Snobbery to popular names

[Tblock]

Anyone get the feeling of a lot of snobbery when it comes to popular names ? I have seen it on here a lot. “Oh I don’t like Alifie, it’s far to popular and over done “ “ Ava way to popular and over used “ etc etc. Seen it a lot of times when people have wanted an opinion and specifically mention a popular name. I don’t feel anyone should feel like they can’t name a child a name they love, just because it’s a popular name and is a “trend” as such. I know it’s all opinions, but I get the impression people don’t like certain names, purely because they are popular and it’s the in thing to do in bashing popularity. If you want to name you’re child a name that will probably have another 6 of the same in his/her school then so be it. Nobody had an issue when we were in school and everyone was called jack , Sarah, Daniel, Rachel etc, why such snobbery these days ? Just something I have picked up a lot

I have a name that was very popular when I was born, to the point that I am always referred to by my full name even when there is no one else with that name in the relevant group. I wanted to avoid that for my child. That’s not snobbery though, and it’s nothing to do with the names themselves. The most popular names are lovely - they are popular for a reason.

There's name snobbery, where people see a name as an indicator of socio-economic background, and there's pointing out that a name is overused.

I find names that are new to me take a bit of time to get used to. Names that are overused just become a bit boring.

Alfie was quite cool about 25 years ago, but now it's past it's best. Olivia , Ava and Freya, nice when you only know one but a bit meh now. I never liked Ava much - it's a bit nothingy.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that people who are sufficiently interested in names to be on a baby names board have preferences outside the top ten.

The vast majority of people just pick a name they like and never make it to this board 🤷🏼‍♀️

I wouldn’t call anyone silly though for calling their kid chelsea, which is exactly what you did to describe my reasoning for calling my child the name I’m going to give him. I personally wouldn’t call them that, but wouldn’t insult someone who chose that name, which is exactly what you did to me. Totally different, so don’t try to justify it.

I didn’t say anything of the sort. I said the name was silly, in my opinion. Nothing about the parents.

There is but my bugbear is people who give their kids surnames/made up names/random objects not used as names/shortenings. Call me a snob but I think kids deserve a proper name for their schooling/cv/work - have a family nickname but don't put that on the birth certificate. How popular that name is is not relevant, you can use a nickname to differentiate if desired. And yes my kids both have traditional Old Testament names, and both use nicknames with friends.

I would say that surely posting on a baby name board is good for unbridled opinions?

It's how to get the unvarnished truth to how people will perceive your child's name (bearing in mind the Mumsnet demographic).

For instance, I think one of my relatives has given her child quite a chavvy name. I would never dream of saying that to her. Nor do I get into RL conversations about my thoughts of the name.

Had she asked me in advance my thoughts, I would have made my feelings known tactfully. Had someone else asked me on an anonymous Internet forum I might have been a bit more forthright (although hopefully mindful that posters may have already named their children the same).

If people can't take the sometimes brutal honesty, perhaps a baby name discussion isn't the place to be.

Also - who the hell cares what any one poster thinks? We're all just random strangers on the internet with nothing better to do than pass judgement on names on baby name websites

I'm not snobbish about it, but I would warn any parent off choosing a name that's really common because my mum gave me a very common name. I don't dislike the name in and of itself, but I was one of six in my class, and because I wasn't the most popular one, eventually I literally stopped responding to my name because I turned around so often to find it wasn't me being addressed. Eventually I just picked a random other name to use when I went to uni, and I've been that ever since. I felt completely dissociated from my very common name. My mum has always been upset about this, but it is what it is.

A friend named her baby Tom. Just Tom.
I thought it was a bit silly, because everyone would assume it was short for Thomas.

Another acquaintance has an Alex, but they regret not calling him Alexander, so that he could have a choice of Alex or Xander.

@Tblock yes Chelsea is a bit chavvy, but nothing beat the twins at my DD's first school called Chardonnay and Merlot I kid you not. Of course the kids didn't care as at 4 they didn't get they were wine types but you can imagine the parents in the playground not helped by the fact the mum herself was only 22 (was only 17 when they were born) so was already being judged, wrongly of course, on her parenting ability. No idea what happened to them because we moved 2 years later.

All babies should be called Bruce until they can choose their own name at 5.

[quote movingonup20]@Tblock yes Chelsea is a bit chavvy, but nothing beat the twins at my DD's first school called Chardonnay and Merlot I kid you not. Of course the kids didn't care as at 4 they didn't get they were wine types but you can imagine the parents in the playground not helped by the fact the mum herself was only 22 (was only 17 when they were born) so was already being judged, wrongly of course, on her parenting ability. No idea what happened to them because we moved 2 years later.[/quote]
Haha brilliant

@GingerBeverage

All babies should be called Bruce until they can choose their own name at 5.

No child should choose their name at 5. They would all be called Superman or Care Bear or something insane.

Ahem www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-474267/Couple-barred-calling-baby-4Real-settle-Superman-instead.html

I personally wouldn’t call them that, but wouldn’t insult someone who chose that name, which is exactly what you did to me

No, she didn't.

I actually cannot get my head round why anyone would want to call their child such a silly name, IMO, even though I accept that is the case

She called the NAME silly.

No one has called you silly.
No one has suggested your a social inferior for liking Alfie or other popular names.
No one has been spiteful.
You're so very desperate to be offended for is not all fawning over your name choices

Ah, now I definitely do think this about some names. It's not a dealbreaker for me, though, because it all factors in to how much I like the name to begin with. So, for example, I love the name George. I don't care that it's really popular and has been for years. I'd definitely have used it for my ds (but DH vetoed). However, if there's a name that I'm not fussed about AND I seem to see/hear it everywhere, I end up not really liking it. Equally, there are some "out there" names that get absolutely derided on here but that I love. As for my own DC names - both have cropped up time and again on here. One is apparently "downmarket" and the other is "try hard"! I definitely don't pass the mn name test 😂

Even the "classics" feel boring when they're everywhere. I adore 'Jane' as a first name because it's humble, timeless, sweet and simple but I know that if it were to become as popular as Olivia, Alice and Sophie currently are then I'd feel a lot differently about it. When a name is everywhere, classic or not, we get bored of it...it's only natural.

The problem is none of us can predict the next round of top 25 popular names so there's not much you can do but choose a name you really like and maybe take a look at the top 100 list and avoid any high up so your LO isn't one of millions in their year group.

@SleepingStandingUp

I personally wouldn’t call them that, but wouldn’t insult someone who chose that name, which is exactly what you did to me

No, she didn't.

I actually cannot get my head round why anyone would want to call their child such a silly name, IMO, even though I accept that is the case

She called the NAME silly.

No one has called you silly.
No one has suggested your a social inferior for liking Alfie or other popular names.
No one has been spiteful.
You're so very desperate to be offended for is not all fawning over your name choices

Oh bore off. Was I asking you ? She specifically called parents selfish for picking a name like that. You clearly can’t read. Wether she was literally meaning me or not, she knew exactly what she meant. I’m over it now anyway, I suggest you should be as well.

The main name gripes on here, and off here, are:

•Nicknamey names especially those without a formal BC option for adulthood.
•Names that are currently too popular.
•Chavvy Names, Wet/Twee Names & Posh Names.

You see it depends if you crave a name to be different. Within the herds of people types, some want a very very unique name. Others want something a bit different...not unheard of, but not very widespread. Others want a name which is very widely known and doesn’t draw any attention for itself.

It really depends on whether you want to draw attention to your child and the methods you wish to use to do so. Some people really want attention and the name is a big way to do this. Others really want to avoid drawing attention and especially for such things.

I wouldn't a very popular name for my dc to be honest. The school is full of Archie's, Thomas's, Emily's and Sophie's etc as it is

@BritishTeapots, you missed out 'princessy' and 'frilly' names.

“it’s too controlling of the parent - there’s no room for a child to create his own nickname or short form etc. I actually cannot get my head round why anyone would want to call their child such a silly name “

@SleepingStandingUp. Oh sorry controlling then she said, not selfish. That’s still a vindictive post. Not fawning over anything or wanting to feel offended, it’s just facts. Deal with it.

People passing on names because they feel it’s to popular, despite them really liking a name. Sad really.

Can you see the irony here? You are judging people for the criteria that they use to name their child.

Popularity was an important consideration for me when I was choosing my own children’s names. Who are you to declare that ‘sad’?

@MerryChristmasToYou
Oh yes so I did. The Arabellas.

•Nicknamey names especially those without a formal BC option for adulthood.
•Names that are currently too popular.
•Chavvy Names, Wet/Twee Names, Posh Names & The Frilly/Princess variety.

But lots of people come on here and want opinions on names and that includes popularity doesn't it? So they can decide if that is a factor that bothers them or not.
I've seen posters on her start threads saying "I like unique very rare names -so am thinking Arlo for a boy or Luna for a girl"

I think some people having a baby for the first time think "well I don't know anyone called [Arlo] so I expect it's really rare" so I think it's helpful if people tell them about the explosion of popularity in names like Arlo, Roman, Hunter, Luna, Arthur, Isla etc
I'm more familiar with the official chart lists now but I never used to be. If I heard of a baby named Noah or Ava 3 years ago (before my own kids) I'd honestly have thought it really unusual and would probably comment "wow that's unusual"