Categories

[weaselinthenight]

I have decided that - VERY broadly speaking - boys' names fall into four categories:

Classic
eg James, Thomas, William, Henry

Old Man Chic
eg Alfie, Bertie, Sidney

Old Testament
eg Noah, Isaac, Josiah

Modern
eg Jordan, Jayden, Kai

Any others? Is it the same for girls' names?

Nouveau Posh
Hugo, Jago, Jasper

I would add "Try Too Hard" and "wacky"

Also
Nu Age Bohemian
River, Stone, Merlin, Phoenix
Or for girls
Summer, Gaia, Savannah, Meadow

Rather than a baby name book, you need a Geography text book.

What about the other end of the spectrum from 'nouveau posh'?

bananamummy: see "modern"

Loving nouveau posh and nu-age bohemian! It's quite depressing how difficult it is to find something original without falling into the 'try to hard' category. I suppose names are like clothes - we choose them deliberately in order to show which category we belong to...

" I suppose names are like clothes - we choose them deliberately in order to show which category we belong to..."

Perhaps some people do. But many don't. We chose names that sound we love the sound of, that sound good with our short surname, that work in 2 languages and that are outside the top 100 (i.e. not used too widely already). As simple as that. And we actually tried VERY HARD to find them - it's an important decision .

Seems a very British obsession, this 'labelling' of names .

We also tried very hard to find lovely names for our children. According to your rules they are probably a mixture between 'old man chic', 'classic', 'nouveau posh' and 'try hard'. They are also quite rarely used (should that be another category?) and perhaps even 'wacky'. We certainly love them!!

I have a classic (which is new testament apparently, and dirt common) and an old testament (which was unusual but now in the top 100).
I think names DO fall into categories otherwise why would people on here say, on the baby name threads, Oh if you like XYZ you might like ABC too?

Love this thread!! :) Especially "nouveau posh"!!!

Yeah Merlypuss, I agree. Plus you'd be living in a vacuum if you could ignore connotations you build up after a lifetime of dealing with people's names. And the fact that there are over 400 pages of threads on this site shows how much EVERYONE agonises over choosing the right name for their child!

Love this. So so true. The decision isn't often the name....it's the blimmin category if falls....

I split your Classic into monarchy through the ages and New Testament

Aspiring posh to me includes arlo milo theo (which may just be a sub category of names which end in o!)

" I suppose names are like clothes - we choose them deliberately in order to show which category we belong to..."

..I agree with this to an extent but perhaps it would be more accurate to say what category we 'think' we belong to or even 'hope' to belong in.

I'm agonising over two names at the moment. One I really like and the other is a name that is more widely used and therefore 'established'. The main issue is what category the first name may belong to....

What about the simple distinction into

a) trendy, popular, top 100 names

and

b) less widely used names, more classic and/or unusual