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Original poster

What are the upper classes calling their boys nowadays?

138 replies

seeingdots · 23/03/2019 07:55

So apparently naming trends in the UK often follow a step behind the upper classes. This may or may not be true, I don't know, but if so what does that mean for the next crop of popular names that will replace Jack, Oliver etc at the top of the lists? I don't know many 'upper class' people but those I do have only really used classic names like George and William.

Do you think there's truth in that idea and if so what's due a surge in popularity over the next decade?

Disclaimer: I'm expecting a boy but just posting for fun/interest. I'm neither desperate to make my little one sound posh nor to be on the leading edge of a new trend!

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Dapplegrey · 26/03/2019 18:21

Ok well can you give some examples of this inbreeding?

AnotherEmma · 26/03/2019 16:50

Jeeez. I'm trying to be lighthearted, not spiteful.

Dapplegrey · 26/03/2019 16:49

OTOH I suppose in-breeding among the aristocracy didn't always produce great results grin

Wow that’s pretty spiteful. Can you give some examples of this in breeding apart from the Spanish royal family a few centuries ago?

AnotherEmma · 26/03/2019 16:40

She's "new money" isn't she - like most Americans. Haven't you watched any period dramas Grin

pallisers · 26/03/2019 14:37

How is Meghan lower class? She would certainly not be considered lower class within the class system of the US. Are all foreigners lower class?

MsTSwift · 26/03/2019 14:12

That’s why I went to London in my late twenties to find a tall handsome successful husband Grin

ChorleyFMcominginyourears · 26/03/2019 13:52

Jake, Grace and Aston, very normal I think.

Snog · 26/03/2019 13:38

Yes Chorley but what are your children's names, the question is about the current generation rather than the oldies

ChorleyFMcominginyourears · 26/03/2019 11:34

My husband is a Lord and he's called Matthew and everyone calls him Matt, which is pretty bog standard to me tbf

ThanksItHasPockets · 26/03/2019 11:00

I have a friend who recently left London to move back to her home town. She semi-jokingly says that she is a six or a seven in London but an eight (or even a nine on a good day) at home.

I remember being struck at how tall everyone was when I first started spending time in London. I was six foot at sixteen and it was absolute bliss not to be the tallest person in every room.

MsTSwift · 26/03/2019 10:25

Very un pc but leading on from Emma’s post dh and I noticed this in different parts of the country. We visited friends in one region and it was starkly obvious that broadly people were far less conventionally attractive than they were where we were living at the time. Once you’ve noticed it you can’t unnotice it.

Barrenfieldoffucks · 26/03/2019 09:54

Agreed Emma.

AnotherEmma · 26/03/2019 07:57

Well... this is not a very "PC" thing to say... but generally speaking rich people are more attractive, not just because they can spend more money on clothes and grooming, but also because in the past when more people married for money, rich people could choose attractive partners, so wealth and looks were often combined in families.

OTOH I suppose in-breeding among the aristocracy didn't always produce great results Grin

Sessy19 · 26/03/2019 06:41

@RomanyQueen1, what a funny thing to say!! Her attractiveness has nothing to do with whether she’s working class or not! 😂😂😂

RomanyQueen1 · 25/03/2019 23:57

Wasn't Kate on tv with family tree, I'm sure it was wc miners, certainly not upper class.
I have nothing against her though and think she's very attractive.

SexTrainGlue · 25/03/2019 23:06

They are all upper class since they married, Catherine and Sophie were both of middle class families (upper middle), and Meghan came from a different class system, but sounds approximately middle class too.

JustAnotherMillennial · 25/03/2019 22:39

Kate's definitely upper class, Meghan probably lower class, Sophie's something in the middle given she did go to private but her father I believe was a tyre salesman!'

I don't think class comes into names anymore. Both my DD's have what would be described as pretentious names (although nothing Ludwick scale) and I grew up on a council estate with a single mum who received tax credits. And I know others who are working class and have given their dc what was once considered names for upper class.

And as mentioned above, upper class giving their children what would probably be considered as lower class name, see Savannah in the Royal family.

ThanksItHasPockets · 25/03/2019 21:58

Freakonomics focuses on the USA. I’d love to see comparable analysis for the U.K. I think there has definitely been a trend over the last ten(ish) years of diminutive forms of very traditional names becoming popular without using the full form - Archie, Charlie, Freddie, Alfie etc.

Original poster
seeingdots · 25/03/2019 21:34

@ThanksItHasPockets that's interesting to hear that there's evidence supporting the theory. I wonder to what extent the upper vs upper middle class is currently the major source of trendsetting. I get the feeling a lot of these names like Hugo, Sebastian and the classical greek ones that seem to be gaining in popularity are trickling down from the metropolitan upper middle type social groups.

OP posts:
KingHenrysCodpiece · 25/03/2019 18:26

Interesting. Is that by choice or necessity littlemeitslyn? And did your parents have fairly traditional names?

littlemeitslyn · 25/03/2019 12:57

My parents were landowners, I went to boarding school, I live in a Council house.

Sessy19 · 25/03/2019 10:37

@sunflower332 Having wealth opens doors to private education or different career paths but why would I need to change classes?? I’m perfectly happy with identifying as working class, I have no aspiration to be considered otherwise.

I’m certainly not suggesting that social mobility isn’t a thing, because if that’s important to you-to move out of the ‘working class’-then that’s what you should aspire to.

ThanksItHasPockets · 25/03/2019 10:17

Calling your child Benedictine is a bit like calling them Buckfast.

Netflixaddiction · 25/03/2019 10:08

Labna I believe can also mean yoghurt in Arabic. I think it’s a type of mezza with cucumber.

They must be pet names and they may have not wanted to reveal their children’s true names.

Thecabbageassasin · 25/03/2019 08:13

Are there any guesses what Meghan and Harry will be calling their child.

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