Is Jasmine chav?

[portabello]

Hi all, I posted t'other day asking for opinions on girl's names including Jasmine. There was a suggestion that Jasmine is slightly chavvy? What does everyone think?

I hadn't actually considered this as it seems such a beautiful name to me but maybe I don't know the latest word on the street :) Ta!

The memories of childhood will always tarnish a name [hwink]

As you're asking for honest opinions, Jasmine does sound a little downmarket to my ears. But if you love the name, who cares?

I don't really know if people generally consider it "chav" but I think its a very pretty name. It makes me think of the flower.

I don't know if this is a measure of 'chavviness' or not, but the authors of the book Freakonomics state that mothers who name their daughter Jazmine have, statistically, fewer years of education than mothers who choose any other name for their daughter. Mothers of Jasmine and Jasmyn were slightly more educated, but still among those least likely to have completed more than 10 years of education. Jazmin was listed as one of the names most likely to identify its bearer as African-American.
Do bear in mind this is an American book.
I think Jasmine is just beautiful, by the way.

Chav, I don't know.. but it does sound like it's been inspired by a soap opera

I don't like it because I loathe the smell of the flowers.
OTOH, it's your choice. I don't associate it with chavvy people though. That is a whole new book I could write.

I like Jasmine but DO think of it as slightly chav, in the manner of Jade, Kelly and Chloe. (sorry, they're also very nice names but still have that chav element to me).

OTOH, Jessamine which is similar, has no chav connotations and is underused, whereas Jasmine is definitely becoming more popular (predicts it will be top three in a few years).

I think it is pretty. Very slightly chavesque but you shouldn't let it put you off if you love it. There is a very posh one at my daughters school, the antichav. In the end it would belong to your little girl and be as lovely as she is.

I only know of 2 adult Jasmines and they are not chavs.

Here in the US (at least my little corner of it) Jasmine is "chavvy". Yet Lily, Rose,etc, are not. Why is that I wonder?

Maybe it's the african american thing? Names that mark out the bearer as being AA aren't the same name that the WASP crew would aspire to. Lily (white skin) sounds like a name that AAs might avoid... Although I don't knwo. I can certainly picture a black Rose though!

I mention this because I wanted to call my son Marcus at one point and I was told by some Americans that I couldn't because it was a African American name. My xmil in USA , and it seemed like every name I wanted was either offensive to AAs (Jemima) or not usable if you're white (Marcus).

Anyway, Marcus sounds like a solid Roman classic to my ear, but i think it has an activist feel for White Americans. They might fear it.

I'd love if they updated that Freakonomics book. I read it years ago. It must be ten years old now?

ps, not saying that the WASP ish types are the best people or better than anybody else (I'm Irish!) just that I think that the names that they are the group who re-use classic names first. That was in freakonomics. eg, Octavia, mgiht be coming in to use again in America around about now, most likely with that successful bunch that people with less money and education aspire to.

How horrid, Valium! But you're probably right.

I like Marcus. And actually all the Octavias I know (3 of them) are African American. :)

A lot of "African American" names are actually older names that just sound a bit "off" to WASPs. (Dante, for instance.)

oh right, well I don't know my lilly white ass from my elbow then do I!?!

Dante hmmm. I've seen it on this board. I thought it was uber pretensh!

Of course, WASPS aren't the only people with money and education, but from watching American TV shows, they seem like a kind of American Royalty.

What does WASPS stand for?

Jasmine can be very pretty, Jazmin can be seen as a little chavvy though

WASPs= White Anglo Saxon Protestents

And they sort of are the American royalty valium. ('Cept the Kennedys, who are Catholic). That's where the whole American "surname as first name" came from. The uber-WASPs were naming their children Prescott, Campbell, etc, to cement their connections to influential families. Now the "downmarket" people (and I use that term with a cringe cause I'm common as common my own self :o) are using Madison, Carter, Parker, etc, in the same way to sound classy.

I called my son Sam. :)

A-ha! I have always wondered. That's a good synopsis, thanks. I know that Charlotte in SATC was sometimes described as a WASP but I always thought it was only to do with well to do ladies who lunched!

Jasmine is a pretty name and the name of a very pretty Disney princess.

I wouldn't say its chavvy or downmarket in the least.

I know of a few Jasmines and they are definitely chavvy. Sad as the name is rather nice. I really like Yasmin too.

I have no idea how popular it is or whether it attrasts the ahem wrong type, but I think it's an extremely pretty name.

I think it's a lovely name (when not shortened to Jazzie/Jaz -yuk), but it's like everything else -it filters down to the teen mum brigade and becomes very popular/common! x

sounds really nice! I like Yasmin, too