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)

I did have a feeling it was Scottish...!

This

Definitely a Sloane ranger name in the 80s, and I had several girls in my year (born 73) named Annabel.

It would, however, have been a much less awful choice than Beatrice. As for ‘Eugenie’- I can’t think of an uglier name.

Posh girl name, even in the 90s.

Yuppie= Delboy wannabees
"This time next year we will be millionaires Rodney!"
😂

Bit like some people are putting Charlie not Charles on the birth certificate.
This I don't understand: Charlie is obviously a diminutive of Charles AND putting Charles on the certificate at least gives the child the option of two names.

We named one of our sons Charlie because we liked the name, but didn't particularly like Charles. Should he have wanted to, he could have asked people to call him Charles (he didn't, and neither did the other three Charlies in his year at secondary school). Anyone can choose to be known by any name they want to.
My other son has another classic name and we never used a particular diminutive of his name, which is/was sometimes given as a name, when he was a child, because we didn't like it.

Annabel Giles and Annabel Croft were/are this vintage.

She was a Sloane! Posh and vapid, not young upwardly mobile and professional…….

There’s also currently Freddie who is related to the royals

It was.

Hmm...I wouldn't call Diana as a whole vapid. But early in life she may have been.

She was a Sloan Ranger. There's a vast difference between Sloans and yuppies.

Beatrice is a beautiful name imo...I suppose though from the Queen's view it was a good name as it was the name of Queen Victoria's favourite daughter. Eugenie I also think is pretty, but maybe nicer in French..
Unfortunately both names are now tarnished by their owners...

There was a posh yuppie character in Brookside called Annabel which reinforced it

Yes, the great grandson of 'Lord' Mountbatten...

Yes, Annabel Croft went to Diana's school didn't she?

Aw, my mum liked Freaky Friday and showed me the original when I was a child. I'd forgotten the heroine was called Annabel.

Freaky Friday was US though, not sure if there was a naming trend for Annabel there..

There are many, many reasons why Sonia wasn't the name she went by.

QE would have wished to distance her family from any association with the Shand sisters (Camilla's maiden name) both because of Charles' fascination for Camilla, which was a thorn in her side from the 70s on, and because of the career of their ancestor. She never lost an opportunity ity to make it very clear.

I do think that HMQ probably asked for it to be changed due to the popular nightclub of the day that has been mentioned upthread, not a great association for Royalty. I think it’s a nice name though.

Yes. I mean, yuppies had jobs and were ‘upwardly mobile’. Sloanes would only be upwardly mobile if they married into a particular layer of the aristocracy, and only had ‘little jobs’ while they waited to marry suitably.

Diana was the classic vapid Sloane. Completely uneducated, despite every possible educational opportunity, puttered around doing little jobs because she was intended to marry young and suitably.

Oo, I didn't know that. Just checked and I'm not sure she did tbh but wouldn't have been surprised.

thats exactly what I thought

Yes Annabel was a ‘’yuppy’ name in the 80s. There was only one at my comp and her family was quite well off. The association is not there now, it was just that decade.

Her sisters’ BIL was in Made In Chelsea so not exactly related!

I agree that the name is a sloany name not yuppie.

I also think there’s a class difference between spellings ending in Bel or Belle. Annabelle/Isabelle not as posh.