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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that all these darling Jocastas are mythical?

285 replies

manicinsomniac · 28/05/2014 21:53

Seriously, does anybody actually know a Jocasta?

I know it's the go-to 'mock the middle classes' earnest yummy mummy name on mn but I'm not convinced they're really around.

It only appears of one of the ONS name lists from 2006-2012 (there were 3 Jocastas born in 2007) which means there have to be fewer than 20 little Jocastas walking around the UK.

Does anybody know where the reference to 'little Jocasta' came from? Did it start from a specific thread? I know of other seriously posh names which actually do get used each year (if not very frequently) eg Araminta, Antigone, Persephone.

OP posts:
chesterberry · 28/05/2014 22:45

Sanity Clause - Tarquin was in The Modern Parents comic strip and iirc his sister was Guinevere. Can't remember father's name. Don't know if there was another strip with a Jocasta although I can't remember it.

Original poster
manicinsomniac · 28/05/2014 22:46

sillyshell - actually, I've only ever seen it written down but I imagine it's 'Juh-cas-tah' with the stress slightly on the cas. Happy to be corrected though.

OP posts:
ninja · 28/05/2014 22:48

My cousin is Jocasta - always called Cassy though.

SanityClause · 28/05/2014 22:49

I know an Aphrodite. She's a Greek woman of about 50.

DD 1 has a friend called Artemis, and all of her brothers and sisters have classical Greek names, although the family is not Greek.

MrsKoala · 28/05/2014 22:50

Yes manic, that's similar to how i have always pronounced it. Joc-kASS-Ter. the abbreviation would be Cass i guess.

SanityClause · 28/05/2014 22:50

Yes, you are right, chester. It's a long time since I read Viz, I have to say.

MollyBdenum · 28/05/2014 22:51

I love the name Jocasta, but didn't use it because of the associations. DD's name is of a similar nature, although Renaissance rather than classical.

MrsKoala · 28/05/2014 22:53

I love Artemis but DH vetoed it Sad - everyone in our family has a classical greek name but we are not Greek either. I think they are not country specific tho. Considering it was a cradle of western civilisation and has influenced a massive part of our culture too. Not to mention other 'normal' names such as Helen etc being from there.

FelixFelix · 28/05/2014 22:53

My name is Greek and considered rather posh by MN standards. I am the least Greek person ever and come from a rough council estate in a pit village. I'm the fourth child and reckon my parents just lost the will to name when it came to me Grin

I love the name Persephone!

ToysRLuv · 28/05/2014 23:03

I am half Greek and love the Greek myths, but just couldn't use some of the names. My Greek parent remembers e.g. girls called "Parthena" (meaning "virgin") and "Aphrodite" (like the beautiful Goddess of Love born from the waves in the sea) who were really ugly/geeky, so got teased pretty badly.

Although I like the name Persephony, really couldn't use it, as in my other language (Scandinavian language of the country of my DF where I was also raised) "perse" means literally "arse". So to me, "Persephony" sounds something like "talking out of her arse" or "fart". Blush

I would love to use "Athena" for any future DDs, if I decide to have her/them. DS has a name of a well known Ancient Greek emperor, which exists, in very similar forms, in most European languages. As we are such a multicultural/national concoction of a family I feel as if I want to honour all our parent's cultures by giving DS names that are understandable and inoffensive (or just not plain silly) in all 4 languages.

LittleBoxes · 28/05/2014 23:03

Tarquin's brother is Guinevere.

ToysRLuv · 28/05/2014 23:05

Forgot to add that Athena was always my favourite goddess. A beautiful brainy science nerd who is also the protector of Athens, so not scared to fight/go to war..

hiddenhome · 28/05/2014 23:07

I came across a Portia in Sainsburys the other day. She was about 12 and with her sister who seemed to be called Lemon Hmm

Her scruffy looking mother kept shouting their names at the top of her voice. Portia and Lemon had taken one of the wheelchairs and we're tear arsing around the store with it.

The other shoppers were Shock, but the mother soon silenced anyone with a single, malignant glare which she was quick to flash at a moments notice.

I think that perhaps Portia and Lemon didn't come from such a good family.

ToysRLuv · 28/05/2014 23:09

I know someone, not a Greek, who named their child after the tragicly (is that even a word?) stupid fool of a man that was Icarus. His other name was also a very pretentious foreign name. I always wondered whether she actually knew what his story of Icarus was..

Bogeyface · 28/05/2014 23:09

The Jocasta I know is called Joss by her friends but Cass does make more sense now I think about it.

Surely most people know how to pronounce Persephone. Don't they?

I think its one of those words that reads differently to how it is said. I know that Hyperbole is said Hi-per-boh-lee, but when I read it I think Hyper Bowl Blush and then have to read it again to get it right. So Persephone would read Percyphone.

ToysRLuv · 28/05/2014 23:11

I remember hearing a lady shouting for a "Magners" in the local park. Was a bit shocked and amused at how anyone could call their son that. Then I realised it must have been "Magnus" Blush aaaanyhuuuww...

Sparklingbrook · 28/05/2014 23:11

I don't think most people do know how to pronounce Persephone TBH. Children definitely wouldn't-which would make school a bit annoying.

Never heard of Ptolemy. Sounds like something you would get a GCSE in.

MrsKoala · 28/05/2014 23:13

I think Persephone reads, Purse-Phone to anyone who doesn't know it. Someone said to me, we should give DD the middle name Keys, then she'd be all set to go out. Grin

We would probably abbreviate it to Posey tho.

SaucyJack · 28/05/2014 23:16

I have a Persephone and an Ophelia.

I am as yet unchallenged in the stupid baby naming stakes.

SnotandBothered · 28/05/2014 23:17

i know an Athena, a Persephone, a Seraphina, a St John, an Antigone, an Isadora, an Ophelia, a few Hugos etc

But no Jocasta

AND NO TARQUIN'S EITHER

Tarquin? Anyone? Really??

Bogeyface · 28/05/2014 23:17

I think Persephone reads, Purse-Phone to anyone who doesn't know it. Someone said to me, we should give DD the middle name Keys, then she'd be all set to go out.

:o Brilliant!

Actually it should be Persephone Monet Keys surely?

Original poster
manicinsomniac · 28/05/2014 23:17

Posey is cute. The Persephone in the 'Noughts and Crosses' trilogy is Sephy which I also like.

Love the keys idea! Would be a great family joke. She could have a sensible middle name too - Ophelia perhaps (Purse-phone-keys ... Off!)

OP posts:
Bogeyface · 28/05/2014 23:18

Saucy Ophelia has always been top of my girls names list, and has been nixed each time :( I am very envious!

MrsKoala · 28/05/2014 23:18

I don't think it matters that children cannot pronounce Persephone if they read it. Usually when children meet they tell each other their names. If you introduce yourself as Per-Seph-Onee, that's what you will be known as and i doubt they would ever question the spelling after that. If you think about it every name is new to children.

SnotandBothered · 28/05/2014 23:18

Saucy my friend has an Ophelia and a Seraphina. Had the third been a girl, she would have been Persephone. But they had an Atticus instead.

You are not alone :)