To wonder whether, as per this claim, Annabel was really seen as a 'yuppie' name in the 80s?

[Giselle374]

I read Lady Colin Campbell's book a while ago about Harry & Meghan. A lot of the claims seemed ridiculous- they can certainly be criticised but the book went beyond reasonable. Anyway, one of the points I found odd was that Campbell claimed naming rules have always been very strict for royals, and mentioned an earlier name choice for Beatrice being vetoed.
I googled and found this choice was Annabel, which the Queen apparently vetoed for being 'too yuppie'. Was it really seen that way in the 80s or was this just some eccentricity of hers? I was born early 2000s and knew quite a few Annabels and Isabel/Isabellas, also one Arabella. It just seemed like a classic name, hardly one to complain about.
Not a traditional royal one : but then she was OK with Zara.

(Not the main point, but while I think they were wrong to choose Lilibet, I didn't agree with Campbell's argument that the Annabel veto meant the Queen remained just as strict in the 2010s. She clearly wasn't if she allowed Savannah, Sienna and Mia, all nice names but arguably more non traditional than Annabel)

Annabel was the ultimate 80s yuppie name

(To confirm, the Annabel claim is documented, it's not something made up by Campbell)

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/royals/why-princess-beatrices-reported-original-yuppie-name-was-vetoed-by-queen-elizabeth-a4195296.html

Annabel = pure yupster.

Yes it was absolutely yuppyish. There was / is even a club called Annabel’s where all the Annabels hung out.

I don't know about yuppie. It was posh but not royal posh. I grew up working class and didn't meet an Annabelle until my child started nursery in 2003.

Personal pref, i d say yes to Annabel, definitely to Arrabella, but not to Isabelle/isabella.

Annabel in the 80s was the epitome of yuppie.

Two of the highest profile royal journalists of the time had a daughter together called Arabella. I can see why ol' Liz would be, "Absolutely not"!

I just don't care for it. I'd go by Anna is my parents had named me Annabelle.

Hmm, interesting! Thanks for the replies. It's funny as if you look on the Baby Names board, nearly all the threads are almost totally positive. I suppose by the early 2000s the associations had gone away.

Whereas names like Sharon or Tracey still seem much more frowned on but I suppose the associations there were more recent.

Aha, that could be part of it.

It really was I think.

Very yuppy. And Beatrice was a lot higher up the line of succession than Zara.

Yes very yuppie in the 80s, and went with the Sloane ranger look - velvet alice band, string of pearls, turned up shirt collar and belted long skirt.

Times change. Annabel was definitely yuppie in the 80s and there was a very high profile nightclub that was frequented by the aristocracy and it was a bit of a gambling den initially. I can see why the Queen vetoed it.

I remember a family member being born in the 80s and her parents named her Melissa. My MIL was ridiculous, privately disparaging the name because it wasn't very popular at the time and she thought they were being 'posh'. She was a not nice woman tho.

Annabel wore a pearl necklace, an 18th birthday present from her godfather, and a nice little angora sweater with a witty pattern knitted in. Under the sweater was a pintucked blouse of very fine linen, then a proper silk petticoat. Her plaid skirt was wool, in a tartan belonging to the Scots branch of her family. Her slightly frizzy blonde bob hid her understated pearl and diamond earrings, except when she threw her head back in very loud laughter - which was often. Everything was, for Annabel, the most tremendous lark.

She larked around at the bank where she worked ("I'm not sure what I do there! Haaaaahahahah!") and in Verbier, where she stayed with 14 of her closest friends for the ski season ("Don't forget the most important part, the après-ski! Haaaaahahahah!"), she had larks on the lakes when she summered at the family home in Como, and "Such crazy larks!" on holidays in the Med with her friends. She couldn't possibly tell you what went on there: "Highly confidential! Pain of death!" but she would after her third bottle of Bolly ("It's a truth drug! Haaaaahahahah!")

Annabel was a passable rider, knew her dogs and could shoot a deer if it stood still for a minute, but she simply wasn't serious people to the real aristocrats.

YABU for reading anything by Lady Colin Campbell, but yes, Annabel was a yuppie name.

Yep still there and full of made in Chelsea types

Agree with previous posters.
If you don't want your child to have any pre-conceptions made about him/ her based on their name you've really got to pick a fairly bland but classless name and that may not necessarily be one that you're too keen on.

Too many people give their children stupid names that disadvantage them.

Why not pick something like Elizabeth.
Or David or John or Michael.

The yuppy Annabels were born in the late 1950s or early 1960s. Middle-aged, borderline elderly now! Gulp.

It's hard to imagine a Queen Annabel, but the new monarch always has the option of picking a new regnal name. Edward VII was Bertie to his friends and family.

I thought it was 'Sloaney' rather than 'yuppie', but I wouldn't want to argue with the late HMQ.

Annabel was the name of a famous nightclub. That’s probably why the name wasn’t allowed

Definitely Sloaney rather than yuppie. I don’t even know what a yuppie name would be.

Big difference between 'Sloaney' and 'Yuppie' and I suspect HMQ would very well have known the difference. Sloppy reporting and decidedly dubious source - that well known bastion of accuracy The Sun.

I'd say more Sloane Ranger.