Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be surprised by the names of the “posh kids” at DDs school

368 replies

marilee · 31/08/2025 02:55

Hi all, my DD just started primary 1. The catchment area for her new school is super mixed with all the nicest houses in the town but also 2 council areas so a real mix. We live in a council flat, I can’t say I’ve rubbed shoulders with the more middle class half of the town and I grew up in a firmly working class area so this is the first time in my life I’m properly mixing with this group (I know that’s awful but it’s just how life has been for me so far).

I don’t know why but I was expecting all the posh kids to have more extravagant names but almost every single one of them is just a very basic name (James, Harry, Anna, Clara, Emily, Emma etc.). While the names I’d normally have associated as being more “posh” are actually the names of the kids from my area (Rafferty, Arabella, Florence, Theodore).

AIBU to be shocked by this? Is this normal or a little regional quirk?

OP posts:
AreYouAGod · 31/08/2025 07:24

An extravagant name is the quickest indicator of new money.

And I pity any child whose parents wanted to name them ‘something a bit different’.

Why do you want that? Why do you want them to stand out? It speaks volumes as to the parental expectation and also to how ‘special’ they think their child is.

lottiegarbanzo · 31/08/2025 07:23

Normal. Frilly names are ‘try hard’ (or VERY posh). The comfortable middle classes don’t need to try to impress anyone.

R0ckandHardPlace · 31/08/2025 07:22

I remember being shocked when Princess Anne’s grandchildren were named Mia and Savannah, as both were very popular names in my northern working class town at the time.

LessOfThis · 31/08/2025 07:22

Wishingplenty · 31/08/2025 07:15

I agree that posh kids can be snobby, but at the very worst they will just ignore, or perhaps some name calling without causing physical pain. They do bully different to working class kids, but the threat of physical harm is more real in the working class. Both forms of bullying is horrible, but let's not pretend the rough working class are capable of a lot worst with often the parents joining in.

Show quote history

That’s a load of crap, but you obviously have some baggage. Sorry things have been tough for you.

charlieandjenna · 31/08/2025 07:21

I work with a real social class mix of people from living pay day to pay day in council homes right through to very well off living in very expensive homes ect. I find that the nicest most down to earth are the people at each end of the social spectrum and the people in the middle are the ones who feel they have something to prove. Of course I am generalising and mean no offence to anyone 😱
Just speaking from my own experience

Bournetilly · 31/08/2025 07:20

Arabella is the opposite of posh.

How do you know which kids live in which area? They have only just started school.

MidnightPatrol · 31/08/2025 07:20

I live in quite a posh area and the names are a wholly unremarkable spread tbh.

I can’t think of any that I think are overtly ‘posh’, mainly a mix from the top 50 or so of names - and lots I would consider ‘trendy’ that will probably be out of fashion in ten years!

Names are funny - when I was at school being called Leo, Theo, Oscar or Isabella, Sophia or Florence would just be regarded as so posh and probably ‘try hard’ where I grew up, and now every other child is called them! Funny how our brains cling onto these strange preconceptions about names.

doglover90 · 31/08/2025 07:19

Wishingplenty · 31/08/2025 07:15

I agree that posh kids can be snobby, but at the very worst they will just ignore, or perhaps some name calling without causing physical pain. They do bully different to working class kids, but the threat of physical harm is more real in the working class. Both forms of bullying is horrible, but let's not pretend the rough working class are capable of a lot worst with often the parents joining in.

Show quote history

This has to be a parody comment

Wishingplenty · 31/08/2025 07:15

LessOfThis · 31/08/2025 07:06

It is only good if the posh families aren’t snobby, in a lot of cases they most definitely are, which causes bullying problems.

Show quote history

I agree that posh kids can be snobby, but at the very worst they will just ignore, or perhaps some name calling without causing physical pain. They do bully different to working class kids, but the threat of physical harm is more real in the working class. Both forms of bullying is horrible, but let's not pretend the rough working class are capable of a lot worst with often the parents joining in.

SoOriginal · 31/08/2025 07:11

My kids are James and Anna and this thread just made me laugh out loud!! 😆 thanks OP.

LessOfThis · 31/08/2025 07:10

We all know exactly what you mean and people pretending they don’t are being disingenuous. In my area working class kids are still called Ruby, Amelia, Alfie, Callum etc. Posher kids are Raffie, Felix, Martha, Sebastian.

Their intrinsic worth as human beings is not affected.

flowertoday · 31/08/2025 07:10

Genuinely well off families don't have to overthink the stuff like names or clothes or cars .....
No reason to.
I would like to say I have never thought about class I relation to children's names, but it is a thing definitely. However a name is just a name, it doesn't define someone.

SchnizelVonKrumm · 31/08/2025 07:10

It's almost as though lazy stereotypes are just that. The children in the council estate down the road aren't all called Milleigh-Maie and Konna either...

HotMummaSummer · 31/08/2025 07:09

I'm glad I have my children names that probably can't be linked to class. One is only popular in a different country so I rarely hear it and the other is quite classic but we only use a nickname and I've never associated it with any class

Damnloginpopup · 31/08/2025 07:08

Ponoka7 · 31/08/2025 06:20

It's Irish. It could be a family name. Hector was my FILs name, if we'd have had a boy, I'd have used it. Both of our families have Celtic roots.
Generations ago, Christian bible names were used, other names became classic and stuck with, within the middle classes. If you named your child after your Aunt/Uncle, you'd get a dropsy.

Show quote history

We've had Hector in the family.

LessOfThis · 31/08/2025 07:06

Wishingplenty · 31/08/2025 06:49

It is only good of the working class families are not rough, in a lot of cases they most definitely are, which causes bullying problems.

Show quote history

It is only good if the posh families aren’t snobby, in a lot of cases they most definitely are, which causes bullying problems.

Thepeopleversuswork · 31/08/2025 07:06

Genuinely “posh” or upper/upper middle people tend to avoid names which are fussy, flash or fashionable. The names you have listed are much more likely to be chosen by aspirational working class people.

Upper/upper middle people tend to hate anything that makes it look like you’re trying.

I think you probably know this already though?

Kumquatzest · 31/08/2025 07:03

Rafferty is an Irish surname. I don't think traditional "posh" English people would be particularly into it given their history of anti-Irish sentiment.

ShineLuceeeee · 31/08/2025 06:56

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 31/08/2025 06:34

This is explained well in Freakonomics. It’s an interesting read.

Show quote history

Didn’t know this. Been meaning to read this for ages

Crategate · 31/08/2025 06:56

We call everyone Dave.

Kuretake · 31/08/2025 06:54

Why don't you just start a thread saying you'd like to have a bitch about the tragic thick working class trying to be aspirational but getting it wrong as usual? It's so obvious that's what this thread is.

Like fuck are you "surprised".

Wishingplenty · 31/08/2025 06:49

MaggieBsBoat · 31/08/2025 04:35

The latter names you’ve mentioned are firmly posh, whatever the hell that means.

It‘s clearly a brilliant thing that your children are mixing with kids from other classes though, maybe this will reflect well on their education. Are your kids named working class names then?

It is only good of the working class families are not rough, in a lot of cases they most definitely are, which causes bullying problems.

YanTanTetheraPetheraBumfitt · 31/08/2025 06:39

Vegalyra · 31/08/2025 06:34

There’s a Sienna, so what’s wrong with Florence?

Show quote history

Well Sienna isn’t a princess. But out of that list Florence is probably the most possible for a princess. But an outlier princess, not an heir to the throne princess. 😁. And maybe Theodore for an outlier prince. But definitely not Rafferty or Arabella.

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 31/08/2025 06:34

ShineLuceeeee · 31/08/2025 04:42

I have found this:

  • The genuinely posh people don't go for overly fancy names but traditional older names (eg James - lovely name btw)
  • The nouveau riche/upwardly mobile go for names that are OTT posh (eg Atticus, Hugo)
  • More working class tend to go for names that were normal posh but then have gone out of fashion (Arabella is a perfect eg)

This is explained well in Freakonomics. It’s an interesting read.

Vegalyra · 31/08/2025 06:34

YanTanTetheraPetheraBumfitt · 31/08/2025 06:15

I can’t imagine any Royal princes or princesses being called Rafferty, Arabella, Florence, Theodore.

George, Harry, James sure.

There’s a Sienna, so what’s wrong with Florence?