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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Which names are would you consider 'too posh/try-hard/odd' to be used?

433 replies

AKMD · 25/07/2011 13:40

Having seen a few names pop up which, when read out to my office colleagues, have caused great hilarity, I was wondering which names poeple on MN generally consider too posh/try hard/odd to be passed off in RL. I absolutely love Arabella but have been told that DH and I aren't posh enough to use it :( Ditto Lucinda.

I have to admit I did laugh at Mungo. Sorry to any Mungos/parents of Mungos out there!

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candleshoe · 26/07/2011 22:08

I was a school with a chap who gloried in the name COSMO LUSH!

BuntyPenfold · 26/07/2011 22:07

Bunty is try-hard?

Mia seems to me as run-of-the-mill as Ellie.

I had a great aunt Clytemnestra, always called Sissy.

Bartie Grimstone is a great name, just fab!

candleshoe · 26/07/2011 22:04

The only Candida I know was very posh but left college after a term to 'travel' - she ended up as a 'traveller' with a smack addiction Sad She still sounds very posh though .....

StayFrosty · 26/07/2011 22:03

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woowa · 26/07/2011 22:03

My dad's family is pretty posh (no money, just breeding and education:) ). Names include:

Saville
Aylmer
Arlingham (my grandpa, LOVE this name!)
d'Arcy (the PROPER spelling!)
Windham

My dad's best friend (from Rutland, obviously, and a LOVELY man) is called Bartle Grimstone :) Those are his forenames. But these weren't try hard names then, just family names passed down. If it wern't for DH i'd have some of these names because I love my family! DH doesn't so much!

Whodidwhat · 26/07/2011 22:02

Am really not trying to offend here (which is a sure bet I'm about to say something that will offend someone) but genuine question...I haven't read the entire thread but from the first few pages a girls name that cropped up is Candida. But isn't this a fungal overgrowth in the gut? Why would people use it as a name if this is the case?

alexbear · 26/07/2011 22:01

I have a very 'posh' friend who, despite enormous old money wealth, drives around in a ten year old beaten up Volvo, and has two children called Peter and Lucy. I asked her once, was she tempted by the more unusual names? She laughed and said, Oh, all of that is far too complicated for us!

scarlettlips · 26/07/2011 21:56

Oh my god!!!!

Call your children whatever you wish...who really gives a monkeys if it's 'posh, try-hard' etc etc..if you love it then go for it. IMO Smile

I'm posh and I have the most boring normal name in the whole world. Not Scarlet (btw) in the end I don't think it really matters.

dementedma · 26/07/2011 21:56

my family all have very ordinary names so when sis produced a Ralph - NOT pronounced Rafe which is hideous - it was met with a stunned silence. however as a strapping 17 year old now, it suits him.
have to say that here in scotland, names like Angus, Archie, Ruaridh are not seen as particularly posh. DD2s best friend Mollie has two brothers Ruaridh and Hamish, and a sister Freya.
DS has a friend called Christian, which I really like, but the rest are Kierans, Declans, and things like Kyle, Shanna, Paige and Darren!

Greythorne · 26/07/2011 21:54

WH Auden was Whystan, IIRC. v pretentious, today, I think

Bandwithering · 26/07/2011 21:52

Rex Van der kampf! anybody remember him!? before he had a heart attack?!? (I can't quite remember)

mumanator · 26/07/2011 21:52

Names at our school which I would call 'try hard' names include: Theseus, Tabitha, Ruskie, Inigo, Inca, Talullah, Reuben, Mia, Serenity, and Cuthbert!

BertieBasset · 26/07/2011 21:52

Agamemnon
Anemone

Can you imagine if they were twins?

DH ruined Araminta for me by saying "Who is 'Arry Minter?"

Bandwithering · 26/07/2011 21:51

Rory has been called chav and it means the same thing. I like Rory too btw.

Whystan is bad!!! that sounds like some kind of gross ointment.

BoojaBooja · 26/07/2011 21:51

I've known three Rexs and they've all been lovely. Though not so good around strangers and cats. Sorry, but of course it's an alsatian's name. I knew a nanny who's charge was Rex and she absolutely hated having to call him in the park, etc.

lockets · 26/07/2011 21:51

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MumToFG · 26/07/2011 21:50

Lucas and Theo are far from posh.

StayFrosty · 26/07/2011 21:49

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lockets · 26/07/2011 21:49

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Greythorne · 26/07/2011 21:48

Oh! Other too posh / try hard names, IMO....

Tristan
Cosmo
Whystan
Montgomery

Cressida
Clementine
Hetty
Anoushka
Plum

I agree Rex is an odd choice. Sorry, Lockets.

lockets · 26/07/2011 21:47

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mumanator · 26/07/2011 21:47

If you look through old census records or similar then the range of names is very narrow - it is how you live your life that marks you out as an individual. I always felt sorry for a miserable snot nosed sickly whiny girl at preschool who was cursed with the name CHARISMA!!

Bandwithering · 26/07/2011 21:46

Juggling, funny, in Ireland Angus doesn't seem posh. It just seems Scottish.

lockets · 26/07/2011 21:45

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Bandwithering · 26/07/2011 21:44

Obviously it means King but the fact that it's been used more for dogs in the past makes it not pretentious. I like it.

Ruairi, rory, ruaridh etc mean king too I think