Billy or Alfie?

[Boy12345]

Thanks!

William, nn Billy.

I'm sorry I am not keen on any of those names... Alfie and Billy and are very common English names, why not think of an uncommon name?

'as am employer i can say that names are the first things we see about someone. it indicated class - which in turn leads to education etc.'

Well Billy/Alfie will be of a generation where his peers have all sorts of names from the solidly traditional to the hippiest of dippiest. I can't really envisage an employee 30 years from now thinking First class degree from Oxford, great. Three years working with the UN, great..............but wait, oh no, he's called Billy....he must be w....w......working class!'

*MitzyLeFrouf Mon 27-Jun-16 22:53:23
'as am employer i can say that names are the first things we see about someone. it indicated class - which in turn leads to education etc.'

Well Billy/Alfie will be of a generation where his peers have all sorts of names from the solidly traditional to the hippiest of dippiest. I can't really envisage an employee 30 years from now thinking First class degree from Oxford, great. Three years working with the UN, great..............but wait, oh no, he's called Billy....he must be w....w......working class!'*

Except that's not quite what I said, is it?

I said that wwe judge people on their names and can tell a lot about them from those names - including social class and background. I don't understand why you would want to disadvantage your kid from the outset.

So what are your thoughts exactly when you think someone might be working class? You automatically see this as a disadvantage?

Interesting. Says a lot about you.

What a revolting thing to say, userwhateverthenumberis. I really hope that the majority of employers out there wouldn't immediately judge people as being unworthy of employment purely because they might be poor or have a 'common' first name.

They would just put William or Alfred on a job application anyway. Classic English names.
I hate all this class discrimination.

For me it has nothing at all to do with 'class'. I just find names like Alfie, Archie, Billy etc. too cutesy and somehow lacking in substance. I also find them very overdone and likely to sound dated soon.

I would go for Billy, I think Alfie is quite overused and I don't like Alfred.

Always baffled by this what about when he gets a job argument. I don't want my DS working for anyone who gives a shit about his class or parents taste in names thanks.

Unless you're going for a job at The Lady magazine or the Tory front bench I think working class people should be just fine.

Posts like that from username worry me as my son Ethan has what some have said is a 'trendy' name but I had not come across the views of some on this forum when I named him. We liked the name and Ethan Allen is a famous American War Hero (American family). I would pick a name you like perhaps put the full name on the birth certificate if comments like those above would worry you.

William nn Billy

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the name Ethan Blues so do not worry. I know three of them and they all come from very different backgrounds.

Billy definitely.

William then shorten to Billy if you want to

Don't like Alfie at all

I've never met a Billy or an Alfie I didn't like As a teacher I've always found Alfies to be cool and Billys to be very sweet...

Alfie is just a bit too cutesy
William is much better but I don't like billy

Alfie is overused and twee.

Billy is better - preferably as a nickname for William.

Billy

But I don't think 'alfie' will tell an employer anything in 21 years time.

Alfie is to cutesy to be a proper adults name and Alfred is too old-man for a baby (or anyone if you ask me...).

William is lovely, it gives him lots of options for nicknames too - Billy, Liam, Will etc. Bear in mind that if you plan to use a nn from birth it might not stick, my brother was meant to be Jamie (James on the birth cert) but he didn't like it and never called himself anything other than James.

Awful names. The Alfie in DS class is a troublemaker.

I have a grown up William. He is mostly known as Will. I call him William. Billy would be ridiculous on a strapping man him.

This one's hard for me. I don't actually like either of the short forms very much, but I like Alfie slightly better than Billy - but I love William (with Will as a short form if one is needed) and think Alfred sounds like someone really old.

I don't get it when people think Billy only sounds right on a little boy - to me it's rather dated and I think of it as belonging more to fairly old men!

I like both! Don't be disheartened!

I prefer Alfie but feel it is more predictable and overused at the moment than Billy so would probably choose Billy 😊 X

Billy. Much nicer and not as common as Alfie these days.