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Baby names

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

Have I saddled my baby with a chav name?

113 replies

KateBeckinsale · 26/03/2010 11:55

My DS is 2 and as soon as I found out I was pregnant, DH picked the name Kaeden for a boy. I really liked it and we stuck with it.

I chose to spell it this way for the following reasons:

  1. Kaiden would get Kai and he has a cousin called this. 2)Kayden would get Kay 3)I didn't like Kaden as thought it loooked like kad-en rather than Kayden and it is arabic and I have no arabic connections.
  2. Caden means round lump and is usually the girl version.
  3. Kaeden is sometimes shortened to Kaed and we just like it.

But since then lots of people have called their kids Kayden/Jayden/Hayden/Aiden/Brayden, etc and people have started calling it chavvy.

This really upsets me as neither DH or I are chavs, we're teachers with a nice house, etc and we DS going to be judged on his name for the rest of his life and is it really a horrible name or are people just being snobby and trying to label others?

OP posts:
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ilovesprouts · 27/03/2010 09:47

i like it my ds2 has a chavvy name too but i could not care less ,its no one buisness !

Maggie00 · 27/03/2010 09:44

Kade or Aidan.

Is OP real or just trying to start a ding dong?

Maggie00 · 27/03/2010 09:43

Kade is far less pigeon-holeable. (not a verb, but ykwim)

LittleMissWorryHead · 26/03/2010 22:57

LOL at Slambang

LittleMissWorryHead · 26/03/2010 22:56

I honestly don't get it. If you like it, you like it. And you say you do. And he is 2, so even if you didn't like it (which you do) then its too late.

Yes, where have you gone?!

Acanthus · 26/03/2010 20:57

Yes you have. But where have you gone?

Slambang · 26/03/2010 20:51

If you don't like the -ayden connotations, what about using the abbreviation Caed as his name? I think that sounds quite nice.

Or think of a really middle class nickname for him that you shout in piercing middle class brays from the side of the rugby field or school sports day.

Something like 'Scrumbo' or 'Fothers' or 'Rahrah' or 'Boodle'.

lovechoc · 26/03/2010 20:37

I don't like the name personally, but each to their own. Not sure I'd say it was chavvy, just not a name I'd choose for my own DS.

Just be happy you both agreed on a name you liked! some of us can't even do that as couples!

othersideofchannel · 26/03/2010 20:34

I am really surprised how much emphasis Brits put on the whole class issue - why are you so keen to categorise and label names according to class structure?

I personally do not like the Kaeden, but not because of any class association, I just don't like the sound of it. I honestly wouldn't pre-judge a Kaeden just because his parents gave him that name. But then, I'm not English .

StrictlyKatty · 26/03/2010 20:19

I would say very chav. Name itself is chav and spelling makes it worse. Sorry! As long as you like it though.

oldenglishspangles · 26/03/2010 19:51

If you like the name, thats all that matters. Of the most popular names isobel, chloe, jack, harry etc how many of them do you think have been used by so called 'chav' parents. If someone feels they have to try and put you down because of the name you have chosen, more fool them.

zapostrophe · 26/03/2010 19:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

plimsolls · 26/03/2010 19:21

Sorry, newbie, hope it is OK to post.

I think.....Names are names and people will always have some kind of opinion on a name, whatever you choose i.e. chavvy/posh/boring/pretentious/tryhard/etc.

Even if people judge a name at first, within a few minutes they rearrange their preconceptions based on the person they are speaking to (maybe the parent if its a young child).

And actually, I think the nn kaed (pronounced cade?) is rather nice actually. Could imagine Kaed being the popular, cool, hunky guy at school.

Don't worry! I think you should be proud, I bet your DS is lovely and will be a cute little ambassador for the name.

Also, if it makes you feel better, a friend of a friend named her baby boy something which by common consensus is a girl's name....

BridesheadRegardless · 26/03/2010 18:47

Oh dear, I really feel for this OP if this is real.
The resonses must feel very harsh, i'd imagine she is rather upset.

ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight · 26/03/2010 18:14

A chavvy name = a name popular amongst lower socio-econimic classes, people who live on benefits, teenage mums, people who live in social housing, people who wear certain types of sportswear and gold jewellery, etc etc.

Let's call a spade a spade.

There certainly is a distinct cultural identity which runs through the (huge and varied) demographic of people who fall into the categories of i) socially housed ii) young parents iii) poor (or any combination of the above) but certainly does not define all, or any, of those people.

The problem with using a word like 'chav' is that it is almost always used to denote difference and inferiority. People from less afluent or priveliged backgrounds may have a different culture to those from middle class/wealthier backgrounds, but by expressing horror at the thought of being seen to be 'chavvy' you are stating that your culture is better. It's not better, just different.

There will be people who argue that 'chav' doesn't mean the above, but means thieves, or benefit scroungers, or anything else negative. But that's not true is it - the word chav would just as easily be used to describe a working professional if she lived in a council estate and wore gold hoops and a 'mum' necklace.

Snobbery is an ugly thing.

To answer the OP, yes, Kaeden is the type of name popular in a working class culture (ugly term, but there isn't really a better one - but then why should it be uglier than middle class?) but the fact that people might think you are 'chavs' from that fact is very unpleasant. I think you should give that some thought

SoupDragon · 26/03/2010 17:55

DS2's class has an Aidan, a Jaydon and a Shaydon. Some poor mother got all 3 in her group on a school trip recently

Nothing wrong with Aidan - it's a proper spelling of a proper name.

MadameCastafiore · 26/03/2010 15:50

I think it is vile and very chavvy. (You asked!)

sungirltan · 26/03/2010 15:47

maggie00 - you are indeed correct - i am rubbish at being welsh!

BunnyLebowski · 26/03/2010 15:37

Definitely Bewler

Bewler · 26/03/2010 15:36

What if it was "Ayden" - can we lump it in then?

BunnyLebowski · 26/03/2010 15:33

Can I just say OP, PLEASE do not not lump the lovely traditional Irish name Aidan into the same category as the heinous Kaaeden/Cayden/Brayden/Jaiden brigade.

It's an actual name y'see?

Maggie00 · 26/03/2010 15:32

Composer is Haydn. I think. i should google that before I say it!

sungirltan · 26/03/2010 15:28

Hayden is a welsh name, in honour of the composer Haden - who wrote choral stuff (i think)

Kaeden is fine. i think its only chavvy if you dress him in shell suits and bellow loudly at him on the bus. also wearing sportswear and smoking.

Bewler · 26/03/2010 15:15

Well your DS is 2 so there's not much you can do about it now is there?

As Forest Gump might have said, chavvy is as chavvy does. My DH has a chavtastic name - he should have been a burglar - but isn't.

I have quite an unusual (but certainly not made up) name which people have always been complimentary about and I saw someone on a pregnancy thread suggest it as a baby name and some cow piped up that it sounded cheap. I was really and a bit

So inviting total strangers to comment on your much loved DS's name is a silly thing to do IMHO.

MamaLazarou · 26/03/2010 15:13

Aiden's lovely.

Yes, I am afraid Kaeden is that c-word you mentioned. This is because: a) It is very modern, and will therefore date very quickly, and b) Contains the ubiquitous 'ae'.

I don't see how spelling it with an 'ae' would make it less likely to be shortened to 'Kay', though. Kids don't really consider spelling when nicknaming their friends.