A Public Service Announcement: if you are middle-class and live in an area with a high proportion of Boden-wearers...

[PollyMorfic]

...you would be well-advised to take note.

Following my compulsory attendance at 7yo dd2's first music 'concert' (I use the term loosely, and yes I was bored) I whiled away the time doing a little research on the list of 'performers', which led to the following conclusion.

If you are middle-class and live in a reassuringly expensive but still very slightly boho area, possibly but not necessarily in London, and are currently pregnant with a girl, you are probably considering one of the following names:

Maya
Mia
Pia
Tia
Ella
Ellie
Lily
Lola
Evie
Edie
Esme
Izzy

These are all nice names. But everybody else thinks so too. So if you want to avoid in future years having half a dozen Boden-clad little mites do a double-take every time you call one of said names in a public place, you may wish to consider branching out a bit.

Eye thang yew.

Or Araminta?

poppy I don't know anyone who has chose a MC, WC or Posh name for their DC based on what class they think they belong to.

People choose names that they like, or that they have to continue in the family for cultural reasons - class doesn't come into name-choosing.

It's simply that MC tend to like those sorts of names and WC tend to like the names Chelsea, Madison, or the name of the moment etc.

"I think the upperclasses go for the timeless names - Edward, William, Elizabeth, Katherine etc
The middle classes go for the above, plus the trendier names like Oscar, Leo, Finn, Esme, Matilda, Lily
The working classes go for all of the above, plus the nickname names Alfie, Archie, Ellie, Evie etc
The very lower classes could opt for any the above plus the made up names and the surnames like Taylor, Mason, Tyler, Madison, Bailey etc..
So a George could completely span the classes but a Mason is most likely to be from the lower classes."

This actually makes me glad not to be British . And no, my children do not have working class names - they have lovely upper class names which until now I never really though mattered much .

That is possible. I thought perhaps Jacinta.

Forgot to add, the all-important IMO.

You'll never convince me in a month of Sundays that anyone from the MC would name their daughter after a liqueur.

I find the whole class obsession fascinating, but then I'm not English. Or even British.

This website is OBSESSED with class ...... FACT.

Oh here we go again...have a or three

Because OP, if you think you're the first person to swoop in here, caped-crusader like and deign to impart this wisdom, you're deluded sorely mistaken!

So mumsnet is not representative of the UK population (regarding this obsession with 'labelling' people and their names according to class...)? [hopeful emoticon].

I hope so poppy . Not being British myself, I find the whole class concept ridiculous... especially the concept that you are 'born' into a class...

Get a life..all this MC/Boden chat is making me want to vomit. Just how often does it bloody get started on MN. Cringey.

I am surprised to see Pia on the list it is popular in Scandinavia in the 80s but I didn't realise it was popular for young girls?

I have an Archie, and am not working class. Not posh either. We just liked the name.
This is a ridiculous conversation to be having...

PS I hope he grows up to be totally oblivious to class and loves everyone for who they are..as we all should do.

OP - surely the Polly in your name should have gone on the list? :o

I agree, though, lots of abbreviated names. But they are sweet and most can be taken seriously too. It's only when you see them all on a list that they can be too much.

I don't think I know any (other) Pollys, actually. [ponders] I do know a couple of Scarletts now I come to think about it, but not enough to make it seem like a trend.

All you posters being sanctimonious about how you never notice people's choice of clothes or lifestyle -- have you seriously never turned up somewhere (and a children's Saturday music school is as good as anywhere) and inwardly rolled your eyes at the fact that nearly every child is wearing either a variant of the same brightly printed anorak, or the funky coloured duffle?

really? Cos some playgrounds round here it looks like a flipping catalogue shoot. I don't really care what people wear, or what they name their dc. I just get a bit bored of hearing the same first names, and seeing the same clothes the whole time. A bit of branching out wouldn't go amiss.

But as you were.

I'm fed up of coming on to a names thread and seeing people saying 'Oh yes Beatrice is very common now'

I have a Beatrice and she's the only one I know but everytime I read a thread like this I become awash with the horrible thought that in fact there are 1800 other Beatrices awaiting us at secondary school.
And yet I never meet any of them.....

How else does one have a class if not born into it?

I love discussions about class. Especially when some people get all offended about class. :o

BUT Northernlurker...they say that about EVERY name. Unless you ask for an opinion on a completely obscure name.

If it helps I don't know any Beatrice's. I only know one little Daisy too and that is my little girl but it's 'everywhere' apparently.

My DSs would PSML if they knew a girl called Pia.

Thanks Charlie I only know one Daisy and she's about 9 or 10.

'PMSL' or even 'piss themselves laughing'

There are some names used right across the board, but some are used more in some areas than others.

Here are some names of children I know. Now, I want you in your head to separate them into children I have met through work at a support centre and the childen of uni friends.

Bailee-Mae, Isolde, Amelia, Harley, Kayla-May, Tyler-Joe, Constance (known as Connie), Riley, Edward.

Done it? You are probably right.

Well, there's Polly Toynbee. She's taken seriously.

I think people feel 'safe' using the names of their friends' children, wearing the same clothes as others, having the same objects around the house etc. From a need to belong or sometimes to finally be accepted in their social group. But, yes, can be boring: same baby bag, same boots, same type of jeans, another tick for the big car etc etc. But then you look at others and think 'have you no imagination?' or 'can't you think for yourself?' and then you realise that you yourself follow the crowds with some aspect or another. Just no time to be original over every thing in life.