Name classism doesn’t exist in 2026

[Kyttiol]

Name classism gets mentioned a lot on here but I don’t think there’s such thing in the big 2026 with the internet anyone can google and name their kid whatever they want. My eldest I had at 16 while living in a homeless shelter has a so called posh name and my youngest I had as a grown woman in her twenties married to a man with a middle class job has a name that’s been called chavvy on here.
Hugo is also apparently the epitome of posh but I know a literal crackhead named her son Hugo (he was taken away at birth though)

People always quote freakonomics which was written in 2005 before mass internet use and certainly before the internet was used to discuss baby names! Surely that’s outdated

I really hope that you, and your colleagues are not treating these children in a negative way, because of something that they have no control over. Honestly it is not okay.

Really. I suppose that it could never occur to you that the children may be reacting to the negativity, of positivity that you are displaying to them, in how you treat them. Children are not stupid, and know when they are being treated nicely, or not.

If you watch crime documentaries certain names come up again and again.
Draw your own conclusions.

Are these area specific though?

Brodie is a traditional Scottish name.

The negative attitudes that you criticise certainly still exist. I think the more interesting question - and what you are probably getting at with your post - is does it still matter? Individual people are always going to be misinformed and ignorant and therefore still hold prejudices no matter how much humanity progresses - for example, the person who does not know that Jadon is an Old Testament name, or that Krystyna and Konrad are the standard, traditional Polish versions of what an English person may know as Christina and Conrad, or that the "surnames as first names" that people here decry as "American" have been used as first names in Scotland for generations. Ideally, exposure to greater variety of names and a greater variety of cultures will make us more tolerant, not less.

And this is the problem when people are judging children on what they are called. Someone who is not familiar, for example, of an Irish name, or Welsh name, and thinks poorly of it, because they have no understanding of the origins, spellings, or meanings.

One is Welsh, one is Irish.

Irish names are far more common in Ireland than the odd one found in the Midlands - unless they have particular Irish ancestry.

Already commented on someone marking a trad Scots name as undesirable. My classroom would have very different names to a class in East London.

I'm not sure I agree.
Archie, Savannah, Sienna and Mia have all been names that people on these boards have called chavvy. Yet they are all royal names

Prince Harry and Meghan picking Archie surprised some as it’s a popular name in typical schools around the UK so on the surface, not a posh name which supports your theory .

However there are still some class signifiers imo. “Unique” spellings like Khayteee rather than Katie, double barrelled names like Lexie-Mae and Lilly-Rose conjure a different image to the children names after Shakespearean characters and names from classical mythology that I’ve seen suggested here. (I’m definitely not posh but have learned a few things from those posts lol)

I’m surprised that you don’t believe in the idea of stripper names when tv/film stripper characters often have the same recurring names like Sapphire or Destiny.

@freerangethighs Many Irish families used surnames as first names too.

Does this name classism only exist in England @Kyttiol ? Or is it an actual classism thing by middle class people?

How would you judge a child named Brooklyn or Venus?

I know a young adult called Cartel.

He's a drug dealer funnily enough. From a family of drug dealers.

Sometimes a name tells you a lot about the family.

If she is talking about children as having crazy chav names she isn't a good teacher

Mabli?

I really love that. Where's it from and how is it pronounced?

Mab-Lee (as in Abs sound) Welsh girl's name.

It's the random spellings that get me more than anything else. Everyone can Google, so why call your kid Jennnii (pronounced jessica) and set them up for a life of explaining? Or, as usually happens, rolling their eyes at their teacher and saying:" omg, do you not know how to spell x miss?"
Well, I thought I did, until your parents took it upon themselves to take us back to pre standardisation times.

My foster daughter has that problem as she has a double barrelled first and last name.

Shakespearean characters like portia pronounced like Porsche though?

Oh yes, I know that but I’ve never heard a Welsh or Irish person describe their countries as ‘areas’ so didn’t think this was what was meant here.

Thought the person who first mentioned this meant her name linked her to a particular city or similar, which is what piqued my interest.

MNs is very dated on names but I assume it’s the older user base.
I’m a Londoner & meet people regularly with names I have never heard of it because it’s a global city. It’s not a big deal if you can’t pronounce a name straight away etc

There is also racism on MNs when it comes to other cultures names.

It works both ways, a name that could make people assume private school or ‘posh’ isn’t necessarily a good thing either

The people that you consider 'posh' are unlikely to use the Internet to choose a name for their offspring
They will have a bank of their own ideas, mainly traditional names, often those of GGPs, or GPs.

Of course it still exists.

I don't know many drug dealers but a few are well known in the area regardless, not the same areas but ..

Drug dealing families - guy called Hugo, sister is also named from the "posh" list with her empire elsewhere. Their children all have top 50 names. Sometimes a name tells you nothing.

Couple of barely adults called Charles and James, also from similar families. Even have a "posh" surname.

They'd probably all be middle class on here, based on income.

Names linked to cities is also common in Ireland and Scotland, probably Wales too but I'm not Welsh.

Certain Surnames (clans) originate from specific parts of these countries and often have remained dominant there, it isn't uncommon in Scottish schools to have multiple children with the same name. Nor are names like William Mac/McWilliam or Murdo McAndrew uncommon in the Highlands for example.

Dare say there are a few John Smiths in schools across the UK too from all different backgrounds.