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Baby names

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Original poster

question- what are "posh" names?

95 replies

thecaroline · 30/10/2014 22:22

I'm not from the UK, so I was wondering what everyone means when they say a name is "posh." Like, upperclass, but which names in particular? Names like Arabella, Charles, etc.?

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ratherbeshowjumping · 29/11/2018 14:40

I went to a "posh" private school and my classmates were Lucinda/Lucy (maybe 4-5 in my year), Camilla, Oonagh, Alice (again, a few of these), Celia, Nathalie, Isabel, Cosima, Beatrice, Emma (two of these in my form), Kate, Lily, Alana, Mimi.

This was late 90's, early 2000's.

Pemba · 28/11/2018 13:18

This thread is from 4 years ago.

PerditaMacleod · 28/11/2018 13:08

I don't think I've seen Jago mentioned yet.

OutPinked · 28/11/2018 09:49

Laughing at Caroline being a posh name. It’s my DM’s name and she is about the furthest from posh you could get...

OutPinked · 28/11/2018 09:49

My DP went to boarding school and he isn’t called any of these names, nor are his friends! They all have very normal 90s names like Joshua, Harry and Benjamin... The poshest was probably Sebastian.

fearfultrill · 27/11/2018 13:46

Really posh families usually use quite simple old names, like Sarah, Anna, Katherine, Elizabeth, Mary etc.

firstbrightday · 27/11/2018 13:44

Also - if you look at the telegraph birth announcements it's an endless list of Cosima, Beatrice/Beatrix and Florence

firstbrightday · 27/11/2018 13:42

Octavia
Hermione
Ophelia
Clementine/Clemmie
Arabella
Henrietta
Annunciata/Annie
Marina
Rowena
Lucinda
Lavinia
Hugo
Hugh
Atticus
Rupert

These are the names of some very posh people I know - I actually really like most of them!

MrsStrowman · 27/11/2018 11:49

I knew twins called Septimus and Octavia, they were actually DCs number 7 and number 8 , it's like their parents gave up with names and switched to numbers. Seriously posh family though.

Didyeeaye · 26/11/2018 21:16

Having a chuckle at this thread as my DS was almost called Tristan until my mother declared that I was still a working class lassie fae parkhead (poor area of Glasgow) and my fancy degree and job didn't change that... I called DS a nice Irish/Gaelic name instead lmao

Winterwonderland12 · 26/11/2018 18:47

So many names on this thread seem quite normal now e.g. Caroline, Martha, Sebastian, Quentin, Hugo. I know lots of 'common' people with these names..? Maybe names change their associations over time?

truthteller43453 · 26/11/2018 17:53

caroline is a real posh name! my sisters friend name is caroline and i can clearly testify that she's the definition of posh!

AvonCallingBarksdale · 04/11/2014 17:50

Pierre is just Peter, though. Xanthe is quite popular around here. I agree with PP that soi-disant "posh" people are more likely to use classic names, like Sarah, Anna, Alice, Lucinda Timothy rather than newer names.

lebkuchenlover · 04/11/2014 15:57

Pierre is a very very common name in France and I can't see anything 'posh' about it at all. I think the opposite, if anything.

s113 · 04/11/2014 11:21

Pierre.

I remember a "Xanthe" on Brat Camp (some of those "campers" were posh teenagers; can't remember if Xanthe was).

As for Peregrine - does anyone remember the "Peregrine Piecrust" stories? "Soon everyone in Peregrine's street was talking about him and the noise he made - the people four doors away could hear him, and "For Sale" signs shot up all along the street."

TheAwfulDaughter · 04/11/2014 11:00

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Hairylegs47 · 04/11/2014 04:55

I've never heard these names at the local primary school.
Joycelyn, Gaylord, Atticus, Rudolph, Audley, Lindsey, Massimo, Cosimo, Giro

Clementine, Daphne, Ffion, Cosima,

I wonder if Wills and Kate will name there new baby Sharon if it's a girl or Wayne if it's a boy? But maybes they aren't 'posh' enough.

Original poster
thecaroline · 04/11/2014 03:17

thanks to this thread, I've started reading Watching the English by Kate Fox. Whoa I am blown away by all of these class rules!

I'm going to feel awkward every time I say "pardon" from now on!

OP posts:
ParsleyCake · 03/11/2014 20:48

I find most of those 'posh' names as not posh at all. James, Charles etc are classics and used by all, shortened too, to Charlie and Jamie. I think posh names are ones drawn from 'smart' sources (Persephony, Ariadne, etc), but yeah Humphrey is posh, and names like Cordelia, Camilla etc

Pasithea · 03/11/2014 17:05

I think Ptolemy is the poshest name ever but I can't help lovin it

manicinsomniac · 03/11/2014 16:56

I don't know if you can really generalise. I teach in a posh school (home counties private traditional prep, feeder for lots of big name public schools) and I teach/have taught over the last few years a wide variety of names including:

Sebastian, Hugo, Frederick, Darren, Gavin, Ptolemy, Charles, Bailey, Orlando, Lysander, Montgomery, Declan, Dylan, Conor, Liam, Cosmo, Harrison, Benedict, Jake, Jordan, Joleyon, Tristan, Alfie, Archie, Albert, Barnaby

Lara, Victoria, Savannah, Dakota, Annabelle, Isabella, Antigone, Sydney, Hailie, Eliza, Atlanta, Jasmine, Jade, Kya, Tia, Elizabeth, Darcey, Sophia, Beatrice, India, katinka, Genevieve, Georgina

rollonthesummer · 03/11/2014 15:56

Ptolemy!

lebkuchenlover · 03/11/2014 15:52

Names tend to 'trickle down' the social classes, this is well explained in the book Freakonomics.

So formerly 'posh' names like Isabella, Aurelia, Sophia, Sebastian, Quentin, Raphael, Hugo, are now fairly normal.

But I also feel that people make their names, not the other way round and I think the UK is becoming a little open minded about names, certainly around London.

cheesecakemom · 02/11/2014 22:32

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Keepcalmanddrinkwine · 02/11/2014 21:29

My dog has a posher name than my children!
Grin