In your opinion, can people with names like 'Posy', 'Kitty' or 'Dotty' be taken seriously?

I suppose that account for some of it.
My Kitty is 5yrs old but I think I had always decided that if I had daughters they would have names that were formal with softer nns so I have Elizabeth (Lizzie) and Catherine (Kitty). My boys have similar names. I may have changed my mind though if 3 popstars or tv celebs had started to use it and created a trend.

I think it's pretty much impossible not to be influenced by the prevailing trends of the day, whether that means thinking 'Oh yes, I think I'll call my daughter Lily too' or alternately 'Anything but Lily thanks'.

The thing I think about that MaryKatharine is that sometimes there is a name you haven't or wouldn't have thought about but that grows on you because you hear it a lot, and the more you hear it, the more you like it.

It is possible from hearing a name that you haven't considered and thinking 'ok, that's an ok sort of name' to hearing it again and again and thinking 'yep, I really like that name.' To then considering it for your own DC.

That's why names become popular, and go in and put of fashion, I suppose.

I have DSes in their teens, and I keep quoting Kitty on here as a name I like. But I didn't consider it for any of my DSes because 15ish years ago I hadn't really come across it before so it wasn't in my orbit. But if I was now to have a dd (impossible) it would be top of my list.

Nothing wrong with William, Catherine or George if you liked them before and always. Just the rise I as reading about since their engagement/wedding and baby is just utterly ridiculous.

I'm more snobby about people using names they like but I don't understand why people would use names like that now that they're fashionable and not 10yrs ago. I would use a name I like and have liked for the last 20 odd years and will like.

The idea that names like William and Catherine and now George become popular due to other people having/using them makes me wince.

People should look at a range of names and never ever consider the trendy amazing celeb person who has used it and then use it because they think it makes it cool. It's not cool, it just shows lack of imagination.

Posy Simmonds, 67 years old, has managed perfectly well being known by this name through a long and successful career.

Daisy Goodwin - 52. Also highly successful.

You don't judge a person by their name surely? You could judge their parents, but not the person who has it . . .

When my granny was in a care home, it was full of women called Gracie, Dulcie, Kitty, Betty. Gorgeous names, they all stand the test of time.

Call your baby whatever you like (your choices are lovely anyway)- your mum sounds a bit odd after all .

I suppose, thinking about it, I'd probably have a slightly higher opinion of someone called Kitty if it were short for Katherine, because I like the name Kitty and if it's a short form it means the person herself chose it so shares my excellent taste; if it's her given name it just tells me that her parents had excellent taste .

I'm with your mum.

Cute name for daily use. Serious name for the birth certificate.

In a world where school application forms have a space for 'first name' middle name' and 'given name' - there is absolutely no disadvantage to offering your DC a choice of valid name variants to use as they grow up.

Our generation had the chance to shorten & change our over-long square names... next generation are being a bit stymied with a tide of unshortenable names... I think they might well assert their individuality by lengthening their names, or going for an alternative nickname from the same root.

I think if people cringe or decide on someones character because of their name it is their problem.
I don't think people should have to choose from a limited selection of names seen as serious enough to be a high court judge just because some people are ever so slightly snobby.

Do you generally get introduced to police officers by their first names?

I agree with your mum (not the doctor bit).

Plus how is she going to know when she's in really big trouble if you don't have a formal name to call her?!

I have a nickname given name and always wanted the long form. It's nice to have a name for casual use/friends etc. and a more formal one for formal occasions imo.

Lljkk if you've just been burgled you would not give two shiney shites as to what the investigating police officers names were.

Honestly, you sound utterly bizarre. As I said before I would question your intelligence if you assumed someone being called Posy meant they were incapable of doing a job they'd be trained for.

lljkk when I called the police after intervening in a horrible incident of violence the lovely police officers who came were Nicky and Gary. I certainly wasn't think I wish Nicola and Gareth had come instead.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Ussher
serious like an economist?
or serious like an MP?
:)

Well lljkk, as I really like the name Kitty, I would like Kitty to interview me please . I'm not too keen on Elizabeth as a name so don't want her, but if she introduced herself as 'Libby' then that would be fine as I like that name.

this thread is going in a slightly peculiar direction.

kerala I'm pretty sure she doesn't need you to cringe on her behalf. She seems very poised and confident to me.

Imagine you've just been burgled and are feeling very violated. Which police officers would you rather came to investigate the crime:

Posy & Kitty

or

Catherine & Elizabeth

Even better, imagine you're the lowlife who burgles homes. Which pair do you take more seriously when they try to take you in for questioning?

Sorry OP but the names you mention do make me cringe when I think of them belonging to an adult.

That's the Daisy I was referring to kerala, Daisy McAndrew. And even if you cringe she's so far managed pretty well in her career even with such an affliction!

I agree, somewhat, with your mother. I think names like posy and kitty just sound incredibly baby-ish. I just don't see them as 'substantial'. That's just my opinion on the actual name. I wouldn't judge the person.

This will blow your mind, I know a 6ft2, built like a brick shithouse, tattooed and pierced man called Kerry. Shocking!

Totally agree with your mother sorry. There is a news reporter called Daisy something - really professional and up together but I cringe when I hear her name she is so not a Daisy who to me is a curly haired toddler.

I don't understand the need for choices. I don't know very many people in RL who choose a different name for themselves, some have a nickname but it is usually one given by parents of friends. The ones I know who have have chosen a new name picked a completely different one.

Lot's of people seem to forget than names like Alfie, Bobby,Polly, Dotty, Daisy etc were really popular a long time ago.
If you go to a nursing home or a graveyard there are lots of them. Diminutive names are not a new thing at all. I think part of the revival of these kind of names is that DC started being named after Grandparents and Great-Grandparents.

When I was at school Katie and Kate were really popular names and I know they have managed to become doctors, lawyers, consultants etc without having to lie and say it's short for Catherine at every job interview.

In theory I agree with your mother but in practice I don't think it matters. I might smirk at meeting a Dotty or a Posy if they were a lawyer, police officer, etc., but that would quickly pass once the authority that comes with those position was embodied by Posy or whoever. And you are naming your child, not her.