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

I agree with your mum to be honest. I quite like cute names but Posy (for me personally) is a step too far. Out of the names you listed I think Nelly (or Nell for short) sounds cute but not OTT. You baby though so you choose :)

Wrt women having no history of jobs -- There is a precedent for women in the bottom jobs or having no jobs, and in those times the cutesy names were very popular. There were Nellies and Elsies and Biddys working as scullery maids and upstairs there were Evies and Pollys and Mollys. I think that's what puts me off about those names - they come from the time when women's names were lost upon marriage, when they became Mrs. James Bloggs, or when a scullery maid was called Biddy but the head housekeeper was called Mrs Brickshithouse even if she wasn't married because marriage made a woman respectable, not her job.

I haven't read the whole thread but 3 words. Cherie. Frickin'. Blair.

Her stupid name hasn't harmed her in the slightest. I really wish people would just go with names they truly love rather than worrying what a load of random people on the internet (half of whom are bigging themselves up in the first place) think.

MN HATES my daughter's name. I don't give a flying fig. It suits her, it's beautiful and she totally rocks it.

I think it's a really interesting question as I have a name which can be shortened and I like that I use the formal sounding one until I get to know people then gradually it gets shorter and my family call me the very short version.

But... My mum was called a name and the colloquial version of it is a different name (it's like calling a boy John but knowing him as Jack). She finds this a total pita as noone knows her as the original name but it's on all official things so she will introduce herself but then have to explain at the doctors/airport/whatever oh I mean a different name. It drives her mad and she's talking about (at age 60) changing her name to be done with the hassle.

So by all means have a longer name but if it's not obvious the short form is a derivation of it perhaps think again!

I am 37 with one of the names you mention. I have never thought of it as any sort of barrier (until I just breifly considered it having read your post). One of my bosses in the past couldn't deal with calling me my name so chose a shortened version of it - no idea why. Other than that I've had a successful career thus far and am known in my field by my twee/girlie name and I think it makes me memorable rather than being any sort of hindrance. I have just had a baby myself and have chosen a girlie flower name.....

Polly seems to be a very popular name for Guardian journalists

Im having a Posy in December!If you like it go for it.

One of my bosses is called Posy, she is an amazing Doctor.

Well, that's a pretty grim idea, but if it stops children having Toodles or Cutiepie on their birth certificates..........

Curlew everybody would check their dc's name against a list of high court judges names and only use them

I have a Bear. It isn't his real name though, it's his "at home" name. Thus far we haven't turned heads in the swing park; equally he has a timeless classic actual name that gets used daily by most of the world.

DM has a birth certificate name but only uses the diminutive. Despite her general disapproval of cutesy names she does wish she had just been given the short form.

Anyway I'm firmly in the "call them what you like, but register them with a plainer name" camp. I think the affection behind a nickname is wasted on the general public.

"In the future I can see everybody having a name taken from a short list of bland names and that will truly be awful."

really? Why on earth would that happen?

In the future I can see everybody having a name taken from a short list of bland names and that will truly be awful.

I know a Posy in her early 20s. Other than an initial 'oh!' when I fisrt heard her name it doesn't really make a difference. People's names become who they are, not the other way around.

So I now think of Posy as an pretty, creative, intelligent person because that's what she's like.

I agree with your mum really. I don't thing a name like that would necessarily stop your child from having the career they wanted, but it might present an extra hurdle. However much I don't want to, I suspect that I would (in a professional context) make subconscious assumptions about a solicitor called Fifi or Summer or similar, which that person would then have to overcome. That said some of the names you mention are fine - Polly, for example. Frilly girls names, even as shortenings, are just not my thing - I don't really understand why someone would choose one of these over a strong, capable sounding name for their daughter. But plenty do.

Having said all that I do inwardly groan when I see another Lily Rose/Amelia Grace birth announcement. Find a happy medium!

Of course my son's name is perfection

Whether it be ptolomy/calypso/pretentio or mitzi/buddy bear/trixibelle or destinee rae rae/Demi-Leigh or whatever

I do think that some people, in their quest to be unique or make people think they are oh so educated or quirky, do forget that it is an actual person they are naming. And that this person will have to go through their life saddled with this name, especially if a more conventional alternative has not been offered on the birth certificate. And people who said that their kid is called Zebedee etc and no one ever says anything - well people are generally quite polite in real life , but people will be thinking in real life.

My dd and ds names are both high in the telegraph names list, they were fairly out of fashion when we chose them, and to be honest if i'd know how popular they were going to be I would have gone for something different maybe anglo saxon - Aethelred for a boy and Boudicca for a girl type thing. something with a bit of history to it.

Estell 'My rule would always be: if it don't sound graceful and dignified, or if there ain't no saint with that name, it's a no go. '
What do you think about using St Sexburga as a guide to naming your child.

'Elizabeth is statistically the highest flying female name in terms of the professions, City etc iirc.'

This may well be true but their success isn't due to them being called Elizabeth. More that the name Elizabeth was popular with middle class families who could afford private education thus ensuring their daughters went to good universities, studied for Masters etc. etc.

Posy and Milly's families may have as many resources and as much educational ambition for their daughters as the families of the Elizabeths had for them.

I totally agree with your mum, sorry.

I HATE cutesy names and I am so very thankful that my parents didn't give me one. I don't like all the Polly, Dolly, Molly, Milly, Tilly names (fine as shortened nicknames) and I don't like all the flower names that are so popular at the moment. I've never heard the name Posy before but I just find it a bit twee. I would have hated to have grown up with a name like that...I like names that have a bit of strength to them. That doesn't mean harsh-sounding names...names can be pretty but still have a bit of strength to them. I actually don't mind the name Lola which you mentioned (although wouldn't be able to shake the Charlie and Lola connection!).

I love challenging preconceptions - I think people wear their name. THey end up embodying it. I love soft male names because they counteract pride in certain male characteristics. A strong man (morally) with a soft name is lovely. Also, love the idea of a Posy standing up in a board room challenging assumptions of a downy, subservient woman. Love it.

I have been thinkg about this a lot (being pregnant and all!) and have come to the conclusion that the name we give our baby has to give them the best possible chance of being able to do anything they want.

It needs to be suitable for a CEO of a FTSE100, an actress, a tax inspector an airhostess...whatever she may want

I obviously know a name doesnt preclude you from doing anything you want, but I truly cant imagine a CEO of a Financial Services company called Daisy or Dotty

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