to think that all these darling Jocastas are mythical?

[manicinsomniac]

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.

Wasn't there a Jocasta on Time Team? Brilliant woman. That's the only one I've heard of.

Are you thinking of Carenza Lewis?.

There was a Ptolomy, (a architect) that was on a tv history programme, a few years back

Gosh, Persephone is a gorgeous name! I never knew how it was pronounced before. Shame it doesn't look as pretty as it sounds.

So it's per-seff-oh-nee? Where do you put the emphasis? On seff?

I'm a Jocasta - not posh, my mother just liked the name. I generally get called Jo - most people have issues with pronunciation.

I've never met another one and I can pretty much guarantee that when finding out my name for the first time either "that's a pretty name, how do you spell it?", or, "where is that from?" Followed by "are you Greek?" Is the first thing out of people's mouths!

Never heard of Jocasta but would love a Persephone.

In a ski resort:

'Banjo, Allegra, over here please, not with those boys' .

'Those boys' being our DSs.

There was an article in the guardian recently by Jocasta innes' son.. Seems like she lived life to the full, shall we say. He ended up being raised by his father when she left for another man but apparently not even his biological father or something...

I am sure there is a librarian called Jocasta in Star Wars!

I know an Ophelia, Xanthe, Django, Octavia, Serenity, Piers and Hermione. With the exception of Django (an UTTER twat so forever ruined it), I love all of those names. All vetoed by DH. We have a double barreled surname and just aren't posh enough for our offspring to carry any of them off.

Love ophelia and other Shakespearean names. DH has vetoed :(

The name Jocasta pops up in Ireland from time to time, but more in the way of "JOCASTA! Would ya coom back heeyur an' ge' in for yer dinner RIGHT NOW before yer Da goes back to the pub!", at least in my hearing of it (obv spent too much time in the wrong parts of Dublin growing up...).

Apparently there isn't a single Tarquin on the student register at Oxford this year. It's a sad day.

I was at school with a Jocasta and she was lovely. I've also taught one who was a nice DC. Neither had pretentious parents, I'd say.

I was at university with a Leda and an Athena they were both a little up themselves.

I used to babysit a Jocasta, her sisters Adrianna, Stephania and the brother Xavier.

Slithy - yes the emphasis is on Seff in Persephone.

I liked Thaddeus for DS, it's actually quite common in African American communities in north America (Tad for short iirc which i'm not keen on). I also love Hector, (again, very common in Hispanic communities in the US) but too 'on a theme' with my name (Cassandra). We spend a lot of time in north America so the names we choose would have to work there too.

We liked Leander for DS but went for Lysander instead, which pissed me off when we lived in Canada because everyone just called him lyZZzaaander. I kept saying it's SS not zz, and people would smile and nod then call him Zander.

We also have a double barrel surname, but just thought fuck it, we could water it down OR we could accelerate into this pretentious prat parent corner and go for it! and with my name we were already on the road to 'poshville' so just kept going. So far the majority of comments about DSs name have been complimentary and i have perfected the scary look for those people who may comment negatively (most often is - 'oh i thought he was a boy' after i have introduced 'him' and 'our son Lysander' )

Another is 'ohh how do you say that?' or 'oh i'll never be able to get my mouth round that' what? 3 VERY common syllables - Ly-Sand-Er? hardly difficult really . If you can manage Lucinda and Alexander it shouldn't be too challenging.

Persephone is too many syllables IMO, unnecessary.

A friend was saying the other day she had friends who have just called their children Ophelia and Django.

I was keen on Xanthe but DH said no way as there was an annoying teenager with that name at the time on one of those TV programmes where they sent the kids into the Utah wilderness to force them to behave better. There is a Xanthe in the year below DD1, though.

Just after we had DD1 my Mum met a lady on an aeroplane who was also a new grandmother - to Hebe.

By the way, my mother then helpfully added, 'As in the heebie-jeebies?'
I think it was very nice of the lady not to wallop her in an in-flight magazine.

But that's exactly what came to my mind Suke.

Ah ha, so that's how you say Persephone! Now I know it isn't Percy phone, I love it!

I love Persephone, Ophelia and Athena as girls names. I am highly pretentious but in reality as common as muck

I do know an Atticus, which I thought was but it's grown on me and I like it now.

I knew a Perdita which I think is a lovely name. I also know someone who called their son Beaujolais!

I do see what you mean though op. We hear these stories of 'now Jocasta you know we only have organic quinoa', and they can't all be true. There simply aren't that many Jocastas.

It's only the same amount as Alexander and Elizabeth, Sparkling and everyone manages those quite well. Also most people use an abbreviation and keep the full thing as a Sunday best name (which is what i do with mine).

I have kept it really simple with the Sparkling offspring MrsK. No misspellings, or pronounced wrongly. No 'pardon?' or 'could you spell that?' for them to bother about.
We didn't even bother with middle names, or check that DS2's went with DS1's.

I've never met a Jocasta.

But I did once hear a parent calling 'Constantine! Come here!' after a five-year old child.

It was in the Tate Modern. Natch

I'm glad I'm not the only one MrsKoala who says 'Sunday name'. I use it all the time and people never know what I mean.

Did people really have that much trouble with Lysander? It's not that unusual is it? That said there is a Lysander road here that so maybe that's why I know it.

Me, DH & DS pick an 'unusual' name for him before we go into new supermarket & then shout him or loud parent.

He's been Bolivar, Agamemnon, Lysurgees, Jeremiah-Othello. So far we've drawn the line at Lucifer.