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 Surely that’s outdated

Mumsnet posters are from all walks of life. Different countries, different ages, different nationalities, different cultures, different backgrounds, different economic backgrounds. There is no such thing as a typical MN poster.
There is an outdated perception that MN posters all earn six figures. It is nonsense.

I know. I’m just saying it’s somewhere to discuss names in more detail than you would irl (along with Reddit which is more America centric) and I’ve seen Hugo described as super posh on here. Which surprised me, I know a few little Hugo’s and none of them come from particularly “posh” families not to mention the drug addict I mentioned in my op.
Same goes for Henry another one I always thought everyone just considered a normal name.

Hugo is aspirational and many people want to appear to be wealthy.

Hugh is a far nicer name imo and more likely to be used by people who are actually posh along with names like John and James.

Hugo always brings to mind a French bulldog, rather than a person.

Indeed it does!

Around 10 years ago I taught twins who were called Purple Montague and FiFi Capulet. Purple was a boy. Their older sister was called Sharlie Shakespeare. I expected their parents to be great literary lovers but they were just two young parents that went to see Rome and Juliet on their first date.

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

I wouldn't say cities for Wales, but a handful of names are probably more common in certain areas, but it's not a big thing.

Name classism absolutely does exist and you can often surmise a lot about the parents based purely on the names of the children 😂 not always accurate, but I can usually build a pretty accurate picture in my head before I've met them. The ones I find amusing are the middle class parents who are flabbergasted that the name they picked because it was "So classy and soooo unique" is actually... insanely popular. They get so offended by the thought that their little PFB is in fact not going to be the only Theodore in their class, but actually one of 5 Theo's, and if you include Leo's, one of 10 Theo/Leo's

Both names are in the top 50 baby names in the UK. Henry is number 14 so super popular. So you’re going to get all kinds of children with these names.
I think the real stereotypically ‘posh’ names are much rarer.

Strictly speaking it would be Ashtrey lol.

I have a Hugo 🤣 I thought it was just a good universally understood European option (live abroad) I don’t think it’s the epitome of posh?!

Have you considered that your definitely 100% Uniquely non judgmental colleagues don’t talk about names around you, specifically?

(It’s very unlikely, isn’t it, if you think rationally…..that teachers would be ‘ uniquely judgmental’. )

I have worked in the NHS for 30 years. I haven’t seen any staff in any team talk like this about people’s names. In fact, I don’t think I have seen on Mumsnet nurses and doctors mocking their patients’ names and judging them for it.

Why on earth do you think people would be stopping themselves doing it around me? They have no idea about my views on this issue. Try again.

It’s very common to read on here about teachers judging children by their names. How an earth do you think this is okay?

Obviously it feels comfy to you to believe that there is a particularly strange demographic on this particular website. Your choice.

Whatever. We are clearly very different people.

The son in “Your Friends and Neighbours” on Apple TV is called “Hunter Cooper”.

My husband was like “Pick a trade”.

Oh, it 100% still goes on. I’m a primary school teacher, and even I have preconceived notions of the kids when I get my new class list each year.
Now, the professional in me would be horrified if I thought I treated kids with certain names any differently, but I would also be lying if I said I didn’t brace myself when I see certain names on my class list. And BTW, it goes both ways. There are ‘chavy’ names that I dread to see and there are supposedly middle class names that are met with equal dread, but try as I might I do still judge some parents for their choice of name for their kids.

I agree, I work in paediatrics, currently private sector, but also many years in the NHS. I have never heard a healthcare professional make a derogatory remark about a child’s name and it would be universally frowned upon if they did. On the other hand I have heard teachers saying all sorts of highly unprofessional things about children’s looks, family background, clothes and even accents (as well as names)

There’s nothing wrong with Caleb! Not common, but a perfectly good, traditional old name.
But I dare say we’ll be seeing quite a few Kalebs around in future, thanks to the Kaleb of Clarkson’s Farm.