Is there such a thing as a Chav name

[MarySA]

I'm quite interested in those name theories. And how names go in and out of fashion. I've read on here about Chav names but is there such a thing. I see names that make me cringe but is it right to think of Chav names. And also upper class names. I must say I regard some names as a bit upper class like say Octavia and Benedict. I'd expect them to sail into Oxford University on their name alone. (Only joking) Anyone got any thoughts on this. And stereotyping by name.

My definition of a chav name is one told to me by a midwife, who said when she asks a new born baby's name and is told something like 'Chevroneeyshah.' Midwife asks how it's spelled and the mum says, 'Dunno, I just made it up.'

not really but if you name your child after a brand of alcohol its risking it being called chav.

I think anything trying too hard to be trendy is chavvy!

Chardonay with one n. Anything else is fine.

There is a chapter in "Freakonomics" about this, which says that chav names (author doesn't exactly say that, but it's what he means!) are the Olivia and Benedict of some time ago - the names kind of filter through as they get more well used, but then they get abandoned by the people who now feel Olivia and Benedict are a bit common, in both senses.

Love that definition, racingheart. I remember sitting in baby clinic with DS, next to a young mum I was old enough to be her mother, never mind DS' and asked what her baby girl's name was. She said something like Jadie-Mae, and I said something like, that's an unusual name, and she said yes, I made it up the minute I saw her.

And there was pregnant me spending hours picking through baby naming books for a friendly-sounding but biblical and solid name that wouldn't get DS picked on in the school playground. Oh well, each to their own!

What StrandedBear said!

Oh yes, agree StrandedBear. I admit I get a bit judgey about anything misspelled so it will be "different" - I don't tend to think, "ooh, unique", I tend to think, "ooh, illiterate".

In my opinion a PERSON can be chav, posh or whatever else you Brits like to label people with, but a name is just that, a NAME, a collection of letters.

Maybe outing myself! I tell this story a lot! In a maternity hospital with my sister, a woman in front calls out to her daughter....ready?....

"Pocahontas O'Neill come here". I'm NOT making this up. Incredible.

A rose by any other name, eh Tammy?

The label 'Chav' may be a British thing, but the notion that names are evocative, descriptive and have certain associations attached to them in different cultures is surely not an especially new concept? If that were not true, then Oxford University would be full of Jaydens, Chardonnays and Shandy-Mays. It's not, is it? It may not be desirable, but names do suggest certain social and cultural groups whether we think they should or not. If they didn't, discussions like this wouldn't take place every week on MN.

Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me. Unfortunately, that's bollocks, too. Language is more powerful than that.

tammy, IMO it's a bit like the line in Pygmalion where Henry Higgins says, "the moment an Englishman opens his mouth, another Englishman despises him" - except with names, you don't even have to open your mouth....

Names convey all kinds of things about their owner. That's one reason why many employers sift job applications "blind", so they can't allow their (unconscious) prejudices to lead them to discriminate. In Britain at least, it really isn't just a collection of letters.

I changed them spelling of my name from ie to i when I was about 9. Really wish I hadn't now. :( Its so chavvy.

On a more lighthearted note than my previous post, names associated with brand names - Mercedes etc - are fairly chavvy, no?!

waltermitty do you live near Castlemilk, Glasgow? I've heard that Pocohontas McGinty lives there. Maybe she got married?

I think it depends on the brand.

I think that thinking a name is chavvy makes you seem a bit up yourself.

Quite true, Lockets! Those are not chavvy names! Would it work as a definition if I said brand names which were brand names before they were people names, IYKWIM? Although, in the case of Mercedes, that's obviously a name first, then a brand name, then a much more popular name?! Mmm, back to the drawing board on that particular theory!!!

I have an i ending name because it's Scandi. Everyone just assumes its a 70s spelling. The chavvy thing is a new one .

DS2's name is on that list lockets

Usual suspect - embrace the chavviness!! I don't mind a bit of chav in my life!

It's when you spell Portia .... Porsche or Porsharr , I think that's when it turns chavvy

You really think chav is not a derogatory word?

Its a bloody awful word.