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Baby names

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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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MsTSwift · 23/03/2019 16:40

I met an elderly extremely aristocratic man recently called Gary

SimonJT · 23/03/2019 16:21

My desk mate at work is very very posh, his son is called Benedictine, not only is it a ridiculous name in my view, I also thought it was the feminine version of Benedict.

sunflower332 · 23/03/2019 16:15

Class is shorthand for different social groups.

Really? Different social groups can mean so much more - people who have lived abroad, people who prefer to live in large cities, people who went to University, people who are vegetarians etc etc.

sunflower332 · 23/03/2019 16:12

They're just like the rest of us mere mortals at end of the day...

I agree that this 'class' question is ridiculous. And people choose names they love, names that have meaning to them, names that go well with their surname.

Thankfully we all have different tastes! Regardless of 'class' whatever that means...Hmm

AnotherEmma · 23/03/2019 16:12

"Different social groups yes absolutely, but 'class'?!"

Class is shorthand for different social groups.
Why do people have such a bee in their bonnet about the word?!

Sparkly124 · 23/03/2019 16:04

No, just your educational background, the background of your parents, the context you grew up in etc

So by going to university you become 'upper class'? Wow, then I'm considered 'upper class' Wink

Sparkly124 · 23/03/2019 16:02

Different social groups yes absolutely, but 'class'?!

Ridiculous imo.

NameChange30 · 23/03/2019 15:56

Oh come on 🙄 The OP said this thread was lighthearted, she doesn't "see everything through the prism of class" FFS.

People are so uptight whenever class is mentioned.

Like it or not, "class" does still exist, and people are interested in how different social groups do things.

Dapplegrey · 23/03/2019 15:49

Ridiculous question imo. What 'class' you belong to is ridiculous imo but what name you like depending on the class is even more ridiculous.

I agree.
Op maybe try not to see everything in life though the prism of class.

Barrenfieldoffucks · 23/03/2019 15:47

No, just your educational background, the background of your parents, the context you grew up in etc. I'm not saying I endorse that btw, but it would be naïve to think the class system doesn't still exist in any form.

MorningsEleven · 23/03/2019 15:45

Digby. Otto

Digby is a dog's name!

Sparkly124 · 23/03/2019 15:43

What exactly is 'background/breeding' ? Is it having an aristocratic title?

Barrenfieldoffucks · 23/03/2019 15:41

Yea, but one follows the other on the whole. And background/breeding is a lot of what determines class.

Sparkly124 · 23/03/2019 15:40

But surely it's a person' attitudes and behaviour that determines his class, not his name..?!

Barrenfieldoffucks · 23/03/2019 15:36

Sadly though old fashioned class concepts do still exist in the UK 🤷

crosstalk · 23/03/2019 14:38

I think the easier AIBU is what they wouldn't call their DC.

Sparkly124 · 23/03/2019 14:34

I really don't get mumsnetters obsession with class. I really don't think its particularly relevant in 2019..

Completely agree! Ridiculous concept...!

mummyzombie · 23/03/2019 14:22

If you know, you know... darling.

SweetbutaPsycho · 23/03/2019 14:09

I really don't get mumsnetters obsession with class. I really don't think its particularly relevant in 2019..

NameChange30 · 23/03/2019 13:39

My thoughts exactly!

ThanksItHasPockets · 23/03/2019 13:29

Ooh! In the telegraph birth announcements I see a father who changed his name! A progressive in the Telegraph

Yes, I noticed that too - but surely it should have read ‘né’ rather than ‘née’?

Hippopotas · 23/03/2019 12:14

I see there’s a Leander on the birth announcements and I really like that.

Sparkly124 · 23/03/2019 11:40

Ridiculous question imo. What 'class' you belong to is ridiculous imo but what name you like depending on the class is even more ridiculous.

Everyone likes different names. Just choose a name you love and that goes well with your surname.

Barrenfieldoffucks · 23/03/2019 10:49

Genuine upper class tend to stick to fairly old school, traditional names. Maybe with more out there middle names. Some family names too.

The upper class includes old school foreigners too, so there are a few more unusual names there

Hoppinggreen · 23/03/2019 08:56

I know some quite posh people ( including aristos), their boys are Benedict, Sebastian, Harry, James, oscar, Oliver, William, Daniel

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