In your opinion, can people with names like 'Posy', 'Kitty' or 'Dotty' be taken seriously?

[Stateofgrace]

...I happen to think so, but my family and a few friends disagree. Strongly.

Almost every name I have considered is of the 'cutesy' variety - as well as the above three, I also like Polly, Lola and Nelly. I seem to just like girly names. My mother is fond of telling me ''You are naming a person, not a baby'' as if I am not aware that baby will grow up.

I know that you shouldn't tell people the names before baby is born and present the name as a fait acompli, but I really don't want to pick a name which everyone else seems to hate...

Any thoughts / experiences on this? My mother this morning has just told me that ''she wouldn't trust a Doctor called something ridiculous like Posy'', which is actually one of my favourite names.

Any thoughts/experiences on this?

Bear is in a different league to Kitty, Millie etc.

Bear might suit a chubby toddler or big broad shouldered man, but what if your son grew up to be short and very slightly built?

What's your name amotherplace?

It's a shame you think Polly is a horrible name, I think it's pretty (and) inoffensive myself, but then we all like different things, eh? :)

In answer to your question, though, I don't think DD would appreciate being called George Alexander Louis, that might give her more to be teased about than a horrible name like Polly... :)

I don't think there's anything wrong with Polly - if anything, it sounds quite posh to me, not cutesy.

I don't personally like things like Millie, Emmie, Lola etc but I can't see all the cutie names being a problem in the future because, as has been suggested upthread, that will probably be the norm for a lot of groups of people. Or it won't seem all that odd, at least.

My rule would always be: if it don't sound graceful and dignified, or if there ain't no saint with that name, it's a no go.

I rather like Polly.

Though it is very much linked to Polly Pockets to me, I loved them as a child.

I am with you there Estelle.

Polly is, for reasons that escape me, a nickname for Mary.

I had no idea that Posy was a name. I've never met a Posy before. I think it's just too cutesy - more a name for a doll or perhaps a bunny rabbit

I hate hate hate these threads, but as I've said on here before there's going to be an entire generation of Poppy's, Tilly's, Daisy's, Freddie's and Archie's! They WILL be Dr's, lawyers, bus drivers, delivery men, business men, receptionists, nurses, teachers...whether YOU like it or not! FACT

Oh the irony of someone calling herself PennieLane railing at cutesy names ending in -ie...

Compared with Apple or Rumer they're grand

CharlieBoo....and breathe! :) I agree with you totally.

We're 90 percent set on Polly now :) I feel good about Polly. It's not quite Posy, but it's still a lovely, pretty name.

Thanks for all help, ladies :)

Very smiley today - hmmm, odd for late pregnancy

Polly is a proper name on its own. I know a high court judge whose daughter (aged 30ish) is called Polly.

Posy can be a name - but I would probably use Rosalind or Primrose.

I agree that in 40 years time these will be standard names for 40-somethings and the names won't hold them back but I'm 30 and have lots of friends called Amy, Kelly, Sophie, Katie etc and I still don't think they sound very classy/elegant for a 30 year old woman.

Look back in history. The people in the "top jobs" have had names chosen from the same small pool for hundreds of years. I would be amazed if that changed any time soon!

Very true. They all had names like James, George, Thomas and John.

It's not that long since women have been getting the 'top jobs' so I don't think little Polly's chances will be scuppered because she has a pretty Victorian name.

"Very true. They all had names like James, George, Thomas and John."

They still do!

Yes but my point is that there isn't a history of women having top jobs, so Polly will be just fine.

True, getting a top job has absolutely nothing to do with your name, just from coming from an entitled position where you go to the right schools and Oxbridge. If I wanted a cutesy name, I would choose something I could shorten (that way they can use the full version as an adult)

Getting g a "top job" can actually be influenced by your name- research has shown that interviewers are very judgemental about names. There certainly doesn't seem to have been much shift in the type of names that the movers and shakers have and give their children.

Yes name prejudice is a very real thing but more likely to adversely affect someone with an 'ethnic' name or a name that is perceived to be working class.

The only Pollys I've encountered have been solidly middle class and unlikely to be hampered by this kind of prejudice. I mean Polly is not a strange or even unusual name, if anything it's very traditional.

No, Polly's fine- sorry. Did I sound as if I didn't think it was?