Baby names - the last bastion of acceptable classism on here

[Cuppasoupmonster]

I see so many threads on here picking at things which are working class - tattoos, certain clothes, council housing etc - and posters generally respond in fury, accusing the OP of snobbery/classism.

So why is it so okay on here to call a baby name ‘chavvy’ or ‘something you can imagine being screamed in ASDA’?

Personally I either like the sound of a name or I don’t, I don’t obsess over the class angle.

I think that anyone using the term 'chavvy' would be rounded on. Because it's a slur

But thinking that one class is somehow lesser than others is your prejudice. There is nothing whatsoever wrong with being working class, nor in naming your DC what you like and what reflects you.

A lot of people are sadly racist and full of disdain for the poor, some may not be as obvious as others, but it's definitely there.

I think it doesn't help that people are generally so wrapped up in their own lives that they assume the way they experience the world is the same as everyone else.
So they say that a child will get judged for being called Harvey or Chanay because that is what what might happen in their world, full of Matildas and Jaspers.
But to the poster whose child will go to the local comp full of kids with those names, with cousins with those names, that child will not stand out for being called Kai, Jax or Demi. They might stand out (not in a good way)for being called Euphegenia or Gideon.
I think people have those classist opinions about what makes an acceptable name- and then decide that the way they are comfortable with is the only good way

I love Cosmo, it's such a nice name for a cat 😁

Mn skews very lower-middle class (not entirely, obviously, but I would say that’s the preponderant class bias), so there’s an assumption that everyone’s socially aspirational and desperate to dermarcate themselves from the WC, while at the same time not being overly aspirational, because that’s ‘try-hard’.

I think it's lower middle class fear. And it's not a ridiculous fear, it's a real one.

The aristocracy is such a tiny percentage of the population, but it really fuels classism. The new middle class can't be grateful or proud, relieved or relaxed about class, not when they have a rung above them, silently shaming them for two things simultaneously 1) rising too high; passing as the great grandchild of middle-class folk, and yet also, 2) any behaviour that gives away that this is very unlikely to be the case.

Ie, calling your baby Taylor Ray. You don't see the Americans pigeon holing a child for having a terrible name in the same way. It's interesting imo. I'm not trying to offend.

I don't get the obsession here with class?

Well, I have to say YABU because MN has vast subterranean reservoirs of what might be considered acceptable classism, and baby names are barely a lily pad floating on the top.

But, I guess baby names are slightly different from many other indicators, in that your feature wallpaper or your turquoise le creuset only bother you, but a child called Lily-Mae April or Jabeth Beelzebub is going to have to live with that name for the rest of their life (or until the reach deed poll age). I taught a very bright young woman who suffered under the name of Lola. It might be cute for a child but it really did bother her as an adult, and I know she submitted job applications under her middle name.

Eh? What on earth is wrong with Lola? Was she worried about getting grief from people who hate the Kinks? (Or the tomato appreciation society ... )

But isn’t that why people come on here & ask opinions about baby names in the first place? No one is going to say this stuff to your face in real life but that doesn’t mean they won’t be thinking it. Yes they’re stupid / ignorant / un-PC but that’s the point, isn’t it? To find out what someone really thinks even if they’re wrong or uniformed.

YANBU. There is much snobbery on MN, all of which is distasteful. But its really hitting rock bottom to describe anything connected with a baby as 'chavy'. What sort of person attaches a label like that to a child on the basis of the name they were given?

Insecurity and a desperate need to conform and not stand out are the order of the day.

I have issues with that (and named child accordingly!)

I've heard it said that the most privileged group in society - upper middle class and aristocratic and the least privileged feel the need to conform least and therefore go for the craziest names - an aristocratic name could easily pass as working class.

As pp have mentioned, I judge people using the word 'chavvy' because it's so incredibly offensive, rather than the names people choose for their children.

So why is it so okay on here to call a baby name ‘chavvy’ or ‘something you can imagine being screamed in ASDA’?

It's not, and I strongly suspect you know that. But it's way of introducing a thread where people reel off the usual names that get a drubbing here, isn't it?

It’s naive to think that giving a child a name with a strong connection to a particular class won’t lead to them being perceived in a particular way, be that Wayne or Horatio. And that happens plenty in the real world, not just on MN. Obviously no one looks at baby Nevaeh and thinks ‘what a chav’ but it can have an impact throughout a person’s life - see Freakonomics.

Personally I prefer a name that doesn’t have baggage and I appreciate finding these things out on MN. For example Pippa used to be high on my list for a girl until I came on here (not class based but unwanted connotations).

@Cuppasoupmonster

You do know that you can refuse to do "news stories" or even just move on and do your work experience elsewhere?

@MrsHarrisgoestoTimbuctoo I'm fairly sure it was Sandra and Tracey.

The head of English at the school down the road is called Tracey.

@SarahAndQuack is turquoise Le Creuset non-U? I’ve just bought a casserole in deep teal so shall get back in my box 🤣

Not to the best of my knowledge! I was trying to choose some ridiculous examples to illustrate the point.

I have the same question. I would never pay that kind of money for something to cook in, but I am curious. In addition, I'm American so some of these British class indicators are a mystery to me.

Ah fair enough 😆 I was worried I’d accidentally bought something with a secret meaning, like pampas grass (which I also learnt about on here)!

Hello Seneca.

Personally, I do rate Le Creuset, and I think it is posh-ish (sort of middle class/upper middle class?). I didn't shell out for mine, I inherited it (def middle class, and I highly recommend inheriting pots and pans from elderly relatives who don't cook much). But loads of nice cookware is £££ and that's true in the US as in the UK.

What would be the class indicators in your bit of the US?

Not Pampas Grass!

(I also learned about that on here. But then, I was about 23 at the time and equally shocked by the idea of the keys in the bowl, so ...).

It’s a misconception that people on council estates name their children Chardonnay or whatever stereotype people like to comfort themselves with.

I have found that they are overwhelmingly traditionalist and often name their children after royalty or grandparents who would have been named after royalty.

Plenty of Georges and Charlottes.

The other misconception in here is the peculiar belief that ‘doctors’ all have traditional names. There are hundreds of interesting and bizarrely spelt names on the General Medical Council Register. Good thing too.

What was wrong was that she'd go sign up for things and unpleasant older men would snigger and ask her what her 'real' name was. It's not right or nice, but it's how it is.

Some names do sound a bit silly if they don’t suit the adult person. I mean, a politician called Poppy, or a butcher named Ophelia, a serial killer called Daisy, or a fire-eater called Colin or...

Its lazy stereotypical thinking of course, but some names do sound incongruous with some people. River should be free spirited and bold, not a sporty teenager worried about his GCSE’s.