can't believe how nasty this thread has turned sorry lockets. just because a name has been used on dogs cats etc doesn't make them animals names in themselves . in the past i've known pets called max , tom ,timmy , jimmy . primrose ,willow etc all perfectly acceptable as childrens' names and i don't think they'd get the stick and name calling that rex has received .
names in themselves can't be posh imo , yes they can be asociated with certain groups and the rarer a name the easier it is to label it . unusual and trying to hard does not neccessarily mean the same thing .
how names are perceived changes over time ,jade and tracey for example were once affluent high class names . likewise 40 or 50 years ago charlotte would have been seen as quite well to do imo .
getting back to the op's original question ,we have an arabella and 3 other names mentioned on this thread and we are definitely not posh .we agonised over her name due completely to the fact it was seen as sloaney. we loved the name 's meaning ,after experiencing a late miscarriage and 2 early mc she is definitely a beautiful answer to prayer . we weren't brave enough and gave it to her as a middle name joking on the way to register her that if we called her arabella we'd have to buy her a pony if not a"paddock full" of them .
when she was a few months old we started to use it as her first name .in that time the only issue we've had is not on people commenting on it's poshness but rather that their first response is annabella that's nice to which i than go no ARA bella .i've obviously inflicted on her a lifetime of having to spell her name , an issue i'd never have predicted .
most people we meet seem to have never heard of it before but do comment on how pretty it is . the worse case scenario if she feels it's a burden it can easily be shortened to belle, bella neither of which carry the same "trying to hard " label .
so if you love it go for it she will become her name and the scoffers will get over themselves .