond Tiara who eventually got their cutie mark in bullying? 

[Widdershins 9,964]

But did they choose it freely?  Or was their 'choice' guided?  The name was after all selected specifically to commemorate the events that took place immediately after her birth.

   Saying it's only about the destiny, sort of implies that there's no choice. And any being with feelings makes choices likely only specific to them.

  Sure, there was a flurry going on at the time, and a heart involved. Does that mean when she grows up that she'll have ice powers? There's no way to tell that as of yet. Something involving hearts? Well a heart is an extremely symbolic...uh, symbol and could very well mean anything, the only direct way to involve hearts is if she somehow has a talent for ripping the   still-beating heart out of a pony when she grows up.

  A heart could very well mean anything. As her mother is very heart centric, in powers and the kingdom she rules, the mention of such would be foremost in her mind and would likely make the connection irregardless of who busted that ancient artifact.

  There's countless words to describe snowy weather, and any of them could have been chosen, but it was Flurry they went with. Certainly wasn't a little flurry that they had to deal with!

   They chose that name because it sounded cute, and momentarily adherent. How could she grow up to further exemplify her name?

That's libel to happen, certainly, with as much focus as their culture places on it.

   But how would anything go about guiding a choice like this?

We don't see Applebloom trying to will the family's trees to bloom, Sweetie Belle attempt to coat a ringing instrument in sugar, and I think the "scooter" Scootaloo rides on is her own creation & doesn't even have a widely accepted name for it.

   Rarity may sound like a reference to generosity or the diamonds on her buttmark, but that's still too vague and sounds like a name you might come across on a human too.

   Troubleshoes especially! If you go about telling people that horse shoes are related to bad luck, you'd very likely catch a few by surprise. Seemed an awful lot like TS assumed it meant being a mess-up & never tried to be anything but clumsy.

 

   If anyone can, I'd like to see if there's any name out there that we can point to & say that that only applies to their character & personality or career.

  And I don't think FlutterSHY counts, going though life with a last name like that, its going to be beaten over your head that you ought to be.

[leonbrony17 1,217]

I don't think celestia give them their cutiemarks.

 

But hey. Very very good question .

 

Maybe they should make a double feature as an origin story about that.

[FluttersisBestPony 63]

 

Here is a really cool theory on names and cutiemarks

[sweetolebob18 728]

IRL because the  writer matches them

 

In show terms, the best explanation is in The Cutie Mark Chronicles (S1 E23).  The pony realizes and accepts This Is What I Like.  The name matches because:

1) On Earth, "Mothers know these things" is just an expression.  In Equestria, magic works & mothers really do know these things  OR

2) Ponies choose a new name when they get their Cutie Mark.

[EmeraldStar04 250]

I bet a spell was devised by a workaholic Unicorn to bind ponies to their destinies back in the tribal days.

[cmarston1 5,962]

I like to believe that it comes from their own innermost magic from inside of their soul or something along those lines.

[pnylvr 185]

I think it's connected to the Tree of Harmony. In my headcanon, the Tree exerts a subtle level of mind control (too subtle for them to notice--otherwise, Twilight would have gone insane when she went to the human world) that orchestrates events in Equestria. Note how its box came and was opened at exactly the right time.