Jaydon/Haydon/Cayden

kizzibear how is that the definition of middle class? What if our household income is 100,000, we own our own house, have half a mill in the bank, but only one car? Or what if we won the lottery and met all of your criteria, but are poorly educated, unmannered and crass? What if we have the potential to meet all your criteria easily, but don't do it as we don't give a damn about money or social status? What if I am the daughter of an aristocrat but am also a down-and-out drug addict? There is SO much more to class than material belongings and wealth. And I will never understand why anyone aspires to mediocrity anyway. I don't disagree with your point though - I also hate the 'better than you (even if it's only by a whisker and I gave my left arm and leg to be)' attitude in the UK. It's ridiculous. And it's so true what annasophia said about living in a different country for a while. I didn't realise just how obsessed Britain is with class until I moved out.

I get it. Names are social markers. But why? Is a Carly a 'better' person than a Kylie? Not sure why people think that by meeting certain requirements they become more valid as a human being than someone else.

Bah.

how stupid. most people on mumsnet are NOT middleclass. To be a true middle class family in britain, you need A HOUSE HOLD INCOME OF 65000, own three cars, and own your own house, and have savings above 50,000.

Are you all telling me you are all middle class? And you have the cheelk to look down on the working class and say they choose names such as caydon, haydon, jaydon etc??

my great grandad is called caydon, and its an old irish name.

FFS.

They often have negative associations in the way that Kevin, Wayne, Sharon and Tracey did in the 80s. As many ppl do, I know perfectly lovely ppl with these names, but they were derided as 'common' or associated with a way of life that we generally like to mock or are the focus of TV documentaries and satire. A friend with one of these 80s names has said she always felt she had to prove herself, no thanks to her name, however, this name has no such connotations in the US or other English speaking countries.

I hate Aiden. DS2s name is constantly misspelt like this and his is fecking spelt correctly!

I do get pretty pissed off with Aidan and Hayden/Haydn, which are all solid, traditional names, being lumped together with the likes of Jayden, Kayden, Brayden, Shayden and any number of other awful made-up names, just because they have a similar sound.

The name Ken is unpopular at the moment, but that doesn't stop thousands of people calling their sons Ben, and nobody would comment 'ooh, Ben, how awful, it sounds just like Ken!'.

Hate them. Each to their own though.

I just think they sound ugly, and some are made up. Aiden is ok, Hayden not made up (composer?) but I don't like it, a friend has one, she calls him Hayds, awful, like Hades. Jayden/Brayden(shudders)/Shayden/Caden just all sound made up.

And I'm no snob, hate the word chav, but they are popular 'working class' names. That doesn't mean the children will grow up 'asbo teens' or anything, but names are social signifiers and many people don't want that image attached to their children. I wouldn't, but likewise I abhor the middle class cupcakery attached to names like Ignatius and Hector. My DS has a beautiful arabic name so who knows what kind of signifier that is - I suppose he confounds expectations by being purely caucasian in looks.

5dollarshake, yes of course, any society has its good and bad aspects. Having myself lived in 3 different countries, you realise that no one country 'has it all' . No, a holiday abroad is unlikely to change people's attitudes, but a few months living or working abroad may help people look at their own country with a more open mind.

What I meant with the private vs state issue is that in the UK it helps to have money - because there are private schools and private doctors/hospitals, in addition to the state options. All this leads to a rather unfair society, which reinforces the class system.

Coming back to Jayden/Hayden/Kayden, the reason for me not liking these names has nothing to do with me regarding them as 'common' or 'lower class', and it would be nice if we all tried to be less judgemental about names in terms of 'classes'.

Agree Math, but its Aidan - Aiden is the made up American version.

Hayden is a nice Irish surname, and Aiden is a bone fide name with a long pedigree, but the others were made up fairly recently in America and popularised by the likes of Brittney Spears..

I actually have a soft-spot for Haydon, but only when spelt "Haydn". The others are awful though.

I think that is the point, people choose them because they think they ar being original but in fact there are lots of children with names like this and like I said, it will be very easy to know when they were born in a few years.

Going a bit O/T here - I'm not British, but in all fairness, Brits spend plenty of time abroad. I don't think taking a few more holidays is going to wipe out centuries of ingrained class structure.

Love it or loathe it, the British class system is an innate part of British culture, history and society, just as I'm sure there are aspects of, say, German society that Brits would look on as unfathomable.

Oh, and what exactly is wrong with private and state healthcare?

Jayden in particular is very common here in Australia. I know 3 already and I've only been here 10 months! I loathe all those names (and include Aiden in the list) as I just don't like the sound of them. DH and I have trouble getting used to the number of Jaydens here (all DC of people we know) - even though he is Aussie he has been in the UK long enough to acquire similar reactions to names as UK people.

For me, it has nothing to do with class at all. I'm German and don't really understand/appreciate the whole British class thing. To me it seems wrong, as does the whole concept of private/state schools, healthcare etc. Brits should spend more time abroad to see how ridiculous the whole class concept is!

But I still do not like Jayden or Hayden or Caeden, they just don't sould elegant to my ears.

I happen to love names like Ignatius and Hector but again, not because of any class association, but simply because I find them elegant and beautiful sounding, as well as becaue they are less common, more unique.(for now ).

ROFL at swooning over Ignatius

BTW, names label people - ultimately I suppose that's their function - but they can operate as denoting a particular class. We all know that Rollo is more likely to hail from a country estate rather than a council estate. The reverse is true of the three names in the OP, which is why I'd steer clear.

Always tried to avoid names with too much in the way of class connotations - bit unfair to the child IMO

It's always the case with names. Avant-garde and quirky quickly becomes passé and over-used. That's always going to be the case with 'new' names. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with most names - just people's attitude to them. Tell your friend to use what she likes. A child makes a name his or her own - he is she isn't fated to become whatever it is that people associate with the name.

Only people on MN hate them.....

I didn't take it agressively, I felt more patronised than anything but thanks

They are made up names or creative spellings. That's why people hate them.

What about Croydon? Or Basildon?
I have come across a Haydn- possibly a Welsh connection- isn't there an actress called Haydn Gwynne?
I don't like "ambiguous" names- ie could be for girl/boy/town- but also don't like "posh" names like Quentin and Rollo.
I am from the era when Patricia was a bit cutting edge.

Yes it was directed at you dizzy - but not in the aggressive way you've taken it. It was a statement with absolutely no nasty undertones at all! I promise!

FionaSH - is that directed at me??

I'm fully aware it's a public forum but thanks for putting it in " " for me