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?

People should pick names they like! Not o try to make themselves look what they think society thinks is “better”.

But what if they are the same? The name that they like is Ptolemy or Araminta?

@Winterwoollies

I'm Oxbridge and work in financial services. I don't have a chip on my shoulder and never need to have one. Thanks for projecting though.

"
Ffs I’m not being “nasty”, how silly (and not an argument”."
Ffs I'm not being silly. That's not an argument either.

Those are just classic names. I had an uncle Harry. He propped up the bar in his local working men’s club.Ever heard the phrase ‘Any Tom Dick or Harry!’ ?

Without the harsh truncation and snarl. It's the bit where it became more of an angry snap than a perfectly nice name.

I'm Oxbridge and work in financial services. I don't have a chip on my shoulder and never need to have one.

I see. So you are upper middle class and don’t like the poor people trying to muscle in.

@StealthPolarBear

This is Mumsnet. We debate things in current affairs, relationships, social and parenting life.

Telling me to "get my nose out" is like telling off a caller to LBC because they expressed a contrary opinion.

There are forums where everyone agrees, perhaps you should seek one.

Surely names reflect culture, which in turn changes across generations. I don't think anyone is naming their children thinking, I'll go for x because that will significantly our class status and help maintain the status quo vis a vis class. We just reflect our tastes and I suppose those of people around us. I don't think it's a conspiracy, its just part of our culture.

If they like the name then great! I just suspect there is a particular type of person who this does not apply to. Just like I suspect the people getting the most irritated by this thread are those type of people/worried that they are!

I’m confused OP my DD has a name on your list, my nephews have two of the names on your list. They are 14, 15 and 16, so they were called those names 15 years ago.

Also each of them have at least 2 friends called the same names who are the sane age as them. I would say all the names (excepting maybe Arabella), were incredibly popular 15 years ago.

Not heard any Aramintas or Ptolomeys at my state primary. Does that relieve your stress?

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

Ah here we go "a particular type of person"
Carry on sneering

Op do you like seeing through people who have ideas above their station? Are they no better than they should be hmmm?

A name tell you s lot about s person's background.
I know a Gary and Tracy who have named their daughters the most upper middle class names they knew.
They even joined a church because they thought it was a Middle class thing...they are desperately upwardly mobile.

@wonderstuff

I never said it's a conspiracy. It's easily explainable, it's that people don't like my explanation.

Also I never said this is a phenomenon of the last year or so, this has been happening for a while.

Gin, you do know that Stealth is a very long standing poster who is more than aware of how MN works, don’t you?

But I’m sneering whether someone is UC or WC: if someone is trying to be something they are not, it looks ridiculous! Can’t help that - it’s how I feel. It’s equally stupid when I see UC men trying to be all blokey with someone WC. It’s cringeworthy. There are few things more ridiculous than pretension IMO.

OP you ask people to explain. Names matter. Why disadvantage your kids with the name you choose?

Those are run of the mill names to me. I grew up and live in a very working class area and all those names have been in use around here since I was little. I had 3 Amelia's in my class alone and there must have been at least a dozen Harry's in my school. I had a great auntie called Annabelle. Perhaps they're more common in middle class areas but they certainly haven't been uncommon in working class areas, in my experience at least.

I'll take a hundred Arabella's over my neighbour who has named her newborn son Dove, when their surname is White

@FlamingoAndJohn

Yes I am aware of Stealth's longevity on here.

I also don't appreciate being told to get off a thread I started in good faith.

A reminder of the forum's purpose seemed apposite. HTH

@crispysausagerolls Are UC men never just blokey then?

a thread I started in good faith.

Good faith my flabby white arse.

@karencantobe

Why do folk put so much emphasis on the name being a disadvantage, when the mentality is probably ten times more of a hindrance?

Isabelle? Really?

I have lots of Isabelle's and variants in my family tree and we've been as poor as dirt until the last two generations.