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Baby names

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Original poster

Was Emily a posh name before it became popular in the 90s/00s?

35 replies

hcarter8 · 12/05/2025 19:44

My work colleague (who is much older than me) and I were discussing names and she said Emily was seen as an old fashioned posh name up in the 70s and 80s. I’m 31 so I knew 3 Emily’s but I was born just before Emily became a really popular name so most people with the name are about 10 years younger than me, I was kind of shocked to hear this as Emily was always sooo common and definitely didn’t scream upper class to me. She also said Olivia and Charlotte were extremely posh back then.
is that true? I genuinely had a hard time believing it

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LilyJosephine · 12/05/2025 22:00

I’m also an 80’s baby and had a couple of
Emily’s and Charlotte’s at my school. I don’t think they were considered posh - more like your standard, very traditional middle class girls names of which there are often a few about in each generation, despite not always being Top 100 popular (see also Catherine, Lucy, Alice, Anna, Emma, Lydia, Alexandra, Eleanor etc).

Olivia is a different kettle of fish - I do think it was seen as quite a literary/Shakespearean name (and thus posh to some) until it shot up in popularity in the 90’s. I didn’t know any Olivia’s at school.

MrsKateColumbo · 12/05/2025 20:08

Im an 80s baby in my 30s and Emily and Charlottes feature heavily in my FB friends list of people my age

Fifthtimelucky · 12/05/2025 20:06

I’m in my 60s and tend to agree with with your friend. I didn’t know anyone called Olivia in my childhood but the Charlottes and Emily I knew were fairly posh. I only remember one of each from my school/university days, so they definitely were not commonly used names.

HeddaGarbled · 12/05/2025 19:56

Are you using “common” to mean popular or in the sense my mum would have used it (“no better than she should be”).

If the first, yes, Emily and Charlotte were common, but they definitely weren’t the second.

LegoLandslide · 12/05/2025 19:55

My granny was an Emily born 1910. She felt it was a "housemaid's name" and betrayed her class. (She was in service herself before she got married)

DN now also called Emily!

Olivia and Charlotte were both definitely posh when I was growing up.

KarminaBurana · 12/05/2025 19:53

No, just old fashioned.

ArghhWhatNext · 12/05/2025 19:52

Mid-50s.
i didn’t know any Emily’s growing up, encountered my first Olivia in 1990 (posh baby) and only knew one Charlotte- v well off.

BoleynMemories13 · 12/05/2025 19:50

Olivia definitely had an upper class feel to it until it started taking off in the late 90s/early 00s and suddenly became more mainstream.

I can't really say about the historical usage of Emily and Charlotte, as I'm an 80s baby so my experience of both has only ever been that they're very mainstream, used by all backgrounds.

MsNevermore · 12/05/2025 19:50

There’s a relative on my paternal side of the family who’s name was Emily…..she died in 1928 and most definitely did not come from the high classes of society 🤷🏻‍♀️ She worked for a hat maker, plucking birds to obtain the feathers used in the hats!

lnks · 12/05/2025 19:46

I’m in my 50’s and I agree with your work friend.