The High Court Judge Test

[Snowball789]

is, I know, just a way of making sure that a name we are considering works for an adult as well as a baby/child but it made me wonder what High Court judges were actually called and if names can lead to success. Result? Awful! Yawn-inducing! Bleh! Women come off slightly better than the men (names posted below). I suppose this is because the popularity of names goes in cycles and three quarters of High Court judges are in their sixties and seventies when society was more rigid and less diverse. It is clear that no High Court judges are called Krystal or Rainbow Moon-buggy (the traditional spelling) but none of them are called Isabella, Olivia or Ted either for the previously stated reason. So I think the ‘test’ doesn’t quite work, particularly as there are a couple of Nigels, a Gary, a Neil and a Beverley which I wouldn’t have pegged as High Court judges. I have a ‘classic’ first name that would easily pass the ‘test’ combined with a relatively common surname and yet when I was in my late teens I discovered that I had exactly the same name (including spelling) as a woman who ran a multi-million pound porn empire – oh, so maybe the test does work after all, as she was extremely successful in her chosen field!

I wonder if in 2035 some High Court judges will be called Charlene, Tiffany or Dwayne? And in 2065 I am sure there will be a Grace or an Oliver but perhaps there will also be a Brittney or a Kai. Just as important, I hope at least 50% will be female.

I agree - given that high court judges will all be 40+, the list just reflects names that were popular 40+ years ago doesn't it? And there wasn't a trend for weird spellings or Game of Thrones type names. The chavviest names were Darren or Tracey.

So I'd guess in 20 years time there'll be plenty of Olivias and Tobys, and perhaps a Khaleesi and a Kai.

Incidentally isn't Cherie Booth a high court judge? She's not on the list...

What's the age range of those judges?

How do their names fit the baby names lists for that period? Or if such a thing exists, the Times/Telegraph lists?

One thing they seem to have in common is that they are pretty solid, traditional names, used across classes.

Not a Sharon or Wayne among them.

That looks about right to me. What I would expect high court judges born 1940's to 1960's to be called.

The high court judges born 2000+ will be Freddy, Charlie, Joseph, Thomas, Jude, Jesse, Ruby, Molly, Millie, Polly, Poppy, Emily etc.

..theres a Gary AuntieStella. Same vain as Sharon etc

As I said earlier, the names will barely change. Because the sort of families that produce high court judges will still be choosing their children's names from the same small pool. High Court judges are about my age. There are no Darrens, or Craigs or Tracys. There is one Gary, but he's the exception that proves the rule!

Totally disagree Bertrand. The 6th formers from my DS school just learnt they are into Oxford this autumn are Freddy, Emily, and Millie. They will be typical of names in higher professional circles.

Since when have Frederick, Emily and Amelia not been upper middle class names?

Freddy is definitely just Freddy, the much hated cutesy y ending according to MN. And there isn't one on that list. And Millie isn't Amelia - I haven't mentioned Amelia.

And names last year Oxford/Cambridge bound included Poppy and Daisy.

It's just wrong not to expect these names used by the middle and upper middle classes not to appear on those circles on the future. They will.

I know a judge called Darren.

Well obviously they aren't going to be exactly the same names, but out of the same pool.

at how many of us know judges!

These judges are too old for Sharon's and Tracey's. Most are early 70s. They have to retire at 75 and wiki gives their retirements dates which are pretty much in the next few years. These are high court judges not any judge. Cherie Blair isn't one. They are all sirs or dames and there are only 109 in the country.

"Those" families are not going to keep using "those" names. Roderick? Gary? Ian? Baby Stephen? The class distinction was far far more distinct 60/70 years ago when they were named.

They are late 40s to early 70s.

Oh and you just look at the names in most prep schools and private secondaries.

This is such a bizarre thread. Who could, or would want to, find a list of prep school children? Why the assumption that other posters have to research upper class names rather than just know? That's a very typically wannabe middle class POV, to think that people you speak to would know less than you about being posh.

You misunderstand me.

My point is that 50 years ago, now, and 50 or 100 years hence, high court judges are drawn from exactly the same pool of people. Who use exactly the same pool of names.

So the chances of a Sequoia or a Neveah being on the bench in 50 are vanishingly small. Just like the chances of a Tracy or a Dean this year. However much we might wish it to be different.

It's the same people. I would disagree they will use the same names. And I would certainly hope the world would become slightly more integrated

I went to school with a female Bobby. She wasn't a Roberta, just a Bobby.

Haha

boo I know a judge Darren too. The very same I imagine!