I'm completely with MsBeauregarde's analysis of things (and I agree with her in wondering if some people are quite so self-righteous in private as they seem to be on MN?! Just tipping over into being a tad patronising, some of you...I wonder if you would have leapt to the defence of the upper middle classes if OP had asked if the name Jonty was typically 'posh'?
Apart from names that are clearly made up and have diabolical convoluted spellings, any name can start off sounding classy or interesting if a classy interesting person picks it. But then it can get hijacked, sometimes years later by um, unsuitables. It's clear to me from reading MN threads that the C word has different connotations to different people.
I ran my My DS3s name through the MN search engine to see if anyone had it, as in almost ten years I've never met or heard of another one. It was described on here by someone as awful and disgusting and common, and they said that anyone who used it could only possibly come from Essex or Liverpool. Well actually, I do live in Essex, though I lived in Kent when I chose it, so what does that mean? And I found that asssumption very offensive. I am not remotely common or thick, or lacking in taste or style. (believe it or not, most of us here aren't you know ). I am affluent, my children are privately educated, and my husband has a professional qualification and a senior management job in the City. My house is a shrine to Farrow and Ball sludge and I wouldn't dream of wearing anything with a shouty label on the outside. I watch virtually no TV, and we holiday in the Dordogne. I have no fake body parts and no alarming two-tone hair, no piercings, no tattoos, no polyester sportswear, no scary gold jewellery with gallopy horses and bendy dollies on, no 'staffie' and I don't even own a pair of trainers. And yet, apparently, I have a very common, disgusting, laughable naff name, worthy only of the worst parts of Essex and Liverpool. Go figure!!!!
My DS's name isn't made up. It is actually a very old name that has always in all the name books, and has been for donkey's years but clearly overlooked because, a bit like Digby, as MsB mentioned earlier, it's very unusual and not many people would choose it -they obviously find it too challenging, but in a sea of Jonathans and and Lukes and Bens that's just fine by me! But Digby now seems to be a good choice if you want a slightly ironic, uber-cool, daring name that also has a traditional middle-class old-school ring to it, like Wilf or Arthur. How many Digbys were knocking around ten years ago? Or Archies? Or Wilfs or Stans? But as the trends for names develop and evolve, people get on a theme, and I would not be surprised if DS's name does eventually become popular in entirely the wrong sort of way, becasue it is an old Irish name and that's currently a popular theme, but hey, I didn't have a crystal ball nearly 10 years ago - all I knew was that I didn't want to saddle the world with yet another bloody
Jack or James! (DS has 7 Jameses in his class . It's always a gamble - but as MsB said, the alternative is to call all babies Matthew or Jonathan, Emma or Sarah. Perfectly acceptable but dull. Or you pick the popular choice of the moment, and find that your child is the fifth Amelia or Olivia in the class - she's the Sharon and Tracy of tomorrow. Or you go for the very clunky and hideously pretentious Octavia or Mungo or Orlando, which are in themselves a bit of a laughable stereotype. So what to do?