Do names still have a class association?

I think it is a fact that there are many people who will have preconceived expectations of what someone will be like based on their name. These expectations might be wrong but the first impression could be already made before someone has spoken or even been seen.

The upper classes often tend to have classic names, much like those used in the Royal Family - so Catherine, Charlotte, Elizabeth, Alice, Alexandra, Clementine, William, Charles, George, Henry, Edward, James etc. It’s unlikely you will come across Shane, Wayne, Donna, Lola-Mae etc and even less likely you’ll come across names with modernised spellings.

It’s not a cross section of the general consensus.

Yeah that’s a thing.

Names have social mobility too. They can go up and down.

In the 80s the only Olivias I knew were middle-aged upper middle class.
The only Alfies and Reggies around were OAP Eastenders.

@Sessy19 well not really. In fact it's been the subject of lots of studies. People do carry bias. People who are in charge of hiring other people. It does matter. We all make decisions that will advantage/disadvantage our children and their names are one of the first. Like it or not.

biscuitmillionaire v agree- good points

It’s 2018. We live in a multicultural, developed country (UK), and social mobility IS a thing.

ANYONE, from any financial heritage, can go to university, get a degree in Law, go to the bar and serve as a Lawyer in a competitive firm. Regardless of their name.

It’s an utterly LUDICROUS suggestion to imply that someone might be inhibited in their future based only on their name. Absolutely fucking RIDICULOUS!

As long as class exist so will class associations with names.
Some names are similar but yet not eg Robert and Rupert.

There are some names that don't have any particular class association, eg Amy.

There are some that most definitely do, e.g. Ellie-mai or Xanthe.

I think, the name choice of parents signifies what 'tribe' they belong to, and their aspirations. Not just class tribe, but for example, alternative hippy types will call their child Sky or Phoenix. Parents from an academic background might call their child a classical Greek name. Parents who have a romantic nostalgia for their grandparents' country or region of origin might call their child a name from that area. Parents who consider themselves very straight-down-the line ordinary and non-pretentious will give their child a name like Thomas.

Yeah ok then 😴

Posh twats are rarely nice.

"Posh twats" nice

@sessy19 hitting the nail on the head there. Here here.

Also there's at least two Ruperts in my working class city, area, schools

Some names do seem to move though, and it can be surprising if you haven't been in touch with it. I gather that Sebastian is increasingly popular, at least in some areas, and starting to lose the posh associations.

There has just been a very long thread about this!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3318805-To-think-it-s-very-sad-certain-professions-are-denied-to-some-children

The demographics for MN is 90% utter snobbery. You know the type.... It’s not a cross section of the general consensus.

Incidentally, I come here to watch ‘posh twats’ argue that you couldn’t possibly give your daughter the middle name May without being a prostitute. Because I’m bored!

@donquixotedelamancha whilst I think this is true I think there is a bit of an exception for classic names that have filtered down but are still used commonly with the Uber posh.
If you look at the names of Prince Harry’s friends for example, just because they were named a lot in the press prior to the wedding, most had very classic names and Eton will still be full of those names.

Bit gutted that Jasper is going to be positively chavvy in a few years!

Absolutely they are.

Hyphenated names - in particular the -Mai or -Rose ones but reallly all hyphenated names for example. Actually yet to meet child with a hyphenated name in real life but we all know the stereotype.

Is Rupert now really found everywhere? I’ve not come across it.

According to some statistics blog I read a few years ago, most name trends start with wealthier parents then (as they become more popular) get more common down the income level, eventually ending their popularity only at lower income distributions.

So (for example) while Jasper may have been posh and rare a few years back it is pretty universal these days and will be positively chavvy in a couple of years. This does seem born out by PP's observations.

Names matter, because they are part of 'first impressions' (which we all know count, even though they shouldn''t). There's a considerable body of psych research to back it up (with a delicious irony in that a good study fund that those who stated most strongly that they thought they were unifluenced (and had not had HR CPD-type training to overcome bias) were those who showed name-based discrimination.

What 'class' names are tends to move fairly slowly, but they tend to start higher-class and move down the social scale. It is more class than income, because education level of the parents is a factor.

And I'm sorry for picking on what are, after all real names, but even though one name is the same in each invented family below, our first impression of 'Bella' is bound to be rather different. If you own this, then deliberately discard it, you are much more likely to act without bias than someone who says they notice no difference.

Evie, Bella, Max, Jacob

Rupert, Aidan, Bella, Alexandra

Tyler, Bella, Jayden, Lexi-Mae

Some definitely do, most don’t.

They do generally but I've heard of or met some very working class parents with children called Matilda and Jasper so it's not a given.

I don’t think there are all that many names that are really posh (by that I mean names that I would feel that I would be trying to be someone I’m not if I used them).

I hear names like Persephone, Orlando etc on the bus these days.

There are quite a few names that I wouldn’t choose because I don’t find them aspirational (and because I don’t like them - but perhaps I don’t like them because I think of them as not being very smart).

@ *LadyKylie

I know loads of kids called Jemima, Quentin and Jasper and they are neither particularly wet or posh, whatever that may mean . Same with Sebastian and Ottilie!

It's a person that makes a name! Not the other way round.

I have no idea what you are all talking about