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

I have to say purely based on the name I would judge the parents of a Katherine or Elizabeth to be stuffy and unimaginative. I would be as wrong in this assumption as someone who judges a person by their name rather than by their personality or abilities.

I think people are taken seriously if they earn it by treating things in a professional way. Imo a person informs the perception of the name rather than the other way round.

Perhaps people have (incorrect) preconceptions of cutesy names, I accept but disapprove of this on a general level. However, Aidan the reality is that you were still interviewed, and still appointed so whoever was reading your CV was more interested in everything else about you. As these names gain in popularity, which they are currently doing, even the preconceptions will go as numerous Poppys, Nellies, Honeys and Posys apply for jobs and it becomes less of a novelty.

I think pretty much all organisations, public or otherwise, adhere to strict policies on matters such as equality. On that basis then, the OP should go ahead and call her child whatever she pleases, safe in the knowledge that whatever other people may be thinking, names are not a reason for discrimination in future education or employment!

I think you should name her what you like really. She'll find her own way of changing peoples perceptions about her.

My 6'5 rugby playing DH is called Jamie and has never had anyone make comment about it. There are loads of 'em up here in Scotland.

Good choice...my dd Polly is nearly 5, absolutely gorgeous and loves the fact that there are songs about 'her'...Miss Polly had a dolly etc. Whoever said her name was horrible should remember that names are subjective, as a pp pointed out.

I just refuse to believe that anybody with half a brain that is reading applications for universities, jobs or training is going to hesitate over an excellent application that happens to be from somebody called Posy or Nellie. If this is the case, then it has passed me by completely and it is very disappointing.

Aiden I can see you don't like your name which is fair enough, but why didn't it help in terms of you going to Cambridge and being a doctor? If you got in and you were successful then how did your name stop you?

I have a 'cutesey' name. I am a barrister, and have been to a top university and now have a good job. I don't feel my name has been a barrier to opportunity, as many on this thread seem to suggest. I find it hard to understand why people cannot imagine 'cutesey' names being successful in 'serious' jobs. This is ridiculous, and of course adults with these names will still do as well as if they happened to have been called Elizabeth, Tabitha, Thomas, James and other names that are considered middle class enough.
I have read many applications for pupillage, and have never discarded a single one of them for having a name that doesn't meet with my approval.

I have a DD called Poppy. Her father and I chose it because we like it and it suits her. I hope and expect that she will be judged on her ability, work ethic and qualifications, not on a name that she did not choose herself.

Polly is fine, but I agree with your mum about dotty. Unfortunately, it is a term given to someone who is a bit scatterbrained, or not very bright. I'm not saying I uphold these sentiments but many people do. This is why I wouldn't call my child a name like this. Pippa is also fine, but I wouldn't choose posy, and Kitty could encourage name calling and cat associations from other children.
It's up to you what you call your dd, it's nobody else's business, but if it were me I'd think about the person, not the baby.
I knew a Kitty once, she was lovely. Very extrovert, unconventional and very fair in her treatment of others.

I'm sort of sat on the fence, my dh would agree with your mum. In his opinion Phillipa looks much more professional on a cv than Pippa, hence why our little pip pop poo's name on her birth certificate is Phillipa!

Ooooh OP you've made Discussion of the Day!

I dont think the traditional names will be rare, lots of Georges, Thomas', Williams, Charlottes and Isabelles round here!

Sorry, that was my mistake.

I'd be surprised to meet an adult Poppy/Posy/Milly these days but expect the world to be teeming with them in 30 years time or so. So I have faith that the Millys and Tillys and Archies and Alfies of HR departments up and down the land won't bat an eyelid when they see these cutesy names on job applications.

My boss is five years younger than me, I'm 32. She's a real high flier, has numerous degrees and has always had high paying jobs, she's the youngest manager in our company and her given name is Kitty. And that's it.

People have different opinions and if they base a lot of that on names they aren't going to get very far themselves.

I agree with others on here that, these names are going to be very common place for high fliers in the future.

And OP love the name Polly, have known a couple in the past.

No, Polly's fine- sorry. Did I sound as if I didn't think it was?

Yes name prejudice is a very real thing but more likely to adversely affect someone with an 'ethnic' name or a name that is perceived to be working class.

The only Pollys I've encountered have been solidly middle class and unlikely to be hampered by this kind of prejudice. I mean Polly is not a strange or even unusual name, if anything it's very traditional.

Getting g a "top job" can actually be influenced by your name- research has shown that interviewers are very judgemental about names. There certainly doesn't seem to have been much shift in the type of names that the movers and shakers have and give their children.

True, getting a top job has absolutely nothing to do with your name, just from coming from an entitled position where you go to the right schools and Oxbridge. If I wanted a cutesy name, I would choose something I could shorten (that way they can use the full version as an adult)

Yes but my point is that there isn't a history of women having top jobs, so Polly will be just fine.

"Very true. They all had names like James, George, Thomas and John."

They still do!

Very true. They all had names like James, George, Thomas and John.

It's not that long since women have been getting the 'top jobs' so I don't think little Polly's chances will be scuppered because she has a pretty Victorian name.

Look back in history. The people in the "top jobs" have had names chosen from the same small pool for hundreds of years. I would be amazed if that changed any time soon!

I agree that in 40 years time these will be standard names for 40-somethings and the names won't hold them back but I'm 30 and have lots of friends called Amy, Kelly, Sophie, Katie etc and I still don't think they sound very classy/elegant for a 30 year old woman.