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!'

Isn't Reinette a variety of apple?

Yep, I'm named after an apple. :) (Not really- my Mum was going through a French phase when she had me.)

My DDs name was slagged to hell on the baby name board when I thought I'd sound it out before she was born however everyone I've introduced her to IRL has loved her name and the fact that its not a common name so it's not one that 6 people in her class will share. (I was in a class with 3 Emilys, 2 Charlottes, 2 Sarahs and 2 Katies). However since she was born we've heard of 3 others with this name, luckily not in the same city!

Interesting stuff re upbringing Sacred Heart

I quite like Reinette. Never heard it before. I have a secret love for the name Rain/Raine too but would be too wimpy to use it. Reinette would allow it as a legit nn!

MammaV - curious to know what it is!

Lovely name ollie!

My DD is Eliza, a name that is impossible to try and make any assumptions about (I think). Still manages to be mispronounced at the doctors surgery though

I don't judge people by their name. I judge their parents. And it has somewhat been true what I think about them. Obviously there are exceptions.
Your DD's name is actually very pretty.

I also find ridiculous that my name is Russian/Ukrainian and after finding the best English alternative for that name, I get people saying stuff like "it's a black woman's name" or "you don't look like that name, it doesn't suit you."

And yes, traditional names will always be winners. My DD has one of the names you said in your OP that is liked and DS also has very simple traditional/biblical name. It took us ages to decide btw, as I love Amelia and Olivia but they are too popular names.

Some people choose baby names using popular trends, or popular TV characters. Unfortunately after the TV series stops airing the kids are stuck with the names.
I have lost count of the number of girls that got called "Kelly" after the Charlie's Angels character.
I also feel sorry for any girls called "Sharon" or "Tracy" because of Shaz & Trace the fat Slags out of Viz magazine

I can't classify or label anyone here in ForrinLand. Last year there was a Fanny in the school and I taught a Lolita.

Read through the class lists for next year and there's an Igor.

Gamlet always made me smile though. He was a sweetheart and his name suited him, he was a bit like a Shakespearean hobbit.

I'm in a ForrinLand too. Here surnames as first names are very common. I was very confused back in the days when my dc played sports, it reminded me of being at boarding school, just seemed a very odd idea to me to call your child 'Cooper' or 'Tanner' (there was even a Thatcher!).

My ds's name which had a huge boom about a year after he was born and has been top ten ever since (and 'chavvy' at that) is here so uncommon it gets spelled wrong and I've been asked if he was a girl (he usually ses an 'ie' diminutive which is the one that's really common back in the UK).

I love the name Savannah. Used to know two beautiful sisters called Savannah and Sienna. As someone else has noted Savannah is the Queen's eldest great grandchild. I bet no one calls her chavvy.
But Savannah was also the name of an early 90s porn star (don't ask me how i know this) who later committed suicide. I wonder if this is the back of some folks minds when they sneer.
When we were choosing names for our daughter my husband clearly made "class" associations. Lucinda was "too posh" and Honey "sounded like a lap dancer". Lol! In the end we chose a name that according to the OP people think is "ridiculous". Oh dear.

I have a very traditional timeless name that I've always liked. She has that as a middle name so she can always call herself that if she feels too ridiculous I suppose!
Another thing I've noticed is that some names age quite badly. My sister has a name that was very popular at the time - the school was overrun with them. It's not really used often now and she hates it and calls it a "bimbo name".

My name has been judged my whole life - an ancient Celtic one nobody can pronounce or spell in amongst classes of Sharons, Traceys and lesleys. I always knew when my name was next on the register because the teacher screwed up his or her face. Some managed a compliment afterwards to make up, many made unkind comments, the main jist being I was an attention seeker for having such an unusual name.

I refused to take part in activities out side of school because I just couldn't bare the hassle of going through the comments my name provoked.

My mum took a strange detached view and said wasn't it awful having a strange name . (There was no family pressure or tradition, it was purely her choice!)
I've just searched on mn for my name and though it's been suggested it's never been discussed. I don't know any other people with my name in real life, public life or fiction so don't know how it's perceived in general, but in my experience I should be arty which led to an amazing sneer at uni and many stupid remarks at work which thankfully made the utterer look daft rather than me feel undermined.

It may not be fair but your child's name will be judged , it's just people's criteria that will change.

I like Savannah, it's a beautiful name. It's where I grew up - beautiful, blonde grass, heat and dust, wildfires, then the smell of the rain. Although unless you have a bit of a love affair with Africa I find it an unusual choice.

I know a fair few secondary teachers and yes they do make assumptions on the expected behavour and performance of the new intake of pupils based on their names. While there will always be exceptions they have generally been proved right in their initial name based assessment. Anything with a hyphen or traditional names spelt phonetically seemed to invoke a particular dread.

I think it totally depends on who you know.

I don't like Susannah. It's just like an elongated version of Susan which is the height of meh. I knew a Susan as a child you see.
All the Susan's I have known were ordinary and boring.

Where I live Hayden/ Aiden is chavvy.

Charlotte used to be a nice name back when my God daughter was given the name. Now Charlottes are 2 a penny so it has lost much of its appeal to me.

Oliver almost the same. Used to be unusual and classic now every class is over run by ( badly behaved) Olivers.

Savannah is a bit 'out there' not a name I would go with but that's not the point. Every one has their own take on names and their own experience of them.

A relative recently gave her baby a middle name which I consider awful. I was at school with someone with this name. Of course I would never express my opinion to her as she obviously has no negative connections to the name.

As others have said, I don't judge the child but it does give me an idea of what the parents are like and whether I'm likely to have much in common with them (esp. when the names are more 'extreme' iykwim)

Hmm. I did the 'Doctor/Lawyer' test with both of my two.

I just can't see a 'Demi-Leigh' or a 'Krystal-Chloeee' becoming a top notch barrister!

Names shouldn't be judged, but I think it's fair to say they are.

Ask any teacher perusing the register list for September.

Timeless is always going to be a better choice than 'of the moment' (thinking of all the Noah's out there who are 4 and all the Amelies/Amelias who are 2!)

I don't like the name susannah. But I'm not a fan Hannah either. Sounds characterless and clumpy, to me.

I didn't really realise Savannah was a name!

I don't judge a child/person for their name. I tend to assume that they had no choice in the matter, so it would be incorrect to hold them accountable for their parents' dubious taste.

my own name was the most popular girls name for the whole decade of the 80s

I'd hate to be imbued with my mother's lack of originality.

Well I didn't worry about my name until I read this thread, I didn't realise so many people hated it! I'm a Susannah.

Judgy people will always judge! If it's not the name, they'll judge appearance, accent, speech patterns etc. How lovely life would be if people would live and let live.

I am struggling to guess whystannis' name; I was going to guess Nikita until she said it's also a place name.
I don't understand the sniffiness about place names at all. I met a Derwent last week, and I thought it was a lovely name. The only assumptions I made were that the parents loved the Lake District, as i do too.

A reinette is an apple.

Oh, Wilbur I really like Susannah - I think it's so pretty.

honeylulu - sorry if I upset you. I certainly don't think Arabella's ridiculous. I think it's gorgeous and it's DD3's middle name. I just happened to see a thread on it recently which thought it was comedy posh. But that doesn't make it so.

Its so strange as some names which are considered posh on mn are nowhere near and names regarded as chavvy are not true of the people I know with those names.
I know a very mc family with a grown up Hayden the mum would be mortified if she knew people thought of it as chavvy and a Dylan whose parents are a uni lecturer and doctor so they don't fit the chavvy title either.
I enjoy the names board and post their quite a bit but am very wary of the 'c' word as its so subjective and I would be upset if someone thought that about my childs name.

That's the point though, it's entirely relative.

I don't happen to care what my dcs teachers name is.
Neither do I care whether my doctor is called Sharon or Fee Fee Tricksabelle.

I don't like all this talk of imagining a barrister called Sharon etc.

I do find it funny though when someone thinks their dcs name is the height of good taste when it simply reminds someone else of the local tramp.