To think this class-obsessed country uses DC's names to change theirs?

[GinDaddy]

I live in the South of England, I'm heading towards middle age, so this gives you some context before my OP, which is..

AIBU to think people are giving their DCs "posh" or "aspirational" names as status signifiers? (Which ironically immediately marks them out to me as such?)

I realise there's always been fashionable and unfashionable names since time immemorial. But what I'm talking about is the slew of names which I would previously only expect to hear on Made In Chelsea or Guy Pelly's guest list at Boujis.

Arabella. Annabelle. Isabelle. Amelia. Jasper. Oscar. Oliver (to be inevitably commuted immediately to Ollie in faux-braying tones). Hugo. Theo. Leo. Harry (not even bothering to use the proper Harold, just going straight to the diminutive because well, it sounds right).

It's just a bit odd really. People can and will call their child what they like, but why are so many folk (and it's always the same folk, the ones who are project managers, who love myWaitrose and head tilting, whose teeth chatter when grandparents offer DC a Kinder Surprise) enamoured with these names?

Can someone actually explain this to me? No one has ownership of names, but I cannot believe that some people aren't using this as some sort of social signifier. 15 years ago not everyone was called Ollie or Theo. I didn't know a load of Arabellas or Amelias, I knew a few but that was commensurate with the environment.

AIBU to think the popularity of these names comes from their associate social status?

Anyway carry on tying yourself in knots proving your superiority over the plebs. I need to cook jacintha and ptolemy's tea

Hehehe, but not sure the topic is pleb related at all.
I think it stems more from a preoccupation with the middle class to upper class segment of the greasy pole. It's hilarious

You wish dear :)

Btw Harry is short for Henry. See HRH.

@Rystall

Is this some sort of fucking joke?

How can my post be reported for not being "real" when it's not an anecdotal story or dilemma purporting to be in the first person, it's simply a social observation posted in neutral tones without personal abuse?

Report me all you want, but it's embarrassing that you even did.

Is it you Katy H?

Is Harold popular at all now? I associate it with men in their 70s

I think aspirational parents certainly might tend to give their children more neutral, ‘classic’ names. What different people feel constitutes a ‘nice’ name will be influenced by their friends and family.
And yes, they frequently go along with SUVs, f and b paints and skiing in the winter, Waitrose, lots of house renovations and having a cleaner. There’s nothing wrong with any of it.

Neutral tones? Pah!

To me those are just normal names.

No class involved

What do you suggest non upper class names are?

@TulipCat

Respect to you for your honesty and fair play to you.

To other posters, read his/her post just now and see that what I'm saying isn't pie in the sky bullshit.

Harold Steptoe, that very distinguished rag n bone man.

I have hit a raw nerve, and am getting abuse because of it.

You’ve not hit a raw nerve with me. I’ve not got children and my name is a bog standard very English name as is DH’s.

(In fact I got chatting to some Americans a while ago and they laughed at how English our names were. They were called Cindy and Troy....)

You’re not wrong . There’s a chapter in Freakonomics which addresses this theory . My son has one of the names on your list.

PS: I'm a Project Manager with a German SUV who shops in Waitrose (though I give zero fucks about Kinder Eggs) so presumably am the exact type of person OP references.

No DC yet but my list includes Sebastian, Isobel, Keir, Coulton, Maeva & Saoirse.

Some of these are just because I like the name irrespective of class. I'm part working class (background) and part middle class (now) so don't care about it TBH.

Others are old family names (Isobel, Coulton) who were actually very poor.

I've recently been studying workhouse entries from the 1800s and pretty much every name you've listed in your OP is there over and over again.

They're just coming around again, like most names.

Cosima, Ptomely etc on the other hand...!

@Greenpop21

I'm not Katie Hopkins and never will be. I don't read her rag of a paper and as a mixed race person I'm not inclined to hate myself.

To others similarly musing, I'm not a journalist or a "goady fucker".

Ooh did you get someone? Well done you.

It’s not that what you are saying is pie in the sky bullshit, it’s that people should only chose names from within their social class.

Ok Katie I believe you.

@FlamingoAndJohn

I'm not saying people should "choose names from within their own social class".

That would be almost mad in itself.

I'm just noting a trend for similar conformist aspirational names for DCs, one that unbeknownst to me has been clearly noted in a best selling book on social economics.

@Greenpop21

If it makes you feel clever and better, sure, I'm Katie Hopkins in disguise.

Riculous post

I have two children with two of the names on your list.

I liked the names! No ulterior motive, certainly not social status (although if it was that I'm not sure that would be a bad thing). Jasper wasn't that popular back then and many, including my family, didn't like it. Both husband I went to uni and have professional jobs. Can't imagine us on TOWIE though!

Totally strange post OP.

I don't care what they do for a living as long as they are happy and can afford an ok lifestyle.

I certainly wasn't thinking about status when I was 9 months pregnant.

I think your post says more about you OP. Why would this bother you enough to post?

Working class people know your place. The op sees right through you and your chattering teeth.

I know what you mean to some extent.

On the other side of the spectrum, I have a name that was popular in the '70s and '80s. I was born in the '90s. It is a "chavvy" name and every other person I knew at my state secondary school with this name was badly behaved (frequently excluded) and it has been included in those lists of names associated with badly behaved pupils or poor exam results that circulate on Daily Mail articles so I just know that it has negative connotations. I was a quiet goody two shoes who got good exam results. I feel like my name just does not suit me but I would never change it as my DM loves my name and she is the one who named me.

At university I did not know a single person with my name so I have kind of forgotten the connotations the name had at my secondary school.

@pleaseletmenap

It doesn't "bother me".

Why is it that when someone's post hits a raw nerve with someone on MN, the first accusation is "you're emotionally invested, you care too much".

Snide, predictably defensive, and ... inaccurate.

I couldn't care less - my DCs are fine with the names they have, this post won't affect their names or anyone else's naming choices.

It's just a topic. It doesn't change my world.