Active discussions

Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Baby names

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

Original poster

The cliches abounding in this topic

136 replies

LadyThompson · 24/04/2010 21:14

I enjoy the Baby names section - I'm interested in names generally, and, furthermore, am expecting a DC2 so the choosing of names has some direct relevance to my life at the moment. However - I am wearing of some of the following:

  1. People who claim to have overheard particular names called out in the supermarket (always derogatory in tone, as well);
  1. People who say, in an uppity manner - well, it's ok for a BABY but it won't do for a lawyer/brain surgeon (my DP is a barrister and as any fule kno, as far as the legal profession is concerned, they have practioners with ALL sorts of names);
  1. People who talk about names being common, 'chavvy' or 'council house'. I think this says FAR more about the people decrying the name than those contemplating using it ;

I could go on, but that's enough for starters. I'm not against robust discussion either, just a bit bored of the same old nonsense being trotted out...

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
Magaly · 24/04/2010 23:20

It's amusing LadyT, but reading the thread and your posts, I'm struck by your imperious manner; suggesting new terms for posting!! You seem to find it distasteful that commoners find commoners distasteful.

How very dare they!? You dismiss common opinions that don't match your own as 'nonsense trotted out'.

You find popular opinion deeply unpleasant and 'one tires of it rather'.

Listen, I know it's all subjective and it's all in the eye of the beholder etc... but your posts are actually the snobbiest I've come across on the names board for a good few days. So well done. Here's a voucher for a medal!

This is just my interpretation of your posts according to how I perceive them.

scurryfunge · 24/04/2010 23:20

Night night

Original poster
LadyThompson · 24/04/2010 23:19

And I REALLY must go to bed now.

Goodnight, name-diviners

OP posts:
Original poster
LadyThompson · 24/04/2010 23:18

Magaly, yes, I'd forgotten "I used to know an X and he was a right Y"...

I don't think that all names are regarded equally. I am not dissuading people from offering their opinion, or saying it's wrong to dislike a name. But deriding names as 'chavvy' is really quite grotty, and just...bad manners, imo.

I am interested in the point that you regard yourself as being particularly adept at sniffing out the names which might have the propensity to be regarded by others as 'chavvy', and almost see yourself as providing a service

But actually my main point is not about that at all, but some of the cliches on this thread, which I personally (and yes, others may not feel the same) would like to see less frequently.

OP posts:
Original poster
LadyThompson · 24/04/2010 23:10

Maisie - I said the cliches I listed in my OP were overused and just rather stale. That was incredibly specific.

How can I possibly dream up a universe of more original responses? That's up to the posters on the board, not me! Sure, ultimately one likes or dislikes a name. But every time someone says (for eg) "She will never be a brain surgeon if you call her Cherry!"...I think...can't you think of something else to say?

OP posts:
Magaly · 24/04/2010 23:07

Some of the things trotted out bore me ladythompson. Such as "Oh I know a Beau and he was gorgeous! all the girls were after him". Well then ey.

It's IRRELEVANT to the OP if you cycled around the block with a Beau in 1980. And it certainly isn't relevant whether he was Bruto or Beau.

Another thing that annoys me is people piping up on a thread about the name Disneyvita "oh my dc's name is Disneyvita" then making a bitch or a hypocrite out of the posters who post afterwards.

Some posters are upset to think that they have inadvertently given their child a name other people later began to think of as chav. I know i'M not the ultimate judge on the matter (no one person is) but without being snobby, I have a feel for what names are beginning to be perceived by others in that way. It's not 'nastiness' which has made me give my opinion when I have done so.

Burying your head in the sand and pretending that all names are regarded equally is no help to a poster who wants to do the right thing for her child.

scurryfunge · 24/04/2010 23:07

There are cliches...there is a limit I feel because of the nature of the thread....other threads have far more interesting topics for discussion. You either like a name or you don't.....people can't help the connotations around a certain name - stereotypical or otherwise.....like it or not, I think people (wrongly) associate names with professions or with people they already know. My DS's name was considered "old fashioned" by relatives but 15 years later, the name is so "him" - he is unique.

MaisietheMorningsideCat · 24/04/2010 23:03

But you need to be more specific - simply saying anything else that I haven't listed isn't enough. Opinions usually fall into categories - and names aren't really that interesting when compared to politics, or religion, say.

Original poster
LadyThompson · 24/04/2010 23:00

Oh, and I am off to bed now

OP posts:
Original poster
LadyThompson · 24/04/2010 22:58

But I don't want consensus, Scurry. That WOULD be dull. A mix of opinions is precisely what I enjoy. All I am really saying is that there are a few cliches on here which seem to pop up more and more, and that's what sometimes makes the thread dull for me. They're becoming like weeds!

OP posts:
scurryfunge · 24/04/2010 22:53

There will always be inappropriate responses in any thread....that is the beauty of a forum.....a mix of people whose opinions are valid, though not always popular, tasteful or informed. How dull would it be if everyone agreed that Winona was a "lovely name"?

MrsvWoolf · 24/04/2010 22:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
LadyThompson · 24/04/2010 22:41

Pip, yes, I take your point. I think what I really meant was that I was bored of seeing responses which incorporated "that name will ruin your child's career!", the airing of a dubious anecdote about hearing someone call out an unlikely name at the supermarket or people squawking that such and such a name is chavvy (a word which does no credit to those who bandy it about, in my opinion).

OP posts:
piprabbit · 24/04/2010 22:38

Can I just add that although the baby names topic is fun and often interesting, there really are a fairly limited number of possible different OPs and responses on a subject that boils down to 'do you like this name?'.

So there is always going to be a lot of repetition and cliches.

hf128219 · 24/04/2010 22:38

Well a good friend of mine has a Maisie!

And I have a friend and a relative with a Hero.

Original poster
LadyThompson · 24/04/2010 22:36

HF - yes, DP is as well and so Dolly doesn't really surprise me, but then he does have a Tracey in his chambers (probably surprising to some on here). A couple of the circuit judges are called Zoe and Mary-Jane. I wonder whether the MN jury would have deemed them suitable.

Oh - and Maisie - what original thought would I like to see on these threads? Almost anything other than the things I listed in my OP.

OP posts:
Original poster
LadyThompson · 24/04/2010 22:31

Yes, Scurry, you are probably right. Ah well. Whilst I enjoy reading, I can't say it's ever changed my opinion on a name. I am more tactful about what I say than when I started on here a couple of years ago, as I think some people get a real shoeing (and I think it can be a little much, especially if the party in question is pregnant).

OP posts:
padraig · 24/04/2010 22:31

Oh and chav is not something I associate with the 'class system'

I went to a boarding school and there were a good few chavs there who you couldn't call lower/working class. Likewise I know people who would self-define as working/lower class who are far from being chavs.

IMO, chav = unpleasant person who speaks badly, wears horrible clothes and is generally unpleasant. Has nothing to do with class (which IMO doesn't really exist anymore).

MaisietheMorningsideCat · 24/04/2010 22:30

Class has nothing to do with being chavvy. What original thought would you like to see on these threads?

hf128219 · 24/04/2010 22:28

I went to school with a girl called Dolly - she is now a criminal barrister.

padraig · 24/04/2010 22:28

That's true scurryfunge

After reems of people remarking on how horrible Daisy-May was, it hasn't changed the fact that the OP of that thread is still determined to use it on her DD.

Original poster
LadyThompson · 24/04/2010 22:28

"It is what is is" - not sure I understand what you mean. The word chav is pejorative and unpleasant. I think it's rude to sneer at others about their perceived class, or lack of it (it is also a little insecure) and I will be teaching both my children to behave accordingly (ie treat everyone with good manners).

OP posts:
padraig · 24/04/2010 22:26

No such thing as an original thought tbh. Everything's been done in one way or another.

scurryfunge · 24/04/2010 22:26

LadyThompson,
I think you have to view the baby names thread as an amusing diversion...the thread is fun and opinions (like all internet opinions) should be taken with a pinch of salt. Enjoy the comments for what they are....whatever the comments about a particular name, it matters not one jot to the parents....the postings are just a means of making conversation, the same as pass the parcel etiquette threads and the like

Original poster
LadyThompson · 24/04/2010 22:23

Oh, I don't, Maisie. I was just remarking that a lot of notions keep popping up again and again and again. The fact that I think some of them are tosh is secondary to the fact that it would be nice to see more original thought and less repetitive knee jerk.

OP posts: