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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Which of Oscar, George, Henry, Max or Leo sounds poshest?

89 replies

Namesnamesnames13 · 05/07/2026 16:14

Which in your opinion is the poshest name? Oscar, George, Henry, Max, or Leo?

OP posts:
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EnidVance · 06/07/2026 03:07

TheBlueKoala · 05/07/2026 18:15

Henry and George but noone names their children that anymore.

Eh? There are so many Georges! There are at least 6 in my DC’s school year plus a friend has a George.

ErrolTheDragon · 06/07/2026 00:08

Henry or George are classless - could be posh but the first one that came to mind was George Grundy from the Archers who definitely isn’t.

Marmalademorning · 05/07/2026 22:13

Depends what kind of posh you’re after OP.

I live in a well to do small market town with lots of trendy rich Londoners who’ve moved here since the pandemic. We know lots of them through my daughter’s school. I’ve been surprised at the number of unusual names. Lots of which I never come across before.

If you want something traditional posh though you could go for something like Charles/ Hugo I guess? 🤷‍♀️

Happytaytos · 05/07/2026 22:03

Real posh Leo's are Leopolds.

GoFigure235 · 05/07/2026 21:54

I would rank them as follows (in order of descending poshness): Henry, George, Max, Leo, Oscar. They're all perfectly nice boys names though, although the only ones we had on the list for our own DC were Max and Leo.

oviraptor21 · 05/07/2026 21:36

Henry

Followed by Leo, Oscar, Max, George (last two not posh at all)

Excellentsausages · 05/07/2026 21:31

TheBlueKoala · 05/07/2026 18:15

Henry and George but noone names their children that anymore.

In England and Wales they definitely do! George is 6th most popular name and Henry 12th for babies born in 2024. Soooo many around.

Amazonjaunt · 05/07/2026 21:19

Henry is the poshest.

GotALionInMyPocket · 05/07/2026 21:07

Henry sounds poshest.

greglet · 05/07/2026 21:01

@TreylimeNo of course not, but both Oliver and Sebastian are what I’d think of as generally (but not exclusively) middle class names now; 40-odd years ago they were probably more UMC.

Treylime · 05/07/2026 20:50

A good example: Princess Diana wanted to call William either Oliver or Sebastian (very Sloaney names in the early 80s) but had to settle for something more appropriately aristocratic.
Diana would never have been able to use Oliver (Cromwell)

Sirzy · 05/07/2026 20:34

ToKittyornottoKitty · 05/07/2026 16:32

None of them sound posh, they are just bog standard boy names. You could throw a stone and hit two Oscar’s, Max’s or Henry’s near me. Leo less common but not close to sounding posh

where I work there are around 150 pupils and come September we will have 4 Leos! Locally it seems to be one of the most popular boys names.

SweepSqueaks · 05/07/2026 20:28

How can you be so very intrigued when the names are so ordinary? I can’t see where the intrigue comes in.

Rubyslipperswitch · 05/07/2026 20:25

They are just normal, common names for boys. Nothing particularly 'posh' about any of them.

Smoggy55 · 05/07/2026 20:24

How about Fontabule?🤔

EnidVance · 05/07/2026 20:22

None of them. They’re all just very normal common boys names. The amount of Georges and Oscars in my DC’s school is crazy.

greglet · 05/07/2026 19:58

None of them is posh anymore. Oscar was an UMC name until about 15/20 years ago when it rocketed in popularity.

George and Henry are classic boys’ names which have been, and still are, used by the upper classes, but 100 years ago there were lots of working class Georges and Henrys, and they have similarly had a resurgence in the past 15 years. I’d say Leo and Max are similar but have not been as popular historically as George and Henry.

In general, the true ‘upper classes’ use a fairly small pool of boys’ names, which at times will also be popular more broadly and at others, won’t. The upper middle classes and upwardly mobile/aspiring upper middle classes use the more elaborate names (Horatio, Tarquin, Ptolemy); not to say that you won’t ever find an aristocratic Atticus, but these names are less ‘posh’ than the people who choose them think.

A good example: Princess Diana wanted to call William either Oliver or Sebastian (very Sloaney names in the early 80s) but had to settle for something more appropriately aristocratic.

All of which is a very long-winded way of saying that there’s considerable overlap in the names that posh people and middle or working class people use in one respect: the well-established Biblical or royal names.

Modern or faddy names (Jayden, Kai etc) are usually working class.

Latinate or Ancient Greek-derived names (Tarquin, Peregrine etc) are usually aspirational middle class.

James could be a King or a carpenter.

Theworldsgonemadagain · 05/07/2026 19:39

Oscar out of those. George is definitely not posh, I have a George and there are 4 others in his year group, working class area. Leo is chavvy. Just choose a name YOU like.

Tofringeornot · 05/07/2026 19:34

George

HugoThatway · 05/07/2026 19:32

HappiestSleeping · 05/07/2026 19:23

True, but I can't see a posh one of any of those either. Maybe a faux posh?

I'd say they were 'top public school for boys' names.

SailingYachty · 05/07/2026 19:31

I wouldn’t say any are posh, I know boys with all those names and none are posher than others. Perhaps if Max was short for Maximillion that would be quite posh?!

Hollyhobbi · 05/07/2026 19:28

Henry.

JustLookAround · 05/07/2026 19:27

I knew a Henry at university and he was very ‘posh’. His father had some peerage title I think.

George is just Peppa’s brother now so it’s a pig name. 😂 And Oscar, Max and Leo seem to be very popular dog or cat names.

HappiestSleeping · 05/07/2026 19:23

HugoThatway · 05/07/2026 19:17

@HappiestSleeping , I can't see a working class Septimus, Peregrine, Horatio or Algernon.

True, but I can't see a posh one of any of those either. Maybe a faux posh?

HugoThatway · 05/07/2026 19:17

@HappiestSleeping , I can't see a working class Septimus, Peregrine, Horatio or Algernon.