Why are Americans more open to modern names than British people?

[Dawncarter100287]

I’m from US and have been on this website and other name forum websites for a long time and I have a question for British people mainly. I’ve noticed that brits always tend to stick to the old fashioned common names like Olivia, lily, Ella (Which are top names here aswell don’t get me wrong) but on the US charts there are a lot more modern names like paisley, kinsley, raelyn etc. I understand that everyone has different tastes and not everyone in America likes the modern style names either, but I’ve seen Brits call these newer names “trashy” or “too American” as insults. I’ve looked through the British top 100 and there arent really any standout names why are British people not as adventurous with their naming choices as Americans are?

All words are made up!

Australian here I think the more multicultural the country/ region your in the less likely people will turn their nose up at 'odd or unusual' names but in saying that the as you say 'older style' names are tried and true they don't age like the 'trendy' names do so they are always going to be popular to some extent

Allinmyhead101 · 07/05/2022 14:57
Snobbishness and classism. "New" are seen as chavvy and an indicator that you're from a lower class.

This is so true.^^

SIL will always say how much she loves names that she thinks are posh. Araminta (minti), Clementine (clemmy) (can’t think of anymore)

She also picked an estate agent based on the name as she thought it sounded posh! The agents with just a surname she thought were common! 😂

I think not knowing their culture/geography can make names seem less substantial than they are. A woman I communicated with online in a fb group called her son Hoyt about 16 years ago and I remember thinking what class of madness is that. Whereas the name I gave my son 16 years ago sounded very middle - aged to her. But I later found out by chance that Hoyt was the surname of a Dutch passenger on the mayflower.

I had a similarly poor first impression of the name Hudson but then realised my own ignorance, not knowing that that is a river in new york, so obviously had a bit more substance than I had prejudged!

Ah, you're not American OP

There are a few other issues.

IN the past in the UK tradesmen would take an apprentice, when that apprentice finished training they would take on the name of their 'master' which is why we have so many occupation names, Carpenter, Taylor, Smith etc.

There are so many that it is unusual to use them as given names, although Taylor is becoming more popular.

In America, particularly in the South you have a large population descended from slaves, who had their names foisted on them by owners, so rejecting 'slave names' is a thing.

Also in the UK we don't use numbers for generations so you don't get 'Jack Smith III', we use ordinal numbers for titles eg Elizabeth II or 'third earl of...'

Within the UK you have lots of communities that have naming traditions or local names, eg Welsh names. Names can also be political, in NI and probably parts of Glasgow your name can give away the secular identity.

I have a cousin named Shaun, the priest said he would not Christen him unless it was spelled Sean, I think his mother threatened to have him baptised in the C of E church to get her own way.

My mother was baptized as an adult and made her confirmation at the same time. Her legal given name was the one she had from birth, her baptismal and confirmation names were totally different.

Naming styles/traditions aren't even consistent across the whole UK so I think it's a stretch to make any sort of generalisation about what 'the UK does'.

PP mentioned the use of obviously Welsh/Scottish/Irish names and also the possible political/sectarian/religious associations of some names.

I'd also add that using 'surnames' as first names, which PP keep saying is very American, is also very common in Wales (and possibly Scotland, but I'm less familiar). I know at lease three men who have the same first and second name (Evan Evans etc) and whole swathes of men who have the same first name as their father, and go by their middle name. I'd say that's really common. (Interestingly it doesn't happen so much with women which makes me think it's all about the men carrying on family names.)

Impossible!? Bullshit!

There were 34 baby girls called Paisley born in the UK in 1997, 25 years ago, and there have been plenty every year since: names.darkgreener.com/#paisley

There were also 3 baby girls called Kinsley in the UK born in 1998 and so again it’s not a brand new name: names.darkgreener.com/#kinsley

Them names?

I'd think that Paisley's parents were scousers

Because we’ve actually been to Paisley and it’s a shithole?

Hahaha 🤣

Sometimes names don't translate very well unfortunately. I've met people with names that probably are completely average, possibly even a bit WASP-y in the US but over here they sound like a railway station.

Marylebone?

A Southern State name like:

Mary-Sue
Martha-Ann

Pretty sure the OP isn’t even American, going by the way they write.

Americans can have poor grammar too 😂

But if they write as they speak I'd place them somewhere Yorkshire ish.

Or Kentucky

Theydon Bois?
Bec Tooting?

Crewe might work.
If you'd never been kept waiting outside it for an eternity.

I quite like the name Preston until I think of the bus station.

@EufyProsser think more along the lines of West Harwich.

Theydon Bois could work though.

Biggleswade, maybe not.

Why ?

I am Canadian, so names are more American than British. I agree that it's the melting pot/mosaic that results in far more names being in use and more creative names/spellings being acceptable.

That said, there is a lot of "anti-American" snobbery on Mumsnet. I will get flamed for it, but a lot of posters are very middle-class British and will not consider anything culturally different. It sometimes makes living in the UK feel very hostile.