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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if Sebastian is a very bourgeois name?

109 replies

Oxmama · 10/05/2019 14:09

my OH really likes the name Sebastian and so did I but I’m beginning to have doubts as I’ve seen it used twice in pop culture recently to be scathing of the middle classes (most recently the Waitrose ad...ironic)

So - give me your honest opinions - do you feel as strongly about it as you do about Archie?!

OP posts:
StoneofDestiny · 10/05/2019 23:01

It's a great name - with character and style. Love it.

OhTheRoses · 10/05/2019 23:12

It's nice. Theodore was on our list too. Along with Hugo. The midwife laughed when we said Hugo so we didn't do it.

Decided against Sebastian and Theodore as we have a name spellt with 4 ayllablea and pronounced with two.

Lalotai47 · 10/05/2019 23:18

I have always liked it and see it as a middle class name. I know a gorgeous baby Sebby. Wasn't the boy in Never Ending Story a Bastien?

CheeseFace · 10/05/2019 23:20

I used to have a cat called Sebastian. She (yes, she) was beautiful.

FunkyKingston · 11/05/2019 01:02

I loved it and suggested it to DP as a potential boy name who promptly started singing 'under the sea' and addressed me as 'Ariel' in a Jamaican accent for a whole evening.

Not married to Danny Baker are you?

Sashkin · 11/05/2019 01:23

French or Spanish Sebastian/Sebastien are fine. Cool, even. English Sebastian is a loud public school rower who gets very drunk in City bars and tries to grope you.

It’s a no from me.

fancynancyclancy · 11/05/2019 01:49

I really like the name Sebastien but cannot stand ‘Seb’

Wasn't the boy in Never Ending Story a Bastien? Yes, a much nicer nickname!

WishIwas19again · 11/05/2019 06:59

A normal name round my way, no correlation I can see between parents education/class/income and giving this name to their child. They all get called Seb though.

Lauren83 · 11/05/2019 07:15

This is making me have doubts, we have it planned for DS2 who is due in 6 weeks, DS1 is Alexander. I didn't associate it with try hard posh but maybe it is I don't know Confused FWIW Archie in the area I am is known as but common/chavvy. (Not saying that's my opinions BTW)

Madmarchpear · 11/05/2019 07:29

Agree its probably more popular for working/lower middle than real poshos now. Likewise with Oliver, Theodore, Tobias. You've got to go outhere if you want to claim your posh now, like Perigrine and Augustus.

crispysausagerolls · 11/05/2019 07:30

The midwife laughed when we said Hugo so we didn't do it.

How nasty and unprofessional

Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies · 11/05/2019 07:39

I watched ‘Revolution’. The pyschopathic leader was called Sebastian, and was Bas to his friends. I really liked it Blush. DH wasn’t having any of it.

NCforthis2019 · 11/05/2019 07:41

Sebastian is my husbands cat. I know a few Sebs - pretty common name. Why do you want a ‘posh’ name? And why in the hell do you even care. You can name your son anything you like. Who cares what other thinks!?

origamiunicorn · 11/05/2019 07:45

I have a Sebastien. One of two in school and another few in wider circles. It's just a name.

I like Sebastien.

BeardedMum · 11/05/2019 07:47

I have a Sebastian. It’s not a posh name in my home country. It’s a fairly common European name. I think it’s a beautiful strong name.We do shop in Waitrose and Co op if that helps.

Pataya54 · 11/05/2019 07:49

Sebastian Love in little britain to me. Not bourgeois lol

Hahaha88 · 11/05/2019 07:51

My mum was going to call me Sebastian if I had been a boy. She's as far from middle/upper class as possible!

EnglishRose13 · 11/05/2019 07:52

I've loved the name Sebastian since Cruel Intentions but I don't like Seb.

I love Hugo but vetoed it for similar reasons to you.

LakieLady · 11/05/2019 08:05

I've always liked the name Sebastian and my brother nearly got lumbered with it when he was born (Ma and I both really liked it, DF vetoed it). But that was in 1965, when it was pretty unusual. (DF also vetoed Barnaby, and was probably right to do so!)

But then I like Hugo, Piers (needs to be reclaimed from the vile Morgan imo), Inigo etc too.

Names I have heard recently that have made me a bit Confused include Caleb, Crispian, Solomon, Mortimer and Octavius. But then I live in a town that's full of middle-class hipster types and awash with shops where you can buy organic string and shite.

NorthernKnickers · 11/05/2019 08:08

I know two little boys called Sebastian...one is my nephew, super cute, Seb for short, the other I taught last year, also super cute, Bastian for short which really suited him. I didn't like the name before knowing these two boys...but using it daily and seeing how cool it was changed my mind. I now love it.

brummiesue · 11/05/2019 08:39

What a vile thread

TrumpsFerret · 11/05/2019 08:42

I know a few where I live and all are eastern European, I've always assumed the name had origins there too. I like it and really like Seb too.

LaurieMarlow · 11/05/2019 08:50

Much prefer Bastian.

It’s certainly a m/c upper m/c name where I’m from. I think it needs a certain swagger to pull it off.

OhTheRoses · 11/05/2019 09:01

The only Sebastian we know is Baz.
I'm so far away from naming now it's probably irrelevant but if I had a baby now I'd consider names like:
Florian
Merlin
Gawain
Magnus

In the early 90's I was all for:
Henry
Edward
Alexander
Louis
Oscar

DitheringBlidiot · 11/05/2019 09:02

I don’t like the name or any of the diminutives of it “Sebby” is revolting and “Seb” is ok but just a bit meh