Posh/Wannabe/not posh at all? Please vote...[confused]

[MagdalenaAlec]

Baby#2 will be here in 2 1/2 months and we still do not have decided on a name if it is a boy... I am French, DH is British and we live in the US, so we have to come up with a name that rolls off the tongue in both languages. Because of this, and let's be honest because we are a little snobby too - at least DH is :o , our list probably contains "posh" names.

Question is: which ones would you consider posh and more importantly how posh are they?

Henry
Gabriel
Hadrian (or Hadrien - French spelling)
Amaury
Virgile
Victor
Etienne
Clement
Constant
Joseph
Baptiste
Ian or Iain
Ivan or Iven
Ariel
Ralph ("Rafe"): I know this one is posh..
Barthélémy

We do not really mind if the name is posh, we just want to avoid the "try hard", "wannabe" label. FYI, DS1 is called Alec Charles, and if baby#2 is a girl, her name will either be Adelaide Poppy or Octavia Louise.

Besides, what do you think of the boy names I listed? Would you find some of them too odd? Especially thinking of Amaury, Ariel (too feminine? I love the name for a boy...), Constant and Barthélémy...

Many thanks for your help!!!!

Nothing wrong with 'posh' names imo! Better than a chav name .

Love Clement, Etienne, Ivan and Ralph. Also love Octavia Louise.

Some of your names would not roll off the tongue of a non-French speaker - for example I have no idea how to pronunce Virgile - Virgil-ee/Virg-ile? Hard G or soft G?

Ariel is too associated with the Little Mermaid and while Ralph/Rafe is posh in the UK I'm not sure of the US association - Ralph Wiggum from the Simpsons?

The rest are all nice.

But if you live in america these names will be positively 'normal' won't they ?

The only one I really don't like is Ian (the exact opposite of posh in my mind)

I don't think Amaury or Virgile roll off the tongue to be honest.

I'd consider Ariel a girl's name, as in Little Mermaid.

Barthelemy is trying too hard imo and I had no idea Constant was a name. Ivan or Ian I feel are middle aged men names and probably Victor as well.

I like Hnery, Gabriel and Etienne. Also like Joseph and Ralph and Hadrien. Though I think Hadrien might be a bit of a love it/loath it name. They all seem quite posh to me.

I'm not keen on Clement or Baptiste.

How about Benedict?

If you live in the US, why are you worried about the UK archaic class associations? Most Americans seem much more open minded. And I know lots of children with 'foreign' names who have no problem with pronuciation - people learn quickly. Choose the name YOU love!

I love (in order):
Barthélémy - so long as you can live with Bart as an inevitable US and probably UK shortening
Etienne
Ariel - though will you be pronounncing it in French or English? Ari is a cool short name

I am not so keen on:
Ralph ("Rafe") - little bit try-too-hard
Virgile Amaury- neither chime for me
Ian/Iain - I'm Scottish so would prefer Iain, but really both names are a bit run of the mill and you've got much more interesting names on your list

Octavia Louise is lovely

The rest of you're names are OK - but I'd probably choose from the one's I love;

I like Henry, Ian and Joseph out of your list. Don't think they are to 'posh' Just lovely names.
Ivan reminds me of 'Ivan th engine'. Sorry ( shows my age to!!)

Some answers:
Virgile is pronounced VER-jil, just like the Roman Poet. I am really afraid of puns with this name and "virgin" when my son will be in high school... What do you think? Am I getting paranoid?

I love Ariel and I am starting to hate the Little Mermaid for this. But somehow people started to name their daughters Maya and I feel that the name is less and less tied to Maya the Bee.

Barthélémy and Constant are pretty rare French names but they are considered as classic (along with Joseph, Amaury, Henry and Hadrian: they are all in the same category)

I have the same problem with Benedict that I have with Barthélémy: the English form! Benedict sounds like Bénédicte in French which exclusively a girl name, and the French form of the name - Benoît - is unpronounceable in English (Be-nwha). As to Barthélémy, it is the other way around: no French people will be able to say Bartholomew.

Amaury: would you know how to pronounce it when you read it? DH manages to, but that does not really count, and we do not want to tell our families the names we have picked so far (avoiding family wars)

I can say Benoit and I'm English...

I like Ariel, Etienne, and Gabriel :)

What about Emil?

Really posh people have quite solid, traditional names (plus outlandish nn!), so I think your list is quite a mix. I'd say:

Henry - posh, lovely
Gabriel - not posh; bit religious, artsy
Hadrian (or Hadrien - French spelling) - possibly posh
Amaury - not really known in UK
Virgile - too close to Thunderbirds
Victor - not posh, like
Etienne - not posh because not widely used, would work in UK
Clement - slightly posh, bit religious
Constant - slightly posh, also religious
Joseph - middling, lovely
Baptiste - not posh because very religious
Ian or Iain -not posh unless Scottish, like
Ivan or Iven - Ivan, middling, like. Iven - looks wrong in UK
Ariel - bohemian, not posh
Ralph ("Rafe"): I know this one is posh.. Nuff said!
Barthélémy - not in use in UK. Bart is probably Simpsons, but could be posh.

The reason why I worry about my son being labelled "try too hard" in the UK is because his father is British and if we cross the pond again, we will probably settle in the UK. I know I am a very stressed out mum :o

Hadrian is fabulous! Sounds silly but I've never thought of it as a name before but I love it! What would you shorten it to?

Octavia louise is stunning and would be very posh in uk but I'd use it anyway and I love Adelaide too but maybe not so much teamed it's poppy. Poppy Adelaide sound better imvho

Wish I'd had your ideas when I was naming dd!

I know a Benoit and I don't think anyone has problems with his name.
Constant is a bit odd- I think the English equivalent is really Constantine? I do like that.
Gabriel - i used to like but it is everywhere now plus I work for an american firm and the shortened form Gabe seems everywhere (and a bit too all american for me)
Of the rest I like Etienne and Clement

"Ivan the engine"?? I have no idea what it is.. Idem with Thunderbirds.. Is it a TV program?
I wrote "Iven" because if we go for "Ivan", the French are going to pronounce it like "Iv-ann" (rhymes with Ann)...

What do mean by religious? Religious origin or worn by religious people?

You can't go wrong with Henry, Gabriel or Joseph - they're all classic names.

I really wouldn't/don't have a clue how to pronounce Amaury. Ay-Marie ????

But I am a bit dim.

I have a Rafe (christened Raphael). Posh? Bwahahahaha. Not on your nelly. He's named after a ninja turtle.

I really like your names. Ian stands out as a middle-aged banker however.

What about Sacha? I love it but dh said no. Ditto Abraham (Bram). I am aware you didn't ask for suggestions btw.

@WetTheMogwai: thanks! It probably has to do with my mother yelling at anyone calling me Magda when I was young (and I continue to insist on using my full name) but I do not want to shorten my son's name..
I think Octavia Louise (+ Martha as a third name: after great-grandmother Sophie-Marthe) is going to be our final choice for a girl! Poppy is DH's all time favorite girl name but I might convince him to change it to another "flower" name (Iris, Violet). We also had Sibylle (FR) and Honoria on the list.

@tomverlaine: yes I believe it is Constantine which, just like Benedict, is an exclusively girl name in French (masculine form: Constantin - which is very very snobbish!). I totally agree: Gabriel's popularity and its nickname "Gabe" are the two reasons why we have not settled for it yet.

Is it Henry or Henri?
I always loved Henri Leconte the tennis player, gorgeous hair.
A lovely name. All names are lovely in a french accent!
Raphael is one of my fav names.

Amaury = more or less "A-mo-ree" - as if I spelled it "Amori" (which I will not :o )

I had no idea Ian was so "middle aged" banker - I thought it was nice with DS1's name Alec. Does Iain have the same image?

ShowOfHands: I cannot name baby#2 Sacha because it is a nickname for Alexander in Russian hence would be redundant with Alec, Aleksandar (uncle), Alexis (godfather) and many other relatives. Sacha is a lovely name though, same thing for Saskia which is a Dutch girl name.

IMO, you can't go wrong with 'royal', french or british, names if you want it to be posh (perhaps Stephen is exception!). Like Charles, Henry, James etc, probabaly not Aethelred...

Whilst I have a decided weakness for unusual names such as you have listed its hard not to think they are abit try hard. I'm a hypocrite though as my fav girl's name is Aurora, and am considering a Greek goddess theme (argh, so cringe I know!!!) with Diana if we have 2 girls!

Whoops...Need to self correct before people far better educated than me point out my deliberate mistake: Greek / Roman goddesses!