To think there is no such thing as a “teen mum name”

[Hippout]

One thing I’ve noticed on the name board is things like “sounds like the name of a girl who becomes a teen mum” usually used to criticise the incorrectly spelt or names posters don’t consider classy.

I had my children at 16 and 18 and my name is Charlotte. One of my closest friends was also a teen mum and her name is Shannon.

Teen mums have normal names!

Anyone of any class can become a teen mum. These judgemental women on the naming boards (and in real life) are exposing their huge internalised misogyny. They are not good people, their opinions are not worth listening to.

All things told, I would way rather be a teen mum (or have a teen mum daughter) than have such awfully misogynist, classist and insecure views towards other, usually more vulnerable, young women.

They can have normal names and also be perfectly good parents! Whilst I wouldn’t necessarily endorse teenage pregnancy (I had mine at 37 and 39 and it’s bloody hard work 😂) it doesn’t change the fact that mothers in their 30s and 40s can be totally shit, and teen mothers can be much much better. Any person who says these kind of judgmental and obnoxious comments is, as pp said, not remotely worth listening to

I mean schools and parents tell every teen girl “don’t let it be you” “don’t make the biggest mistake of your life” “just have an abortion” so it’s no surprise women go on to internalise that they were the “sensible” ones when that’s what society teaches them. I was pregnant at 19 and lost the baby and everyone was too busy telling me that it was for the best and that I’d dodged a bullet that no one noticed I was grieving. And yes I have a “teen mum” name and love my name!

What they are really saying in a mean way is the name reads as lower class. Charlotte obviously doesn't with the royal connection. Shannon maybe does, with the awful high profile Shannon Matthews case.

I'm torn because although it is awful to think about names and people this way and probably to say it, if people are considering names prior to a baby being born I think it can be useful to take into consideration others bias's on what a child by that name is like. That baby might find themselves coming up against those same preconceptions in their education, from friend's parents or in the jobs market later on.

Many teachers have reported on seeing certain names come up on their register before a school year starts and expecting that they will a troublemaker before they even meet the child.

I get that. But can’t they just say that without the bullshit about it being a teen mums name.
In all my years I haven’t noticed much of a difference between the names of teen mums and older mums.

I think you’re wilfully misunderstanding. It’s just a comment about social class, and the perception that middle-class girls who get pregnant will generally be encouraged to terminate.

It’s obvious what people mean by this though, sounds like a cheap lower class name. Just like Edward sounds a bit posher than McKenzi.

For the past twenty or so years almost every pregnant teen has been encouraged to terminate. Regardless of social class. Some of us just refused.

They're just being unpleasant and classist and are best ignored. Classicism is no more acceptable than racism or any other type of bigotry and I think very poorly of people who engage it it.

I thought ‘teen mum name’ meant ‘the kind of name a teenage girl would give a baby’.
i recently found my teen diaries in my mum’s attic and we all laughed at the list of names I’d jotted down for a ‘future baby name’ list. Lots of Ks instead of C’s, trendy/popular names, random spellings.
Teenage girls are, by nature, immature and so would be expected to name their babies in a way that more mature women may not. Of course that’s not universal so you don’t need to post to tell me that you named your baby William aged 14 - I’m talking population levels only.

It is a sad combination of internalised misogyny and extreme class anxiety, you can feel sorry for people who suffer from it because they are products of a bad environment but I don’t know whether it would be polite to point it out to them.

I think there is such a misconception around teen mums and like other PP have said , it’s more about class and the idea of being a teen mum being associated with lower class.

I was a teen mum, but also had a baby in my 30s - and honestly, for me, a baby young has its perks but if you have the support and drive to keep doing something with your life. As I’m at the same level as my friends in my 30s.

A child in my 30s is nice, but is harder for me because I have given up more (as in working less hours and obviously the social freedom) but I feel it more than when I was a young mum. But I am in a better position and a more relaxed parent.

Also I did very well in school and had high prospects, which I think I fulfilled. So getting pregnant you f disappointed alot of the adults that “believed in me”. And was adviced to abort but didn’t want to …

no regrets.

“BrownRedPink · 27/05/2026 17:11
I'll be honest. It makes me think of a girl who would become a teen mum.”

from a recent baby name thread. They mean the mum

Also I know a lot of people who change their names as adults so that they are not perceived in a certain way.

When I named my children I gave them a variety of names so they can pick and choose if they want a posher version or a more relaxed name … if that makes sense.

Yes, but that teenager who has a child when she’s still only a child will statistically be more likely to be the offspring of a teenage mother herself. Normalising an unwise decision doesn’t emerge out of nowhere.

It's classism by the back door. They can't say "That's a housing estate name" so they go for another way in. My friends who were teen mums (and raised their kids on the worst estate in my area) had perfectly lovely names, and they have AMAZING children who have grown up to do wonderful things!

Statistically teenage pregnancy rates are significantly higher in more deprived areas than more affluent areas.

Then, names are associated with our social class structure. There's obviously huge variation in this, everyone's perception is difference, and names change with trends that mix all sorts of things together. But I think we all know that Algernon is almost certainly - though not guaranteed to be - a posher person than Jayden. If we looked at a macro level, the assumptions stack up because people with different backgrounds do have certain clusters of names.

The problem here is the horrible way people who might say 'that's a teen-mum name' are eliding all sorts of prejudices together. It's snobbish, discriminatory and narrow-minded.

But for all that, take the concept out of the bigotry, you will find teenage pregnancy is higher in those with names associated with more deprived backgrounds, because both pregnancy rates and names are correlated with this. So, it has a basis (if you look at a macro level), but is used in an awful, awful way.

When I went to a baby group with my youngest (now 7) there was a teen Mum who came with her Mum. She came with her Mum for support she was 17 so is now 24.

I’m still friends with her and her Mum they’re lovely people and this girl went to college, got her a levels and is training to be a nurse - she has got a “normal” name.

some people were quite judgemental as she was so young so I just messaged her mum and said next week after playgroup would the like to come for some lunch, that’s all it needed, a bit of kindness

Whilst you are strictly speaking correct, anyone can use any name and bad names are not the exclusive copyright of teenage mums, it is the case that girls from certain backgrounds are more likely to become teenage mums and choose names accordingly. Of the teenage and young mums I have known, their names have been

• Tianna
• Shaylee (pretty sure this one is just made up)
• Billie-Jane

All awful in my opinion.

This.
Those kind of comments are nasty, but such statements do have some statistical veracity.

That doesn’t mean that in the vast majority of cases, a termination wouldn’t have been the best decision. It doesn’t take away from it working out well for you but most girls would be best advised not to go through with a pregnancy so young

Yes. Children having children is a disastrous idea for both people involved.

I completely get that some teen mums aren’t the best at choosing names. Personally I got the cringy name list making out of the way when I was 10-13 so by the time I had mine at 16 I went with a normal name.

But these people are talking about the names of the actual teen mums themselves and not the names they choose for their children

On the flip side of girls being encouraged or corrected into termination are those who are pressured or forced to continue (because ultimately less they are minors who are dependent on adults).

Teen mums sometimes don’t use chav names? Ohhh, ok, that overturns the whole shorthand of saying ‘ teen mum type name ‘ to signify chav names, then. If only people knew that some teens use the name ‘ Charlotte’! Astounding lack of knowledge. They be assuming Charlotte is being called ‘ Char’, probably. Tut tut.