To hate when people say in response to a name that they can't imagine Judge/CEO/Accountant having that name.

[squoosh]

These days names are chosen from such a wide and wacky pool that it's inevitable that in 50 years time when we're old and doddery and looking to draw up a will, speak to a financial adviser or surgeon that many of them will have names that seem silly to us. I'm thinking Lexie-Rae, Poppy, Spike, Jayden etc.

I hate lots of names and have very rudely said so on a number of occasions but this is my most hated reason. Are people basically saying that the name isn't middle class enough? I don't make a judgement on a person based purely on their name, I may make a judgement on the person who bestowed that name on them.

Do people honestly think that if someone is called Daisy-Boo she will be unable to study hard, get into a good university, gain a good degree and become a doctor/scientist whatever. Will her name physically prevent this? No it bloody won't.

Isla is a good name. Easy to spell, a traditional name and unlikely to be 3 in the class and sounds pretty.

2rebecca in the crop of babies on my FB, 3 were called Isla. It's definitely trending.

Wasn't the Freakonomics argument that there will always be people who succeed despite their name but the bulk of people with names with obvious black (D'Wayne) and lower class (Kyle) with find it more difficult? For instance, when job applications are being sifted, names that wouldn't fit the traditionally banded bracket for the role are left to one side.

It's not the name per se, it's the background of the person with the name.

And if you are from a certain background whose DC are likely to become judges, captains of industry etc you are unlikely to call your child a name that veers far from the norm within that background.

Wasn't the Freakonomics argument that there will always be people who succeed despite their name but the bulk of people with names with obvious black (D'Wayne) and lower class (Kyle) with find it more difficult?

There have been multiple tests that show CVs with perceived non-U names do worse.

It's not going to stop a CEO/Judge etc career in its tracks, but its certainly not going to help.

Too much fuss about names.

I work with 900 children and there are some killer names on the rolls, but within a couple of days you think nothing of it. Once you get to know them you never think about it again.

People need to get over themselves with the name snobbery thing. Of course Daisy Boo or JohnJohn Bowie can be fabulous grown ups. What someone in Kettering might think really needn't be a reason to change names.

YABU

I am personally secretly pleased that are millionaires and eurotrash aristoswith the same name as my DS!

Once you get to know them you never think about it again.

The point is the doors are shut before they get the chance to get known.

YABU

I deliberately gave our three daughters classic, traditional names for this very reason. (obv I like the names too!)
Whether it's fair or notand it probably isn't people absolutely do judge based on names. Jayden, Jordan, Chanel, Chardonnay etc. will always get attention, and not of the positive kind.

Agree with Whatmeworry - yes, in an ideal world, a name shouldn't matter, neither should appearances.

But the facts are that a woman with a spider's web tattoed on her face is going to struggle to be employed in a white-collar industry - even though she may be better than any other candidate.

It's also a fact that there are always going to be certain companies that are going to chose to interview: Jessica, Sarah and Catherine over Taylor-Jade, Pineapple and Booboo-belle

What someone in Kettering might think really needn't be a reason to change names.
Unless, unfortunately, that person in Kettering is the HR manager screening hundreds of CVs.

Of course it shouldn't matter; but just seems pragmatic to give your child a sensible name and then call it whatever suits you and the child at whatever age.

I actually posted almost word for word what it says in the thread title in a thread about naming a baby girl Tuppence.

It wasn't a poke at class distinctions, but at people who give baby girls cutesy names, which are totally inappropriate for a professional woman.

The way I see it, there are millions of nice names which will serve your child well.

Why deliberately ignore them all and go for the one that might hold them back?

What I really don't get is the amount of forward and indepth thinking that goes into picking a name. I have 3 daughters and they have wild popular names but when I was thinking of names for them, I picked the name at that time that I loved, really loved. It didn't matter to me how many other xxxs were born that year, what their intials might spell etc, what they might end up doing as a job.

I was at my second daughters induction into primary school this week and she probably has the most popular name of all my children and when her name was called to find out what class she was in. The woman behind me said "God, I bet she's known by her second name within a week". She was however the only one in the year and another parent came up to me and said "Oh you're Os Mum, I really love that name, I was going to use it for my daughter but I was afraid of it being so popular" and tbh I thought - seriously you didn't choose you favourite name incase she might end up knowing someone else with the same name.

Us plebs have aspirations for our children. We may not have the same advantages as more affluent parents (tutors, moving into catchment areas, GPs with spare dosh etc) though so lets not pretend the lack of Kyles and Jaydens in the upper echelons of the judiciary is all down to lack of parental ambition.

Excellent post Mrsdv.

I have what half of MN would call a rather chav name, and have a job in the professions, for what it is worth.

wigglesrock I think that people who stress about the popularity of their child's name were quite often one Sarah of 4 or one Louise of five.

It does get quite wearing to be Sarah H or Louise Mc.

I was one of 5 Fionas , apparently its now making a comeback!

Cough! Anyone happen to catch Woman's Hour this morning?

Oh snap! I was/am a Fiona too!

Met a little Italian Fiona recently, obviously we are getting dead chic!

I thought I was just getting old!

sharons are bad and rachels/sarah's are generally quite bitchy (but solid friends at heart)

thats my pointless opinion anyway

There were loads of Naomis, Kerrys and Joannas at school with me, and in Year 5 distinctly remember 5 boys called James/Jamie.

Alisons and Sarahs are bitches

i am a sarah and i am not bitchy :) and i was always the only one despite it being seemingly very popular for my age (am 33)

my eldest is Theodore on his bc, but he has always been known as Theo but we wanted him to have the option of what to shorten/lengthen it to when he is older.

i have a Rudi which has been much derided on mnet as a gansta name but it suits him and i am pretty sure it wont make any difference to what he wants to do in life.

we chose names that werent common, but werent 'out there' odd, there are lots of lovely names and like easily said i dont judge a child but i would/do judge a parent, we have a little girl called Chardonnay who lives near us and her mum is always screeching it in her norfolk accent and i am afraid it does sounds terrible and i have no idea why you would call a child that, but each to their own i guess! :)

It's an extra obstacle to a child to have a name that means they're judged before they even walk into a room. It means that they have to achieve more, be more professional and interview better just to overcome that.

Some names make people laugh. A Chardonnay has to work twice as hard to be taken seriously outside of her immediate social group. There are names used by the upper class/ very wealthy that are equally ludicrous. The point is that, with their wealth and connections, their children will walk into whatever career they choose - their names might be silly but their CVs also have public schools and Oxbridge colleges on them, and if they aren't so bright their parents can set them up with a business of their own.