Do you classify or label people by their name?

[manicinsomniac]

And does it often turn out to be correct?

I have a shameful addiction to the baby names forum.

Recently I have noticed my oldest daughter's name getting rather a slamming. It has come up in the past and it has generally been agreed on as 'chavvy'. Recently is has been called 'truly awful' 'dreadful' and 'just no'.

Her name is Savannah. The names Susannah, Samantha, Sophia and Sylvia however, are almost always received positively. These names, especially the first two, are very similar. So what is it that makes Savannah 'truly awful'? I can only assume that people are basing their liking of the name on what they assume its owner or her parent/s to be like, rather than the actual sound of the name.

I've also seen that people 'hate' the names Charlize and Charmaine but really like Charlotte. That they think Jayden is an awful name but like Aiden and Hayden. Isabella and Annabella are lovely but Arabella is ridiculous.

Am I unreasonable to think that people pretend not to like names when the truth is that they just have a particular association with a name that they wouldn't want for their child? And, if so, do those associations bear out in real life? I'm getting worried that I've saddled my child with a name that will cause people to roll their eyes before they've even met her. Especially as comment about my other two daughters names tend to sum up as 'nice but dull' and 'nice but posh' as oppose to 'god-awful!'

Dsis says the same. The rest of us are very much of a certain era safe names and I think as Dsis was the last child they were trying to push the boat out. Or that possibly she was concieved in the local pub .

Maybe the Savannah/Susannah thing is because Savannah is a word as well as a name ?

Hey OP that is my DD's name as well .

My DS's have mixed kinds, 1 traditional ,2 not traditional but not unheard of either . Perhaps American origin . Caleb and Connor, and a Daniel.

Savannah is a beautiful name, really lovely.

When Princess Charlotte was born this year loads of people slagged off the name Charlotte saying it was dull, ordinary and they'd never met a nice Charlotte. It's my name, and the name of three of my close friends and we're all splendid girls.

I don't think I do judge by names, but I know plenty who do, including my MIL who, when I suggested Dexter for DS2 before he was born practically fainted at the prospect. Turned out he didn't look like a Dexter when he arrived but if he had, I'd have named him that just to spite the old crow.

Is it with ie or y? Dsis is ie,added hassle.

I have found, with my name for example, people equate it sometimes with religion ., The amount of times I have been asked if I am Jewish ,, I am not ,, As far as I know DPs liked the name and that was that. Funnily enough though my DS whose name sounds similar to Sharon is not asked if she is of Irish descent .. Strange thing names.

The baby names forum is odd and very "white-British" slanted IMO. A lot of the names people say are ugly, chavvy or not for young people are really common in my multi-cultural girls secondary school. They aren't "saddled" with their names and I've never come across girls being picked on for them... They will no doubt go on to be doctors, architects, bus drivers, sales assistants and no one will bat an eyelid.
Examples include Sharon, Tracy, Brenda for the "ugly" and "old-fashioned" and Precious and Princess for the "chavvy".

I've got an Oliver who is 12, seems unusual in his age group but really popular with young babies/toddlers.

He was named very well as is always asking for more :)

Not sure how savannah can be seen as chavvy, I think its a lovely name.
Chavvy names to me are the ridiculous misspelt and made up names.
Savannah is beautiful and classic.

The hyphenated and deliberately misspelt names are indicative of something. Savannah, not at all.

My dh absolutely hates place names as names. He wouldn't go for Savannah or Skye or Iona or even Lewis or Ailsa or Harris. It's not that he doesn't like the sound of them but any name that's also a place (or a word) is just a complete no-no for him.

Wow was a bit emotional after a less than great day and searched my name to find that basically everyone knows someone with my name whose a massive bitch! I wonder how many are me!
The baby names board is a weird place.

Well if i meet a James, Josh, Isabella, India, Annabel, Portia or Oliver at work, they do tend to be quite posh to be frank. I live in a commuter belt town full of rich bankers and the park is full of them. Emily seems to be popular too.

Savannah was a Dynasty rip off tv series circa 1996 about a rich deep South family with a daughter called ... Savannah. Its a v popular American name. Not keen on place names for a child tbh.

From teaching experiences, the Hayden, Aiden and Jaden's were all from working class families. As were the Jade, Ellie, Billie, Sammie-Jo's but this was 15yrs back and tastes change. I've met an awful lot of Essex girls called Emma since i moved to East London so that blows the point 2 away Maidofstars (off to Google Freakanomics, sounds v v interesting).

Rainbunny, looks like we have the same first name. It's a name that seems really dated now, it'll probably be really popular again in about 50 years time!

I try not to judge someone by their name, it's not really fair to judge someone on something that they didn't choose.

Oh god my name is a place name as well as being the 80s movie character nouveau chav name

Sorry stan - I like place names :)
It's just dh's thingy.

I also have an addiction to the Baby Name forum!! Something just draws me in

Apparently my name is making a comeback and although my DS's name is given as a suggestion to women I've yet to see someone actually say they like it

I love the posts where a woman is due to give her baby a really abysmal name and despite 100's of replies telling her bit to do it she still can't see what the problem is

I appreciate that a woman can call her child whatever she wishes but some of the names are just ridiculous

I find that the baby names topic reflects very well what people think on hearing a name rather than say aloud, in real life.

People are judged by their names, that's a fact. Often name choices are an accurate reflection of socioeconomic background, there are studies into this (no I can't list them all off the top of my head, Freakonomics offers an interesting insight in to this from an American perspective though).

For what it's worth, though not a name I would choose, I think Savannah is far nicer than Susannah/Samantha.

What do you all think of Reinette?

Savannah is a gorgeous name!

Our family names as perceived by MN: mine - dead posh; DD1 - stripper; DD2 - generally quite liked; DH - never ever mentioned.

I like the Detective Inspector test - works well with all our names!

Reinette is nice, I would assume french background. unusual but pretty.