good, classy English girl names...

[EmilyRoo]

I'm looking for classy* English girl names that aren't absolutely common like Elizabeth, but aren't stuffy and past their prime, like Muriel. Combination of scullery maid names and lady of the house names wanted, but more the latter!

Current List:

Georgiana
Henrietta
Cordelia
Harriet
Imogen
Beatrix
Clementine...except having doubts about this on an adult
Flora
Hermione-I know this and Penelope are Greek, but they also seem English, if that makes sense.
Penelope

*By "classy" I mean a name that isn't trying to hard, but isn't fished out of the gutter either.

Ooh Millicent is lovely! Except I don't like "M" names, it's such a closed off sound.

We've had Cecilia, Celia and Cecily but not ...

Cecile (so I'm adding it) also....

Esther
Erica
Daphne
Sybil!!!! How could we get this far and overlook Sybil?
Ottily
Marguerite
Eliza
Thomasina
Tamsin
Meredith
Suzanne
Georgette
Coralie
Francesca
Miriam
Isis
Augustine
Polly

Esme is making a come-back I hear- def English

Arabella
Honor
Norah
Genevieve
Euphemia (nn Effie) (biased as I know one and she's adorable)

names have such different associations. Only Leonora I ever knew had quite a moustache, BO and could bore for England. So never considered it a classy name.

Ariadne, Vivian, Evadne.

I do hope you don't sound too pretentious when you're shouting for your kids attention across the school playground.

Letch Lady re your post : Hmmm, what do you mean by 'Classy'? Because many names used by the 'classiest' ie Upper Class tend to be just normal names...

Here's a few from the Telegraph birth announcements over the past few years...

Lady Harriet had a daughters called Iona and Amelia
Lady Lingfield had a granddaughter callled Emillia
Lady Sarah had a daughter called Lucy
Earl of Jersey had a daughter called Evangeline
Lady Gretton had a daughter called Eloise
Lady Stephanie had a daughter called Jodie
Lady Oxmantown had a daughter called Olivia
Lady Noelle had a daughter called Kathleen
Lady Jacinta had a daughter called Leila

All perfectly normal names, and some I have seen described on MN as a bit chavvy (not that I would agree with that).

Letch Lady, you do realise, don't you, that Amelia, Lucy, Jodie, Kathleen et al will always be referred to by close family and friends as Piglet, Frog, Vixen, Torte (short for Tortoise) etc depending on the animal they resemble most closely at birth. It's possible Jodie might be Jodels but animal epithets will rule the day. :). You only known by your 'real' name by commoners and outer circle strangers :).

Yes, I do know that, but I also know that the so called classy try hard names will be looked down on as 'terribly middle class' and not in a good way .

Here are some (real life) exclusive private school names for you:
Tess
May
Jocelyn
Rosanna
Rose
Agatha
Isabella
Florence
Sophia
Ella
Jessica

pressed go before I had finished ...
Willow
Phyllida
Oenone
any one recognise the class list!!

Ah well forget the private school thing then! I'm really only looking for names similar in style to my original list. I do like Florence, though!

Why are animal nicknames used for um, offspring of lords and ladies?

EmilyRoo - A lot of the names you are considering would mark you out as extremely posh. Or extremely aspirational if you reveal that you changed your name in your 20s. Not bad things but if you want people to judge you on your personality and not on your name, you're better off sticking with Emily. There are people named Emily from all walks of life - the same doesn't necessarily apply to Georgiana and Henrietta. (For what it's worth, I like most of the names mentioned in this thread including those two.)

"But I do have to admit that I'd rather get name suggestions akin to Leonora -ones that are only found in elite private schools-probably because I haven't gone to one, and wish I had!"

I went to a private school, yes there was a Leonora (everyone called her Leo), but there were much more names like - Katie, Emma, Sophie, Lucy, Sarah, Jane, Caroline, Alice, Natasha, Harriet, Ann, Rebecca, Hannah, Clare, Gemma, and Rachel.

The pretentious names, were few and far between.

Leonora isn't an 'aspirational' name to my mind, it always seems to be used by landed gentry types along with names which anewmotivedme mentions. Seems to have stayed under the radar. Julian Fellowes explains the nickname thing better than I can in Snobs and Past Imperfections etc.

At risk of outing myself I have a name that features several times on this thread & was until recently only ever given to old ladies and the vair vair posh.

And regardless of what my northern council estate born & bred DP says I am neither of those things.

Cecelia
Tertia
Alexandria
Lucinda
Annabelle
Arrabelle
Polly
Mabel
Eliza
Claudia
Sophia
Honor
Matilda
Edwina
Pearl
Scarlett
Louisa
Martha
Serephene
Susannah
Frances
Serena
Camilla
Josephine
Dorothy
Cora
Alice/Alicia
Felcity
Daphne
Florence
Marjorie
Nancy
Gabrielle/a
Cora
Elspeth
Betty/Bettina
Phyllis
Millicent
Barbara
Elouise
Xenia
Ottoline
Clara

My dd middle name is Eugenie after my granny. Always gets compliments about being unusual and feminine.

stellan thanks for your concern I see where you're coming from.

1. I'm American and currently living in the States, where names arent classed as readily as they are in the UK. I'm on this particular site because the perspective is more um, grounded in reality than elsewhere.

2. I'm in the process of narrowing my list down, and adding some, and I promise I'm not considering something OTT! I'm narrowing/changing my list up a bit, planning on doing exactly one more thread asking for opinions et all then that will be it!

I do like Eloise!

In case anyone is wondering, Hermione, Imogen, Beatrix, and Penelope from my original list are still on. I've added Eloise, Millicent, Camilla, Adelaide, Eleanor and Genevieve.

Anyone: Beatrice vs Beatrix? Has this debate been done before?

Oh and could I throw in

Bianca
Sarah

My family have good english names, I'm Matilda Alexandra, my husband is Arthur George and we have four children; Beatrice Matilda, Charles Arthur, Elizabeth Charlotte and Katherine Eleanor. Our surname is Windsor Williams so I guess its very english.

What about Rose?

Victoria
Lavinia
Viola
Georgia or Georgiana (Georgina not so much)
Harriet
Elinor (spelt this way)
Catherine nn Kitty

verity, juno, sybil