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Original poster

To wonder whether, as per this claim, Annabel was really seen as a 'yuppie' name in the 80s?

136 replies

Giselle374 · 04/05/2026 00:57

I read Lady Colin Campbell's book a while ago about Harry & Meghan. A lot of the claims seemed ridiculous- they can certainly be criticised but the book went beyond reasonable. Anyway, one of the points I found odd was that Campbell claimed naming rules have always been very strict for royals, and mentioned an earlier name choice for Beatrice being vetoed.
I googled and found this choice was Annabel, which the Queen apparently vetoed for being 'too yuppie'. Was it really seen that way in the 80s or was this just some eccentricity of hers? I was born early 2000s and knew quite a few Annabels and Isabel/Isabellas, also one Arabella. It just seemed like a classic name, hardly one to complain about.
Not a traditional royal one : but then she was OK with Zara.

(Not the main point, but while I think they were wrong to choose Lilibet, I didn't agree with Campbell's argument that the Annabel veto meant the Queen remained just as strict in the 2010s. She clearly wasn't if she allowed Savannah, Sienna and Mia, all nice names but arguably more non traditional than Annabel)

OP posts:
Original poster
Giselle374 · 04/05/2026 20:13

Comtesse · 04/05/2026 19:23

She was a Sloane! Posh and vapid, not young upwardly mobile and professional…….

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Hmm...I wouldn't call Diana as a whole vapid. But early in life she may have been.

OP posts:
CaptainMyCaptain · 04/05/2026 20:01

Flowersdie · 04/05/2026 01:01

Annabel was the ultimate 80s yuppie name

It was.

Plasticdreams · 04/05/2026 19:58

Giselle374 · 04/05/2026 18:48

Well, to be fair, the future queen's BIL was Made In Chelsea so that might be OK...

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There’s also currently Freddie who is related to the royals

Comtesse · 04/05/2026 19:23

Genevieva · 04/05/2026 18:16

Diana was a yuppy. The girls tended to have ‘nice’ jobs like being a PA for an antiques dealer or working in a nursery. All jobs in Kensington and Chelsea.

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She was a Sloane! Posh and vapid, not young upwardly mobile and professional…….

SwedishEdith · 04/05/2026 19:15

Annabel Giles and Annabel Croft were/are this vintage.

Melancholyflower · 04/05/2026 19:01

Bit like some people are putting Charlie not Charles on the birth certificate.
This I don't understand: Charlie is obviously a diminutive of Charles AND putting Charles on the certificate at least gives the child the option of two names.

We named one of our sons Charlie because we liked the name, but didn't particularly like Charles. Should he have wanted to, he could have asked people to call him Charles (he didn't, and neither did the other three Charlies in his year at secondary school). Anyone can choose to be known by any name they want to.
My other son has another classic name and we never used a particular diminutive of his name, which is/was sometimes given as a name, when he was a child, because we didn't like it.

cobrakaieaglefang · 04/05/2026 18:59

Yuppie= Delboy wannabees
"This time next year we will be millionaires Rodney!"
😂

AnticsNShenanigans · 04/05/2026 18:55

Posh girl name, even in the 90s.

CloudyBayPlease · 04/05/2026 18:53

Definitely a Sloane ranger name in the 80s, and I had several girls in my year (born 73) named Annabel.

It would, however, have been a much less awful choice than Beatrice. As for ‘Eugenie’- I can’t think of an uglier name.

Original poster
Giselle374 · 04/05/2026 18:50

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 04/05/2026 17:25

Yuppy stood for young upwardly mobile professional. Plenty about in the 1980s but ironically Mrs Thatcher and her cronies put the brakes on social mobility and it's gone into reverse since.

This

OP posts:
Original poster
Giselle374 · 04/05/2026 18:50

Genevieva · 04/05/2026 18:03

Annabel is a really old Scottish name. However, it might have been deemed unsuitable in the early 80s because of ‘Annabel’s’ - the super exclusive nightclub named after Lady Annabel Goldsmith (née Vane-Tempest-Stewart, which probably clarifies that it’s a perfectly suitable name for a girl from a well to do background).

I did have a feeling it was Scottish...!

OP posts:
Original poster
Giselle374 · 04/05/2026 18:49

ginasevern · 04/05/2026 18:31

Well Diana was actually a Sloane, which was a very different thing. Yuppies were sharp and ambitious young guys who worked in financial services (like insurance, mortgages and stockbroking). They made a lot of quick money (and did a lot of hard drinking!) and they could come from any sort of background. In fact many of them came from quite humble roots. Sloane rangers were young women from very upper class or artistocratic families who did the sort of (pretend) jobs you're talking about for a few years until they married a well connected millionaire, an aristocrat or royalty. Sloane Rangers would definitely not have appreciated being called yuppies.

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That's what I thought. Yuppies sound like a very different thing from what the Queen probably meant, ie. Sloanes .

OP posts:
Original poster
Giselle374 · 04/05/2026 18:48

Plasticdreams · 04/05/2026 05:06

Yep still there and full of made in Chelsea types

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Well, to be fair, the future queen's BIL was Made In Chelsea so that might be OK...

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IdaGlossop · 04/05/2026 18:44

As a 20-something in London in the 1980s, Annabel was for me the absolute Sloane girl's name, the female Rupert. A friend of mine called my daughter Annabel in a Christmas card years later (at that point, they had not net ). I can hardly describe my horror that I would name any daughter of mine Annabel because of the Sloane association. Too many girls' names beginning in 'A'.

ginasevern · 04/05/2026 18:31

Genevieva · 04/05/2026 18:16

Diana was a yuppy. The girls tended to have ‘nice’ jobs like being a PA for an antiques dealer or working in a nursery. All jobs in Kensington and Chelsea.

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Well Diana was actually a Sloane, which was a very different thing. Yuppies were sharp and ambitious young guys who worked in financial services (like insurance, mortgages and stockbroking). They made a lot of quick money (and did a lot of hard drinking!) and they could come from any sort of background. In fact many of them came from quite humble roots. Sloane rangers were young women from very upper class or artistocratic families who did the sort of (pretend) jobs you're talking about for a few years until they married a well connected millionaire, an aristocrat or royalty. Sloane Rangers would definitely not have appreciated being called yuppies.

Genevieva · 04/05/2026 18:16

ginasevern · 04/05/2026 17:24

Yuppie doesn't mean chavvy at all. Yuppies were young people (usually men in their 20's) who were making a lot of money very quickly in the financial services sector in the 80's after Thatcher deregulated everything. They wore sharp suits, spent their lunchtimes in trendy wine bars and carried mobile phones and filofaxes. But they weren't necessarily upper middle class. Anyone could be a yuppie from any class as long as they had sharp minds and a killer instinct for ambition. I worked for stockbrokers in the 80's (so right in the epicentre of it) and a lot of the dealers and investment managers were from fairly ordinary backgrounds. Although you'd be unlikely to find very, very working class blokes in that environment.

Edited
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Diana was a yuppy. The girls tended to have ‘nice’ jobs like being a PA for an antiques dealer or working in a nursery. All jobs in Kensington and Chelsea.

Genevieva · 04/05/2026 18:14

JulietteHasAGun · 04/05/2026 08:24

I guess Henry is an acceptable King name. There’s been a few of them.

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Annabella Drummond became Queen Annabella when Richard III became King of Scotland.

Genevieva · 04/05/2026 18:03

Annabel is a really old Scottish name. However, it might have been deemed unsuitable in the early 80s because of ‘Annabel’s’ - the super exclusive nightclub named after Lady Annabel Goldsmith (née Vane-Tempest-Stewart, which probably clarifies that it’s a perfectly suitable name for a girl from a well to do background).

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 04/05/2026 17:32

PrizedPickledPopcorn · 04/05/2026 08:01

Odd that the name Henry didn’t suffer the same snobbery as Annabelle. Hooray Henry. Though I do think her late Maj is allowed to be as picky as she wants.

A name like Henry is a classic and could be found in any social class. See also: James, Elizabeth, Robert, Anne, David, Mary, John, Victoria, Alexander, Alice, William, Katherine, Benjamin, Eleanor, Daniel, Margaret, George, Emma, Edward, lots of others.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 04/05/2026 17:25

Yuppy stood for young upwardly mobile professional. Plenty about in the 1980s but ironically Mrs Thatcher and her cronies put the brakes on social mobility and it's gone into reverse since.

ginasevern · 04/05/2026 17:24

Newsenmum · 04/05/2026 17:07

I didnt think yuppie meant chavvy. I thought upper middle class trendy.

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Yuppie doesn't mean chavvy at all. Yuppies were young people (usually men in their 20's) who were making a lot of money very quickly in the financial services sector in the 80's after Thatcher deregulated everything. They wore sharp suits, spent their lunchtimes in trendy wine bars and carried mobile phones and filofaxes. But they weren't necessarily upper middle class. Anyone could be a yuppie from any class as long as they had sharp minds and a killer instinct for ambition. I worked for stockbrokers in the 80's (so right in the epicentre of it) and a lot of the dealers and investment managers were from fairly ordinary backgrounds. Although you'd be unlikely to find very, very working class blokes in that environment.

Icanthinkformyselfthanks · 04/05/2026 17:09

@Giselle374 , 100% yuppie.

Newsenmum · 04/05/2026 17:07

ginasevern · 04/05/2026 17:05

Not really. Tilly (Matilda) has become pretty overused and whilst it isn't chavvy by any means, it really could apply to any demographic these days. Annabel, Clementine, Jemima, Georgina, Phillipa (often shortened to Pippa) and of course Diana were classic Sloane names. Sloane women would invariably have been upper class or artistocratic and had been presented at Court as debutantes.

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I didnt think yuppie meant chavvy. I thought upper middle class trendy.

ginasevern · 04/05/2026 17:05

Newsenmum · 04/05/2026 16:50

Basically like Matilda/Tilly now?

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Not really. Tilly (Matilda) has become pretty overused and whilst it isn't chavvy by any means, it really could apply to any demographic these days. Annabel, Clementine, Jemima, Georgina, Phillipa (often shortened to Pippa) and of course Diana were classic Sloane names. Sloane women would invariably have been upper class or artistocratic and had been presented at Court as debutantes.

Tel12 · 04/05/2026 16:58

Not many Annabelles or Arabella's in Grange H
ill

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