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Original poster

Predudice towards names

36 replies

sunshinenanny · 17/10/2011 16:14

I know that they say a childs name can influence it's success in life But I was shocked when a nanny I met at toddlers told me she had negative feelings towards one of her charges because of his name. evidently she doesn't think a child with his name could be anything but a troublemaker! On the other hand his sister can do no wrong because the nanny likes her name! At first I thought she was winding me up but she seemed deadly serious; She says you can always tell a childs nature by his/her name. Has anyone else heard of this sort of reasoning? It seems an apalling attitude for anyone to have, let alone someone looking after childrenShock

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lollystix · 17/10/2011 23:16

I work with a Rachel who is a total bitch! Sorry to shatter any Rachel illusions. But I did go to school with a nice one and dh's cousin is a nice one too - so 2 out of 3.

scarlettsmummy2 · 17/10/2011 23:10

I have never met a Rachel who has been anything but lovely, sensible and level headed. My husband and I were just discussing this last week when thinking of baby names.

deste · 17/10/2011 23:06

I was also going to say that any Matthew was a handful, mine included.

Kirstle · 17/10/2011 21:50

I think she must mean pre/misconceptions about what type of family a child comes from based on child's name. Eg- If a child has a blatantly made up or mis-spelled Yoonique name, then you might think - hmmmm. That doesn't necessarily mean that they will be misbehaved or not a nice child, but that could be what she was trying to get at. I'm not saying it's right, before I get annihilated, I'm just trying to see what she was getting at.
Disclaimer: I'm on the fence here, as I tend to like quite randomly ''out there'' boys names, but I agree with OP about how names can affect and influence your success in life - if I got two CV's, one with a child called Nathan or one with a child called Dr Dré, I think I know who would be getting the job... sniff. (Unless it was a music producing job, of course....)

Jawbreaker · 17/10/2011 19:55

Absolute bollocks. To prove it:

I know a very ugly James; very quiet, posh little Nathan; a bitch called Poppy and all the Matthews I've ever met have been quite wet.

Names are just names. They don't influence your personality.

usualsuspect · 17/10/2011 19:52

Shes talking bollocks

redglow · 17/10/2011 19:51

Lynette you must meet my husband then you will have met an ugly one. I do think Mathews are always a handful. Poppies are always lovely.

LynetteScavo · 17/10/2011 17:59

Of course you can't always tell a child's nature by their name, that's just silly.

But when my sister was teaching she claimed Nathans were always a handfull. and I have never met an ugly James.

mopsyflopsy · 17/10/2011 17:53

No, of course a name does not influence a person's behaviour.

However there may be (and probably is) correlation between names that parents like and their parenting approach/their values etc, which in turn has an effect on the child's upbringing.

said · 17/10/2011 16:19

She sounds very thick and she's in the wrong job

chandellina · 17/10/2011 16:17

that is totally nuts. ignore.