I was told Zachary was a “council house name”

[Nononotacceptable]

I am only guessing at what they mean by a “council house name” but I assume they didn’t mean it in a kind way.

So, assuming they mean a big downmarket (apologies to council tenants, not my opinion) it isn’t anyway is it?

AverageMummy

Freakonomics has an interesting chapter on how names “trickle downwards” from the upper/middle classes.

Zachary is a good example of that in action.

I love Zachary, definitely not a "council estate" name.

And what is wrong with council estates

Just because it's an old or religious name doesn't protect it from 'trickling down the classes'.

It has happened to a lot of names.

BarryBarryTaylor Who are you talking to?

Yes, I think it has “trickled down”. Certainly where we are Zachary is on a par with names like Shane and Liam.

Sorry cranetime it was from the first page, Boronation Street I think!

@SemperIdem that makes sense ! I think hyphenated names were originally posh....

BarryBarryTaylor. Right! Zacky to me is just a cute nickname of Zachary, in fact as there is a Zachary at school (always called by his full name) who is a bit of a terror, Zacky sounds better to me!

At least you can have a nickname - Zac, Zacky - unlike Shane. Shay? Sha? Doesn’t work for me!

I wanted Zachary or Zachariah if I had a boy, I didn't. It's a biblical name, timeless

The bible doesn't protect names from becoming 'common' or trickling down!

People regularly say ‘biblical’ as though it’s a protected name type that will always be considered respectable & ‘classic’ irrespective of fashion.

Here are my favourite biblical names

Kitron
Haggith
Gaash
Diving-gad
Kish
Beth-dagon
Candace
Dodo
Garmites
Gob

I think Zachary isn’t the original interpretation from the Bible anyway - it’s Zachariah / Zacharias ?

I still think Zachary is a lovely name but yes you’d need to be ok with sharing the name choice with a wide set of demographics now.

Fullmoons This is true! Aaron, Darius and Dorcas are all in the bible!

No, I really don’t think so. It’s not up there with Jayden, Jackson and Kai. It’s a bit of a classless name imo, could fit any class.

Not a 'council estate' name at all imo.
Certainly not part of the Kayden/Jayden et al brigade.

AverageMummy, Zachary comes from the ecclesiastical Greek, Zacharias or the Hebrew, Zecharya or Zecharyah. I googled :-).

Good names all.

The thing I don't like about the name are the nicknames including Zac, Zack, Zak, Zak, Zach, Zacky etc and to me they all sound like sounds from a comic book.

Well the majority verdict is that it’s a perfectly normal name!

I think that it has trickled down though. Interestingly I think some names, like James, can trickle down and never get connotations.

I only know one. When he was born his father was a member of parliament.

Do you give a shit though OP, that's what matters? (obviously you do to start a thread) But i mean, will it keep you up at night if a jumped up twat thinks the name is too "council estate"

I go to a grammar school and there's about ten Zachs in my year. All of them are middle class, what a load of shit it's not council at all.

I personally don't like the name, but it's a perfectly normal name.

I’m not sure why going to grammar school means you don’t live in a council house!

I think that it has trickled down though

And that's fine. People in council houses are perfectly capable of choosing nice normal names too.

@Nononotacceptable I think James though might have more associations with Jim? But yes the use it’s so widespread it doesn’t overly shout any demographic.

Zachary is actually great because I don’t think having an overly posh sounding name is ideal either - Zack could be a Professor or cabbie without seeming really odd.

The trickle down thing though tends to gradually stop others using the names (I guess which you’re seeing with that comment / this thread). So hyphenated names start posh, move to all & the end up being too common for the posh. I guess there’s a risk of that with a name like Zachary.

I over analyse EVERYTHING & pretty much hate all names & even I’d still use Zachary - it’s a really lovely name