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

Clara was definitely working class back in the day....

And I know four Florences and one Theodore at a (very posh, very expensive) independent prep.

Names can be (and ARE) used by lots of people and if people want to name their dc outside their supposed "class" I say go for it.

Thats
So not even worth worry about. Whats the hassle?

It's bonkers isn't it? And the wannabe poshos who buy their cheese from speshul middle/upper class cheesy places, just have to tell you that they bought their cheese at this very speshul 'only posh people shop there' place.

Vom-inducing. 😖

Wrong. There are 3 Florences, and 3 Theodores at the local public primary school.

I also know a couple of working class Lucindas.

In fairness, some of the stock might be equivalent but some of it won't be. There are lots of varieties of cheese that mainstream supermarkets don't stock.

To be honest. l couldn't.care less about massively specialised, overpriced shops.Where silly, insecure, aspiring people buy stuff they could get for half the price at somewhere like Sainsbury.

It is just a pose really. Bragging rights to say they shop at these places.

My friends mother is a Lucinda and definitely working class.

I’m in my 40s with four boys, in no particular order, one has a Biblical name (think Noah, Jacob but not haha), one has a (probably viewed as a bit beige) typical old man working on the docks name, one has a (family related), what would traditionally be a surname but turned out to be very popular first name name, and the other has a bit of a Nickname-y name. My kids all love their names, none of them have ever gotten teased for them. They’ve gone to a variety of schools based on their needs and stages - academically selective, state (public here in Australia), private. I (and my recently deceased husband) work full time in infrastructure and emergency services, own our home etc. I know it’s different in Australia (although not quite as different as you might think), but I wonder what category of class people would put us (me) into, based on my children’s names. FWIW, they range from wouldn't step a foot out of line, to AuDHD impulsive sometimes, to mostly very well behaved but can act up a bit when mercury is in retrograde 😂(that last bit is tongue in cheek, I’m not a mercury in retrograde kind of person in the slightest).

Arabella is a beautiful name with a history dating back centuries. I don’t know what people think is supposed to be wrong with that.

I’m in my forties but one of my school friends - who was called Joanna and lived in a council house - had younger sisters called Mandy, Amy and… Lucinda.

Middle class people give their children simple timeless classic names.
The Florences and Arabellas and Theodores will be at private school.

Err, no. Six girls were named Chardonnay in 2020 in England and Wales, making it the 3447th most popular girls' name that year
https://names.darkgreener.com/#chardonnay

Statistics show about 3.5k girls were named Chardonnay in 2020 so tgey will all be at school or starting in a few days

I know more than one young Bodhi!

Why does a 45 year old thinking they are tacky names mean that no teacher will have them in their classes?

Yes, I agree - and in fact one reason I remember the name is the response of a sub teacher who hadn't been provided with a roll call list and asked the class to give her their names, beginning with the front row of desks and going left to right. After she dished out a detention to poor Raftery for pulling her leg and taking the joke too far, she moved on. The kid beside him apparently had a surname like 'ffrench-Montague-Nesbitt', and the day devolved into mayhem...

Raftery is exceptionally unusual as a first name in Ireland too though, notwithstanding the bard’s fame.

Irish here - no, Rafferty is not used as a forename in Ireland (as far as records show anyway).

Someone I know went to school with a lad named Raftery though. Anthony Raftery (Antoine O Raifteiri) was a famous blind Irish poet whose life and work straddled the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th, a period of immense social, economic, and cultural upheaval in Ireland. He was known as the last of the wandering bards and with his demise went all the ancient tradition associated with the bardic culture. The late 20th century Raftery was named after the bard.

Those names are a modern take on older WASP naming traditions. They're not 'upper class' or entirely confined to WASPs any more. You're as likely to find them in trailer homes in Alabama as in the leafy suburbs of San Francisco, or the lacrosse teams of Connecticut high schools, Northeast Missouri State University, or Hahvad Yahd.

A funny aspect of names is that what's considered hoity toity in one culture can be perceived differently in another. Throw in race or a huge immigrant population and the picture becomes even more nuanced.

Hector is almost 100% likely to be the name of a first generation child of Hispanic descent, or the name of his father or grandfather. Reuben is another very popular Hispanic name, but it's also found in the wider population. A girl named Octavia or Lucinda would be assumed to be African American.

Truly posh people are extremely conscious of how posh they are, and therefore they use 'family' names, including the odd outlier by today's standards if it's a family name. Pedigree and signifiers of pedigree are far more important to the truly posh than non-posh people realise.

LOLOLOL! Tell me you're desperate for people to think you're middle class, without telling me you're desperate for people to think you're middle class. 😂

You're kidding aren't you @marilee I know a number of 'common' and gobby 'lower working class' people (who could have come off the set of Shameless,) who have children called Theodore and Florence and Nora. The middle class people I know have Emma, Emily, Charlotte, Lily, Hannah, William, George, etc.

Never heard of Rafferty, and would never call a child that!

What a weird thread. 😆

I've taught a working class Lucinda.

Soz.

And Hunter!

Funny because in America the upper class names (for boys and girls) are traditionally surnames - usually the wife's maiden name

Booth, Banks, Sutton, Smith etc