Can you predict based on names?

[Xenaaa]

Hello,

I have been reading the baby name forum a lot recently as I am expecting, and am surprised to see quite a few comments that associate certain names with class. I was not aware that class and baby names were linked at all!

Just out of curiosity what class are these girls names? Some of these names are on my list, and some are children or close acquaintances where I know what “class” they’re in.

I just want to know people can actually predict what class they’re in based on their child’s name.

Sienna
Aurelia
Sophia
Amelia
Evie
Ottilie
Amélie
Ophelia
Isla
Emmeline
Cassia
Ruby
Darcey

Interested to see if there are correct predictions!

(No offence meant in this post, all the above names are all beautiful and a lot of them are on my own personal list)

At a push I would say Ottilie, Emmeline and Ophilia are more middle class. The others spread across both working class and middle class. All of them are perfectly nice names.

What do you mean? Do you mean that if the children are class jumpers, the aspirational names ‘worked’?

Yes!

Or are children not allowed to 'move' out of the 'working' classes?

@Blubells

What do you mean? Do you mean that if the children are class jumpers, the aspirational names ‘worked’?

Yes!

Or are children not allowed to 'move' out of the 'working' classes?

Well, social mobility is faltering in general, anyway, and Covid has really hit it hard (see this: blogs.lse.ac.uk/covid19/2022/01/10/covid-has-hit-social-mobility-in-the-uk-and-young-peoples-prospects-are-shrinking/), but are you saying parents should name their children aspirationally and hope it means that little Peregrine, born to a binman and a cleaner, will find himself marrying into the landed gentry? Or are you only allowed to aspire one class above your own for your children?

are you saying parents should name their children aspirationally

No not 'should' but can! They should not be restricted to 'working class' names.

And that was in response to your original point:

I would say all of those names are aspirational working class. People trying to sound middle class. Bit try hard

I absolutely feel that it's wrong to criticise these parents for choosing names 'outside their class'

Seriously, it hadn't occurred to you that Thomas Wentworth Somerset Dunstan Rees-Mogg and Princess Tiamii Crystal Esther André might be from different social classes?

@Blubells one is the child of a wannabee celebrity, while the other is a child of a celebrity. (The latter child's father is apparently a nice man.)

@Erinyes due to British history some names are used by other cultures that are present in the UK.

Oh and people who emigrate to the UK may have working class jobs, but may actually not be working class. So when their children end up as middle class professionals their children are just at the same level their parents would have been if they hadn't been emigrated, whether it was forced or otherwise.

@Blubells

are you saying parents should name their children aspirationally

No not 'should' but can! They should not be restricted to 'working class' names.

And that was in response to your original point:

I would say all of those names are aspirational working class. People trying to sound middle class. Bit try hard

I absolutely feel that it's wrong to criticise these parents for choosing names 'outside their class'

I think you’re confusing me with another poster. I never suggested anything like that. I merely asked what you meant by ‘how do working class parents know how their children do in life?’ which suggested an aspirational idea of naming.

The royal family are super upper class, and despite having the best educations money can buy, perform really poorly academically. So educational achievement linked to class? Not so much.

From experience established middle class choose solid established names. The wannabes have a misconception that you need a “posh” name to be accepted. I suspect if you were to ask most of my DS17 friends where their name came from it is almost always a long-standing family name. DS was named after his paternal grandfather who actually died on the day I was born (DH was only 3 when his dad died) so has particular significance. It is an old name that is not particularly popular but suits him down to the ground. My nieces are both named after great great grandmothers. I was named after my grandmother ( with a subtle change to a name popular at the time).
Having done a lot of genealogy for generations the same names crop up generation after generation. Although my favourite girls names were Kazia and Decima, long forgotten but both popular in 19th century.

@Skelligsfeathers

The royal family are super upper class, and despite having the best educations money can buy, perform really poorly academically. So educational achievement linked to class? Not so much.

Well I guess if you assume that the academic performance of a single family is representative of British class structure as a whole then you'd have a point.

The problem with your assumption is that it is incorrect.

@RedWingBoots

Seriously, it hadn't occurred to you that Thomas Wentworth Somerset Dunstan Rees-Mogg and Princess Tiamii Crystal Esther André might be from different social classes?

@Blubells one is the child of a wannabee celebrity, while the other is a child of a celebrity. (The latter child's father is apparently a nice man.)

Celebrities aren't a class

But can someone dissect my list!

What are the thoughts on the names? What name associations are there?

@KidneyBeans no but they give their children "interesting" names.

*But can someone dissect my list!

What are the thoughts on the names? What name associations are there?*

No

I know people from all walks of life and of many different nationalities with those names. So no, I can't attribute a 'class' to them!!

I can tell you which names from your list I personally like - Sophia and Sienna. What does that tell you about my 'class'

@Xenaaa

But can someone dissect my list!

What are the thoughts on the names? What name associations are there?

It’s a pretty standard-issue list, though, OP. With the possible exception of the rather downmarket Darcey, and Cassia, which one doesn’t come across much, those names are fairly well-used and not particularly redolent of a specific social class. I know a Ruby whose siblings are Mexx and Kayden, and I also know a Ruby who’s in Burke’s Peerage and whose brother is heir presumptive to a whacking great title.

And I can think of Sophias/Sofias I know of no less than five different nationalities.

It’s a pretty standard-issue list, though, OP. With the possible exception of the rather downmarket Darcey

Really

Are you serious or joking?

I judge names all the time. I personally think everyone does to some extent otherwise we wouldn't put so much thought into choosing baby names. I think it's shaped by the people you meet with those names. The names that celebrities choose, I always thing that people with more than two middle names are incredibly rich. I don't know why, probably because royalty seem to have huge names.

Sienna - Chavy
Aurelia - I think of a little girl that day dreams a lot or hippy parents.
Sophia - I knew a girl in high school that was horrible so I just don't like this name.

Amelia - overused middle class

Evie - overused
Ottilie - upperclass
Amélie - French, trying to be a little bit different but still choose a popular name. Probably my favourite on your list and it has a lot of workable nicknames.
Ophelia - very upper class
Isla - working class and a very common name
Emmeline - sounds made up
Cassia - I think of hippy parents who are into star signs
Ruby - Chavy
Darcey - when I was younger I thought this was upper class but it seems to be more working class currently.

Thank youu!

I’m so surprised by darcey, ruby, Sienna and Isla!

Sienna, Isla, ottilie, Amélie, Emmeline, Aurélia and cassia were the ones on my personal list

@nameisnotimportant So Emmeline Pankhurst was a made up person then?

You clearly mix in very narrow circles with a poor knowledge of history.

@Blubells

It’s a pretty standard-issue list, though, OP. With the possible exception of the rather downmarket Darcey

Really

Are you serious or joking?

Joking about Darcey being downmarket? It’s a fairly widespread opinion, certainly not unique to me. See other threads about it on here.

There’s a fairly well-established phenomenon identified by Gladwell in Freakonomics that names begin with popularity in higher social status groups and then ‘trickle down’. Therefore if you take Sienna as an example, which used to be very rare but has gradually built in popularity over the last twenty-ish years, a twenty-something Sienna is more likely to be from a MC or UMC background than a three-year-old Sienna, who could be from a much wider social background.

Why is everyone so touchy about class? It's statistically proven that the different social classes tend to go for certain names.

Why is everyone so touchy about class? It's statistically proven that the different social classes tend to go for certain names.

Because the concept of 'class' is actually comical if you really think about it. We can't even define what it's based on - education, intelligence, money, being famous, having a title....

And it's very narrow minded to pre judge a person solely based on their name?

Horrible thread, should be deleted.