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

Arbitrary, can you explain a bit more what you mean re correlation and causation?

Wouldn't a social housing complex,by its very nature have a higher incidence of those needing SS involvement? I mean there's a large housing area near me that is known for having quite a few households where there is addiction/crime. Its not names or class that have caused this,its the ghetto-ness ( probably not a word) that is inevitable when people who have SS involvement are housed together in one area.

"There is a vastly higher incidence of drug addiction amongst that socio economic group too."

There isn't. What happens is that those of a higher income have the income to remove, or hide the problems that addiction, brings, by hiring cleaners, having boarded education, full child care etc.

The wider family tend to be of a similar income, so have spare bedrooms and cash and help out rather than services.

But that isn't what this thread is about.

"Its not names or class that have caused this,its the ghetto-ness"

You will find that it is income that groups people.

I think you are all missing the point. There are names out there that, bestowed upon our children, would rescue all of us from any fear of ever having to socialise with Katie Hopkins -- and no one gave us this critical information until it was too late . How was that allowed to happen? There needs to be a public enquiry or something.

Still, I suppose there's always deed poll...

All my cousins and friends have children with so-called 'common' names for example: Paris, Tyler, Scarlett, Alesha, Ebony, Ryan etc. but they are mainly well-behaved good children.

My cousins and friends are from ordinary WC backgrounds, non of them are drug addicts or have Soc Servs involvement, they all work and are good parents.

Most parents would be lucky to have children that are friends with them.

PS> I like names like Scarlett and Ebony anyway, if that makes me chavvy then I don't care.

I wouldn't judge the child but yes I would judge the parents. We all judge so lets not mn pc bollocks get in the way of what could be a good discussion.

2 of my dc have fairly unusual irish names. My other dc has a greek name which is becoming more popular. I was determined that I wasn't going to give my dcs a "common" name as I have a common name myself. I do judge the parents of children called chantel or bobbi-jo for example.

I love Scarlett, i and my eldest DD are big Gone in the wind fans, i couldn't call my middle DD Scarlett, my DH hated it.

No-one on the baby name thread likes my youngest DD's name, i am quite happy about that though, most of the names suggested on there, would have us laughed out of Liverpool.

I'll just explain where I live. Its a newer council housing estate. Most people around me work or study,trying to build a better life for themselves and their children.
Then there's the older area,which had a rejuvenation some years back but most people who are housed there have "problems". Its common knowledge that there is a segregation and I doubt it is unique to my area.

Over years of supply teaching across the whole spectrum of state schools, there are patterns of name choices, but it's a bit more complicated than class. The "unusual" names off the leafy suburbs and inner cities tend to be different to eachother. Traditional saints names tend to be seen as safe middle class, but are also very popular in the working class pit towns, more so as the population doesn't tend to move and be exposed to new influences as much.

Yes there seems to be "naughty" names and "good"names, but a name is just a label for a person, and that person is highly likely to defy their stereotype. That stereotype will change over time. Dr Pixie! We hold prejudices about all kinds of things, the important bit is what we do about them. Putting them aside and letting the individual show themselves is fine. Banning your children from mixing with others on a name is as bad as doing it with race. Let Brooklyn prove themselves to be an angel or a brat on their own terms.

I think it's made up clap-trap for self publicity anyway.

The thing is, it's naive to think that people's names can say something about them. Research quoted here seems to bear that out. We all make observations about people based on all sorts of evidence, reliable or otherwise. For me, the problem is that the delightful Katie is not only willing to make judgements about people based on them and to socially engineer her children's lives based on them. And also to assume that she is somehow superior to others. I will make snap judgements sometimes when I meet people, but I'm able to hold back, recognise that first impressions are often wrong and if I need to take a view at all, hold back until I know someone. Also, she is doing it on national television to make a quick buck, upsetting a lot of people in the process. Thing is, holly, for all that she was outraged, is on a show that has Katie on its books to troll for them. What did she expect Katie to say?

I have namechanged just for this thread. It's very specific info.

My RL name is Tiffany. Seems to attract the idea of being chavvy these days. But I'm probably one of the oldest people with the name in Britain today (I looked on Ancestry and I only saw about 50 people my age or older with the name.) I was given the name looooonng before it was used on EastEnders!

Mum chose the name because in 1964 she had been an au pair in California. It doesn't quite seem to have the chavvy connotations it has here (or at least, in my area).

For some reason, people get very surprised when they meet me. They do make assumptions about me and then I rock up in person and confuse them.

Meanwhile, DD is Harriet, and DS is James. Nice names, taken from a great-grandmother (my side) and a widely used family name (his side, but I also have various ancestors called James). We chose them because we liked them, and also for the family connections.

I don't care if I'm judged on the names at all. I know that my DCs are kind, helpful and thoughtful to others.

My children have "unusual" or "old fashioned" names. I chose them mostly because I liked them. My ds2 is named after his great-grandfather. If Katie Hopkins doesn't like their names then fine. She is a hypocrite. Her children have common names in my opinion. India, Poppy and Max. She is a vile woman and I am sure people wouldn't want their children playing with her children. Not because of their names but because their mother is such a witch!

Ashoething I know a Chantel; she's a very clever Clinical Leader (Nursing Sister) so when I hear that name I think of someone like her.

We have had lots of kids in care with us & one baby was called Miracle (average aussie baby with no known connection to any African heritage where this type of name is frequently used) After getting sick of people asking...Oh what was the miracle that made you decide on the name ? we just called her Mia if anyone asked. I didn't feel the need to explain that she was in care with us & we hadn't made the choice to every random stranger at the shops.

IfIonlyhadsomesleep I think I agree with what you say. There's a mixture of ordinary and slightly unusual names in my extended family (and a lot of Davids we're not Welsh). I don't judge them I just get to know them.

Harriet and James are nice names. They are classic and timeless which is good.

Lots of my cousins have names that are very 70s / 80s for example 'Jason' and 'Charlene' so they are quite dated now which is one of the problems with using some popular names.

A bit like middle-aged women are often called Pat or Sue; and elderly women are often called Betty or Doris.

Some on here would definitely judge me then... although that would probably depend on which ds I had with me at the time.

I'm of the opinion that those who would judge a person merely on the choice of their child's name, most likely has far more sinister prejudices that they are less happy to voice out loud.

I think the idea that you can control who your child befriends at school is ludicrous.

I chose names i liked for my boys, unfortunately i now know they are going to be judged as both names have been mentioned on this thread :(

i admit i raised an eyebrow when 'Renesme' was called at the doctors yesterday but i'm sure the little girl was lovely and i would not judge her as a person until i got to know her

Anyone named Kai is on a hiding to nothing for the rest of their life, imo.

In my class at school there were lots of Sarah's so to be honest that's my least favourite name because of who I associate the name with.

Names become popular with individuals or unpopular often due to the associations we fairly or unfairly have with those names.

'Tracy / Tracey' is a name with an unfair stereotype - again I know 2 very intelligent career women with that name.

LaGuardia - Exactly... and that comment goes for any of the names mentioned on this thread as being one of those names.

Sorry but I judge names -

any grown woman keeping the little girly name of Katie (so sweeeeeeeeeeeeet) would not usually have opinions that I would really care about....