To think you can't judge a child by their name??

[SaveWaterDrinkMalibu]

Would you judge a child by their first name?

Katie Hopkins on this morning was saying how she judged the children her children play with by their names.

There's a YouTube video but can't link it

knowing that people like her judge and choose friends (for their dcs) based on the names, makes me wished I had called my kids Chardonnay/Tyler....it works as a useful twat-filter in the other direction

Just took a look at an American friend's ds's FB friends list: Carr, Spenser, Turner, Logan, Zane, Clay, Trent, Baker, Dewey, Grayson, Dawson, Wilson, Hunter, Garrett, Miller, Travis, Harris, Slade, Parker, Nolan, Davis, Kellen, Reid.

Half of these sound to me to be surnames. It's a US thing clearly, but these are kids from VERY affluent homes.

girlie

just because you said that, now I wonder if that's what it is!
Is that what she is doing?!

she can't reject the kids based on those things you mentioned, so she's invented a fake excuse, which is of course a ridiculous one, but not unacceptable!

Now I want to know whether any of the children she rejected would fall into a group she can not discriminate against directly!

disclaimer: I meant "not unacceptable" as in there's no law against it and she is free to carry on.

I haven't even see the clip, but based on this thread I would never agree with her!

JollyGoose I think the same...here Georgia is okay, but Dakota is downmarket. They're both states!

I think it's a vile thing to do, and after watching that imbacile on this morining I was reminded of the attitude of so many on here utter vile.

I never once took ibto consideration "class" in naming my children. I think to do so is a tell tale sign you're crying out to be seen as something your really not.

I have been torn to shreds on here with my dds names (kayla, Derry and Jorgie) told that my youngest was named after a porn star and wouldn't amount to much!! People that would judge mine or. Any other child in my opinion are vile.

There are plenty of names myself and dh didn't like for us but we would never dream of passing judgement on someone who does like them.

I think the bigger question is how much money did they pay her to spout these clearly ridiculous views, and how badly is she in debt.

Not sure I'll be employing her as a business consultant any time soon. She is clearly desperate.

Girlie: names are definitely just a proxy for other kinds of prejudice. When people sneer about Kai and Chanel, it's straightforward class prejudice dressed up as a question of 'taste'. It can also be a form of racism dressed up as taste. As Bordieu as pointed out, taste is not some purely aesthetic response but a practice of social judgement and a means of making social distinctions.

The funny thing is that in 100 year's time Kai and Chanel will be the Maisie and Alfie of their day.

(And I say that as somebody who loves retro baby names)

My mil named my dh a posh English name despite being half Asian just so that he would be accepted more. So a lot of people must be on the side of Katie Hopkins despite the uproar in what she said..
I would not judge anyone based on their names but I do laugh when I hear silly names (and there are a lot more now than when I was growing up!)

I have had that farewellfarewell, I have a Brendan and a Rory. I specifically called him Rory to avoid spelling issues, but apparently it is "chav" and "Ruairi" would have been higher class (despite being pronounced entirely differently!).

I think to be fair that the negative assocations with Irish boys' names reflect the history of Irish people in Britain being poor and there is an unconscious anti-Irish sentiment attached to it.

Interestingly, people are aware that it isn't okay to talk about names like Ali, Abdul or Muawiyah in a way that betrays anti-Muslim sentiment but they seem unaware of the implicit judgement, snobbery and xenophobia in reacting to Irish names as often happens.

TBH, I am waiting for the day when KH is wheeled out to spout off yet more views and someone brings up her not so pure past on live TV. That might stir things up a bit.

I know people who use an English sounding name on job applications and CVs, and they say it does affect whether they are invited for interview

I think many people tend to make assumptions on people based on their name - their age, gender, social class and ethnicity. It's human nature, and based on patterns we see every day. For example, most Ednas I have met are elderly, most Sanjits are of Asian origin, most Horatios are a bit posh, most Aoifes are Irish. However, I have a friend called Chardonnay who is a trainee solicitor, and another friend's baby was delivered by a doctor called Rocky, so assumptions are not always correct. And to go from making an (possibly incorrect) assumption about a child's ethnicity or family background based on their name, to stopping your children from playing with them, is snobbery at its worst.

spaniel your right I think. It may be reasonable to assume 'Chardonnay' and 'Rocky' are workig class but unreasonable to think they can't be doctors/lawyers or won't be suitable friends

It's only people like Katie watserface missing out though

TheSecondComing I know a Tristam who's parents are on benefits! Don't know what class they'd be considered as though.

I do tend to judge the parents. For example I interviewed a Richard Goodhead once. What were his parents thinking?!

I remember once seeing a little toddler called Audrey about 10 years ago and I was really surprised, thinking, who these days would call their daughter Audrey? Yet now I think its completely normal and I know of a few little Audreys. Names are very much of the time.

Regardless of class, there are lots of connotations of Poppy, Poppy-Mae, Lily-Mae, Lily, Rose, Lacey, Archie, Harry..I know of a little Phoenix and an Izabellah. They are all names that in 40 years will feel like middle aged names like Claire, Julie, Richard, Kevin etc do now.

I'd imagine that Richard Goodhead's parents named him long before slang made his name ridiculous. There is absolutely no way you can future-proof a child's name.

Is she really a consultant? Blimey! Stupid woman to express views like those if she has any sort of sensible career.

He was born in 1990. I think that it would have been just as amusing then. But I was only 13 then, so I don't know.

Yes. It does seem a slightly odd choice in 1990, even if it was absolutely fine in 1948. I can only assume it was a family name.

I think the word Dick as slang for penis started sometime in the late 1800's.

Obviously the name Richard was in use hundreds of years earlier but even in Shakespeare's time it was being shortened and the name Dick was being already being used as slang to mean men/man in the street. Shakespeare used "every Tom, Dick and Francis" in the way we say "Tom, Dick and Harry" as a way to say 'everybody' or 'every man'.

But I think by the 1890's Dick was being used as Military slang in particular to mean penis.

So unless PriyaKoothrappali's interview subject was very, very old, his parents must have known what they were doing to him with that name.

It's the goodhead combination with Richard that is probably newer though.

X-posted. He wasn't old at all. Parents must have known. I was fifteen in 1990 and you couldn't move at school without someone calling you a dick for something.