The Big Five personality model was originally developed by researchers who raided dictionaries for every personality trait term that they could find, had people rate themselves (or others) on hundreds or even thousands of them, and kept finding this five factor solution that explained a lot of variance. Studies in other languages and cultures typically find similar results, although it doesn't always replicate perfectly (e.g., a missing factor, an extra factor or two, a slightly different meaning for one factor). In some ways it reflects people's lay theories of personality more strongly than actual personality, so it might share some widespread blind spots or misconceptions, but it was constructed in a thorough, systematic way (and there is evidence that each factor predicts behaviors, so it can't be too wildly off).