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

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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

We all make judgements about people based on their names, whether we thin we do or not, or whether we intend to or not! If we didn't, then why would we even put much thought into the names we choose for our children?

However, we can all change our judgement after meeting the person.

If you were to guess the socio economic background of a child going by their name only, you'd probably get it 70% right though wouldn't you.

That's not judging, its just being aware of what names are popular in different sections of society. If you decide to exclude a child from eg a party purely because of their name, well that's another matter.

The poshest bloke I know is called Paul.

I never gave a thought to the fact that other people might judge my class when I chose my children's names.

It honestly never entered my head.

That women is an idiot!

My DS has a name that has been described as "chavvy" on mumsnet and has been listed on that " teacher's naughty list" that was doing the rounds a while ago.

Katie Hopkins would not allow her kids to be friends with my DS and it would be their loss as he is gorgeous,polite, well behaved , well spoken and very intelligent and top of his class ( sorry but he really is and I don't care if I'm boasting!)

We didn't choose his name as he is adopted. It really puzzles me that he ( and us as a family) will be judged because of his first name. It's mad.

No matter what he achieves in life people like KH will forever write him off as a low class "chav".

Fair enough usual, but do you have any awareness of the fact that names can often reflect social class?

My DSs are 27 and 20. Both have names which were unusual in a nice way when they were born but are common as muck now. How would they be judged - their names have gone downmarket over the last twenty years .

I think I already knew/feared that i'd end up a single mother, so I gave them classy names (not snobby names), so that we wouldn't be stereotypes. one of the women who was the snobbiest at my dc's school has a dc called Taylor. She can only aspire to being a snob though, she is moneyist.

The poshest (I mean actually posh) man I've dated was called 'Kevin'.

I am cheating though, as how would KP know not to let her children play with mine if they met!

Katie Hopkins is a fucking baffoon.

Doesn't like 'location' names yet has called her daughter India. Which, by all accounts, isn't a location.

She's just a troll. I'd say stop giving her airtime but each time they do, she is real value for money in the entertainment stakes

I would never judge a child by his/her name. Certain names do have certain connotations though. I work in a primary school and most of my colleagues would admit to having a preconceived stereotype in mind when they hear certain names, however these are so often proved wrong that I don't even know why they still exist.

I've lost count of the number of times the Jayden, Kai, Kelsey, Kyran or Tayla in the class have turned out to be the most intelligent, hardworking and well behaved child in the class; whereas the Alexander, Hugo, Florence or Frances have turned out to be naughty and disruptive.

I'm aware that some people spend far too much time worrying about class.

I know people judge on names, depends what they do with that judgement really.

If they dismiss someone as lower class or beneath them based on a name it makes them idiots in my book.

Of course I know not everyone thinks like that.

I don't need your bloody sarcasm either.

My husband and I have what might be termed Middle class names, whilst being from solidly working class backgrounds. DH Brother has a "posh" name, my sisters full name is so unusual no one can place it socially. Then she opens her mouth and a good imitation of a fishwife emerges.

That's not what I asked though usual. Do you feel that names are no indicator of social class, and that Beyonce, Charisma, Jaidee-Lee etc are as likely to come from middle class or upper class parents as they are from working class ones? Has this been your experience?

I used to know someone with 3 children who all had unusual names. I can't actually remember them but it was things like Mozart or Einstein and I think one was a Greek God's name, basically famous surnames of very famous people in history or Greek myths but used as their first names. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall when they moved house and registered their children at the doctor's. I think anyone meeting them would judge them just a little bit.

I'd say most people probably do form an unconscious opinion on names, not to say that they don't try to judge the child though as everyone knows you can't always judge a book by it's cover. My kids have really popular quite non descriptions names. But we had to feel comfortable with these names given our WC backgrounds. They were the only names that we both liked, it wasn't an ambitious, trying to rise above our class decision. Sad to see that one of the names has been mentioned here as a 'naughty' troublesome name so maybe we have lumbered him with millstone that people will judge him on.

That's not even the fucking point, so what if a name has certain connotations to some of us, and makes us form probably often wrong pre-judgements on someone.

We all might do that, even a little bit.

But the real vileness of that fucking, soulless, TV troll is actually restricting her children from forming friendships with other children based on their name. That in my book is a hop, skip, and a jump away from judging someone and thinking you're better than someone because of their race, creed, or the colour of their skin.

Abominable, and it saddens me she's even given a platform to air her hate-filled views. Someday she'll have nowhere to turn because she's decided 3/4ths of the population aren't good enough. And she'll be responsible for preventing her children from developing into well rounded people with friendships from all walks of life.

yuck London, yuk Brooklyn oh your daughter's India oh yes that's different, because it's not India the location...

Bloody stupid.

did you see how defensive she got about the name while at the same time spouting all that about other people - and her face when holly said at the end to stop. Brilliant!

But as much as it pains me to say it, I think a lot more people are like her than would admit it if you asked them.

I don't know whether it's truly some stupid class thing or whether it's part of the insanity that is the Primary School Parent* - an extension of the school gate club and the cliques and the competition about reading levels and the regression to a 12 year old

*Not to be confused with a parent of a child of primary school age

There's a body of psychological study on this (taught to HR types, as well a psychs) which shows again and again that people do make assumptions because of names - just as they do for anything else that is a first impression. It's so widespread it can be considered inherent. And those who claim they make no judgements are shown time and time again to be doing exactly that.

That's why it's taught to HR, BTW, so they can recognise that it's what everyone does; and then recognise it, design systems that minimise impact etc.

I don't this I've ever seen the individual being criticised on this thread. But she appears to have taken a basic, much researched psych area and is trying to sensationalise it.