To call my baby calliope?

[heathergray]

Pronounced cal-y-oh-pee

Is it awful?

Let's not pretend we don't know how this works on MN...
Upper MC/aspirational MNers like names that are unusual or potentially difficult to spell or pronounce, as long as they are foreign/classical (not 'unique'). Especially if they get to feel all superior because they know where the name comes from and how to pronounce it.

Everyone else goes what the hell is that name? It sounds like a disease/appliance/fruit etc and the aspirational MNers quietly snigger at their ignorance and assumes they prefer 'Jayden'.

Fwiw I like Calliope.

How very dare you call me middle class, i'm nouveau riche thankyewverymuch!

YANBU. Cally is a perfectly ordinary name.

Touché Eolian, that is pretty much the size of it.

Let's not pretend we don't know how this works on MN...
Not just on MN. There's a whole Freakonomics chapter about MC naming conventions. They even predict new trends.

Shakespearean characters
Musical instructions
Mythology
etc.

First done by the MCs, then they filter down the socioeconomic ladder and become...gasp..."common".

And the cycle begins again.

Yup. I won't pretend for a moment that I'm immune. I'm a fully paid-up member of the "I like posh, aspirational names and don't like made-up spellings" brigade. But I do at least avoid being sneery about name choices and usually only comment on ones I like, not ones I don't.

I quite like it but it will be mispronounced. My DD is called Isla, it was a top 10 name in the year she was born and she still gets 'Izzler'. We do live in Australia though...

Of course we are of our tribes. I don't think anyone is trying to pretend to be otherwise. I'm not naming my child something so they will 'pass' as something else. I don't believe anyone does. It's not to feel superior tho, it's to belong. Where i live these names don't raise any eyebrows at all.

MrsKoala "I'm not naming my child something so they will 'pass' as something else."

I don't know what happens now but when my parents named us, a lot of people told them to give us English names to reduce our "forrin" factor.

That's sad. I was talking more about class tho and social climbing. What's the 'aspirational' angle of the name, what are people supposedly aspiring to?

Sounds like a melon

I think its a lovely name. People manage Persephone and Hermione so im sure they can manage here!

I really like it, but she'll probably be known as Callie.

I also know a little Callanthe (known as Callie) which you might like.

MrsKoala "What's the 'aspirational' angle of the name, what are people supposedly aspiring to?"

I doubt there is one. I think some people on MN just make assumptions. We haven't heard back from the OP so I am quite concerned that she is of Greek origin, living in the UK and thinking "WTF".

I've never understood the pronunciation of Calliope as Cal-ee-OPE-ee.

It is Greek. As in Antigone and Persephone.

So surely it should be pronounced Cal-LIE-ope-ee?

It is and you're right, Creepy! None of this Cally-opee nonsense.

The aspirational angle is using or liking 'posh-sounding' or foreign names, especially ones with literary or classical origins because they make you seem educated, knowledgeable or well-travelled, and not using names perceived as 'common'.

Let's not pretend we don't know how this works on MN...
Not just on MN. There's a whole Freakonomics chapter about MC naming conventions. They even predict new trends.

It was an interesting book, Frekonomics, over a decade ago now it must be! But their theory about name filtering has been largely debunked. Their precise name predictions for US names (there was a list, possibly at the back of the book) wasn't very impressive.

But what if you are educated, knowledgable and well travelled. You wouldn't need your dc to make you seem those things. Might you then, be allowed to just like them?

Yes absolutely! I'm pretty well-educated, reasonably knowledgeable about some things, not very well-travelled admittedly. I like Calliope because I just like it, but also because it's literary and classical and unusual and that appeals to me. Not because I want to be seen as something I'm not, but because it fits with things I like and am interested in. But if I called my dd Calliope I would realise that it would say something about me, my choices and my perception of myself and my family. Whereas choosing a name like Emily or Chloe wouldn't so much.

It comes up a lot with some perceived 'posh' names, over on the names discussions. Aspirational, pretentious, try-hard.

Calliope isn't in that category I wouldn't say.

Eolian - again, what if you had Greek origins...? I know a previous poster said it was ancient Greek but FFS, I think my name has Sanskrit origins and I don't think my parents can trace their family that far....plus only MN have I heard this kind of nonsense.

one of my Indian friends - as in Indian, born and raised in India - has a Greek name because her parents liked it. Seems fair enough to me. This MN name craziness is not something I have ever encountered elsewhere.

I think George sounds really posh. I would feel i was trying to sound posh if i used it. But i don't think that of other people using it. Which is weird.

Are you worried they're from a social class you don't belong to? The so-called aspirational names from some other discussions are more commonly found in the Times and Telegraph BAs, for example.

There are plenty of more popular classical names, it's the plumping for something more obscure and the unfamiliar, also. One of the reasons for accusations of pretentiousness.

If you wanted a bonafide English name you'd be restricted to Wendy!

For what it's worth in modern Greek the emphasis is
AntiGOni
PeneLOpe
PersePHOne
CaLIOpe with the L and I and O kind of merging in a way I cannot write phonetically but it is not LEO.

I suppose it's a 'royal' thing maybe. And yes i am not from that social class. I don't feel i belong in any social class actually. On my list i have names which MN consider 'common' and those which are considered 'pretentious' or 'posh'.

I have never read the times or telegraph bas so don't know the names you are referring to. I think choosing something obscure is more to do with not wanting loads in the class/school. It was for us.