To be surprised by the names of the “posh kids” at DDs school

[marilee]

Hi all, my DD just started primary 1. The catchment area for her new school is super mixed with all the nicest houses in the town but also 2 council areas so a real mix. We live in a council flat, I can’t say I’ve rubbed shoulders with the more middle class half of the town and I grew up in a firmly working class area so this is the first time in my life I’m properly mixing with this group (I know that’s awful but it’s just how life has been for me so far).

I don’t know why but I was expecting all the posh kids to have more extravagant names but almost every single one of them is just a very basic name (James, Harry, Anna, Clara, Emily, Emma etc.). While the names I’d normally have associated as being more “posh” are actually the names of the kids from my area (Rafferty, Arabella, Florence, Theodore).

AIBU to be shocked by this? Is this normal or a little regional quirk?

Yeah, completely this. What on earth? I can understand what you mean, and how things may have been viewed in the past - but the only way we can challenge views is by making sure our kids don't let us talk like this!

Zara was very unusual too at the time she was born.

Because people are talking about how names are used nowadays, not historically.

This tallies with my experience in education. We have a very mixed intake and the poorer areas tend to have the invented/inventive names, the double barrelling and the names shared with celebrity babies.

The newer trend is what I consider the “names of an English butler in a film” e.g. Grayson, Parker, Hudson, Trent, Oakley, Beauford etc.
Millions of those ATM.

Yes it was how her sister pronounced it and it stuck. The same thing happened with my granddaughter, her sister couldn't say her name and all these years later she's stuck with KK.

Well, I suppose the poshest people are the Royals, and they mostly have classic, non-'fancy' names: Elizabeth, Margaret, Philip, Charles, Anne, Andrew, Edward, William, Harry, etc.

Quite generally speaking, I don't think names are 'posh' or otherwise. They may develop 'class' associations, but these are terribly tied to specific to specific times and places. UK, 1970s: Olivia = unusual and rather 'fancy' sounding name. UK, 2020s: Olivia = one of the most standard names for a girl. UK, 1990s: Chelsea = looked down on as 'lower class' by name-snobs. USA, 1990s: Chelsea = name of President's daughter.

Ah, that was it. I couldn't remember exactly where it came from. Thanks.

Outrageous! I’d have gone for Raffa-Ti though

At the end of the day it's all subjective and I don't see why the opinions of people who dismiss history should be taken seriously when it comes to how "classy" a name is.

The occasional teacher on Mumsnet who claims to teach a naughty boy called Alfie doesn't mean the name is lower class.

Royal names will always be classier than bs like Rafferty 🤷🏻‍♀️real rich people know this

It's one of his middle names. At least he doesn't call himself De Pfeffel, which would definitely be (suitably!) silly.

Rafferty, oddly enough, has come full circle. It started off as an old Irish first name, then became a surname because many Irish surnames, like Welsh ones, were originally patronymics ("son of" understood). Now it's a first name again. But maybe it never stopped being a first name in Ireland too? Any Irish posters on here?

Not true; some public school boys are the worst for physical bullying.

It isn’t dismissing history, at all. It’s knowing that social history is an organic thing, and the current social situation is that those names are adopted by a certain class. Pretending a zeitgeist doesn’t exist really is delusional. Hence nobody calling their daughters Karen or Sharon,any longer. Perfectly good names, but out of sync with the times.

Completely agree.

I saw an advert featuring 'Mollie-Mae' the other day. Don't know who she is - some kind of influencer I guess - and in it I'm pretty sure she said 'Bambi's things get everywhere'. I'm just going to leave those two crackers there.

I know a lovely Rafferty.

I don't think so. They have practically taken over the area. Mass and very swift gentrification, and "us locals" are very much in the minority. No more plebs a go go, you may be happy to hear.

Unbelieveable, silly, prices, for very unremarkable, rabbit hutch size apartments and drab, dingy little terraces.
Which they think are wonderful.
The new landed gentry? Ha ha ha !!!

Unfortunately, this is now commonplace through out the country . Such is the state of UK housing.

Leave you with Coriolanus and Medusa, or Corrie and Med for our latest cat and dog names.

Maybe there are some names only used by a certain class of people, you can list them if you want.
But some of the names listed on here as "low class" like Amelia and Alfie are just regular names used by all types of people.

What is a dropsy?

Wrong thread?

Medusa is a brilliant name for a cat though!

Judging others is essential - would my dc be safe in this nursery, do I trust the staff, is this a nice looking restaurant I want to go to, do I want to spend time with these people, do I trust this trader to do work in my home. All of it is judgments made in seconds. What people wear, their name, their background (which can be demonstrated in many ways) are all what is humans put together and categorise people. It’s important.

No it’s not used as a first name here in Ireland. Just looked up the stats and there are no records for it.

Re the name Bear.

Mum from gypsy family, both young parents, rough area.

So names really tell us nothing.

If I, an American, wrote a novel in which British characters acted like some of the people on this thread, it would probably be rejected on the grounds that I was using outdated, over-the-top stereotypes of snobby, class-obsessed Brits. “Oh, my, Harriet, look at all the silly little commoners with their upper-class pretensions! Imagine being so déclassé as to name one’s baby Arabella! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Oh, I simply must tell Lady Snobbington when I see her later at Ascot!”

Just to add the Irish form of the now obselete first name was Rabhartach. Rafferty is an anglicised spelling/pronunciation of the surname form of the name.

Surely you realise the nuance between what you’re saying and what’s happening on this thread?!

I have recently had a baby and she’s one of the names you mention having their day again. My grandmother comments often “never thought I’d see a baby one” because to her those names are “old lady” names. Which is quite funny because she is now an old lady herself, but more the Shirley/Patricia/Barbara/Pamela generation.

I expect I can look forward to grandchildren called Beverley and Gordon, based on how names cycle back!