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

i LOVE milo and ralph, they sound like raggly taggly smudgy-faced little cheeky boys to me :) and I am DEFINITELY not posh.

in fact we're thinking of Milo for a second name. And would be named after the kid in Phantom Tollbooth, not any posh person.

all the roman/greek names do sound a bit wanky to me though..

The other problem with Cassius ( and Julius, Septimus, Columbus etc) is the possessive form becomes pretty unpronounceable.....Cassius's coat becomes 'Cassiususss coat. I don't find it manageable, Tbh.

I wouldn't class many of these names listed here as posh. Archie? Amber? Isla? They are very ordinary.

My own name in on the above "try hard" lists, although one of my parents is actually achingly posh, so it's allowed right?

My daughter had what was referred to as a "ridiculous" name, and my planned names for my forthcoming additions are on the above lists too..
OH WELL, I like them! Some people say I'm quite posh so obviously I'm "allowed" them.. you realise how ridiculous that sounds?

I love the name Cassius, feel cheated I only thought of it once I'd had my two DS and is of course the real name of the best boxer of all time, the distinctly un-posh and un-try hard Mohammed Ali.

NEVER understood why that one is considered 'posh'

The only way I'd have another child would be if I could guarantee another boy and if I could call him Cassius.
As no.1 condition is impossible and DH is not keen, it won't happen.

I love the name Cassius, feel cheated I only thought of it once I'd had my two DS.

Ooops, posted to soon - but basically I guess that if you own half of Britain you have nothing to prove...

I heard a Mum call her DS, Archie, in a 'loud & proud' way the other day, repeatedly.

Really? Not that I'm disbelieving you per se, but surely by the time your kid is old enough to be called in a playground, being proud about your choice of name has worn off?

I wonder if 'try hard' has to do with wanting to be original. I explicitly didn't want a name in the top 10 when choosing names for DD. That probably makes me pretentious but when growing up I was in a class of 22 with FOUR Charlottes. And two Marinas. And three Chloes. As lovely as those names are, I wouldn't use them, or Isabelle. Which probably says a lot about how posh my school was but there you go

I am pretty posh and my name features strongly on the 'try hard' lists above, but I looove it. JK Rowling did me a huge favour when she popularised it as no-one could pronounce it before.

That said, whoever said truly aristocratic don't go for pretty names, I don't agree for girls but definitely true for boys. I vaguely know a couple of full-on aristos and they are Alex, Alex, Will and Henry respectively.

i had a nice long rant there and t'internet stole it!

basically, babies will be adults one day. unless you are some sort of high flyer middle class bugaboo pushing sophie toy chewing mummy your kid needs a normal bloody name.

namby pamby crap kids are called nowadays whats wrong with sarah, susan james and steven?!!

Yes Starsandcars, you are so right, outside of the top 100 and you have less popular names which are considered posh and the made up or wierdly spellt names which are considered chavy. So pick from the top 100 in order to fit in!

My DS's name is mention above!

LOL about Cassius, until recently had only ever known it as the name of a dog we had when I was a kid.

So thank you wallissimpson buy I can assure you thar the named were not chosen because I'm trying to be middle class! I don't even like that phrase!

Really don't understand the concept behind the phrase "try too hard" surely we all just pick names we and our dh love.

Both of my sons names have been mentioned on this thread - must we all pick names within the top one hundred but outside of the top ten!

I heard a Mum call her DS, Archie, in a 'loud & proud' way the other day, repeatedly. It seems a bit try hard to me, as does Darcy, Florence, Tarquin, Quentin, Lucinda, Harriet, Jago (but I quite like it!), Hugo (again, I like it though!), Felicity, Theodore .etc

[ducks from potential incoming biscuits thrown by Mum's of the above]

@lockets and I love the names you have given to your children, - I just wish DH hadn't been so traditional...

mistressp- Milo and Ludo were on my list too!

I am struggling to think of anyone we know with 'try hard' names (other than 'Helen' )... it seems people just names they like [thunk]

lockets- congrats on new addition! (Lovely name )

One of my dd's names is on Collision's list, too...

hehe, well I would definitely fall in to the try hard/posh category, I called my ds Phinneas, I love it, we call him Phinny usually and he definitely suits his name, I just like names that sound like they should be in a novel :-D I was thinking of Willoughby or Raphael for the next one..... at least they wont have the same name as other boys when they go to school!

Ptolemy will always be too posh for me though.

I rather wanted to use the name Boudica, but I knew there was no way I was going to get that past DP.

Lucinda - the first one I think of is Lucinda Williams who is a folksy Americana singer-songwriter - not posh at all.

I know some people think my DD's name is a bit much, because it is hypenated. I couldn't care less what they think - her name is beautiful and classic, and the second half is there because it is my mother's name - which really, would make it beautiful even if it were Hermione-Georgette. (It is not.)

The poshest people we know have 5 kids - Amber, Milo, Ludo, Isla and Willa (Wilhelmina). I think they're all rather nice names. I can't help thinking that with them being SO posh (think minor royal), they could have tried a little harder to be ridiculous

When I was pregnant with DS1, I told my mum what names I liked for boys. My early favourite met with the reaction "oh dear, is that not a bit posh? We're not really that type of background."

My suggestion - Henry.

Mind you, MIL suggested Derek.

They're both a bit barking in their own special ways.

When I was at university a graduate student couple who were friends of friends were trying to decide between naming their son Kermit Achilles or North Elvis. Totally appropriate for them and their son though.

I agree with Chandon, no matter how many decades I live here I will never totally understand the class judgements - you're just making a rod for your own back if you start caring about whether people will judge you for naming your child Rufus or Percy.

Hear hear, narmada!
It's also an idea to try out any name with your accent, your DP's and your parents/ILs first.. Allegra might sound very pretty in an Italian accent, for instance, but hearing myself hollering "Ey, Allegra, yer dinner's oan the table already!" would be another matter.

Hippolyte?? Are you serious?? Poor child. Sounds like some sort of diet pill.