Apparently my sons have ‘naughty boy’ names…

[Perplexed0522]

A friend made a light hearted comment (supposedly) about my two children’s names last week and I am convinced she’s a MN member seeing as she used to the term ‘naughty boy name’.

My husband has got Scottish roots and before we TTC the plan was always that we would honour his history. He used to live in Scotland but moved to England to settle down with me and as all his family are still in Scotland we felt Scottish names would be a nod to them.

We had a son first and called him Arran (pronounced Arun) after one of the Isles and we joked that if our second child was a girl we would call her Skye.

Second child turned out to be another gorgeous boy so we called him Lewis, after one of the other Scottish Isles.

My friend is pregnant which is why we were taking about names and that’s when she said (with a giggle) that it was really brave of me to give both my sons names that are associated with being naughty. She laughed it off but it really hurt.

I’ve since come on here (we have been thinking about TTC number 3) and I have seen Lewis be labelled as a ‘naughty boy’s name ☹️

I know a child’s name doesn’t define them but I feel so guilty that I may have given both my boys a name that has negative associations ☹️

Has anyone else been in a similar boat and how did you move on from it?

Wow. I am shocked at how many people on here are assuming that Arran and Lewis are lower class names and that the friend put them down due to snobbery. Is it because they are Scottish names??! Unbelievable. Scotland, Ireland and Wales have very distinct nomenclature traditions and actually uneducated people (I suspect posters are equating them with 'lower class') don't tend to follow traditions of any sort. Arran and Lewis are not 'lower class' names, they're Scottish names, shame on any of you suggesting this.

How can you put ‘shame’ on anyone when in one swoop you’ve implied that uneducated and lower class are one and the same, and that those people ‘don’t follow traditions.’

Many lower class people have an education. Most of them follow some traditions. They’re not less evolved or less human, they’re just less wealthy.

I work in a PRU (school for children excluded from school) and there are definitely some names we see a lot of. These aren't them though.

I work in a nursery (for children who aren’t excluded from schools or childcare) and there are lots of names I see a lot of. Because they are popular/trendy names in my area. Unless you’ve been to a school for brilliantly behaved scholarship children in the same area then you can’t really judge as you’ve no control subject.

The tabloids keep running goady features such as This school secretary reveals what teachers r e a l l y think of your kid's name, which are rife with prejudiced, classist nonsense like this. Terrible snobbery and says more about your friend than it does about your boys.

You have misread my post, if that is what you think I said.

Absolute nonsense.. I wouldn’t consider them to be naughty at all..

My Kids school, DS says there were loads of naughty Joseph’s in his year (Catholic school) And would you consider Joseph a naughty name? No way I would.. x

Thanks everyone.

I did actually speak to my friend yesterday and told her that her comment had made
me feel a bit uncomfortable and that it upset me to think people would assume my children were naughty just because of their names.

She told me that my children aren’t naughty…but she only knows that because she knows them, but if she didn’t know them then she would assume they would be naughty children because of their names.

I asked her why she couldn’t see that would upset me and she said I was taking it too personally and I was overreacting.

She really pissed me off and so I made my excuses and left.

She sounds like a rubbish friend. Maybe you could tell her she has a ‘nasty woman name’ since she’s clearly nasty and her name therefore is the name of a nasty person.

Gorgeous names! Not naughty at all. Iona would also be lovely if you have a girl😊

I am Scottish, I live in Scotland and I have a grandson whose name is Arran (after the Isle of Arran). It's a lovely name and gaining in popularity although sometimes it is spelt Aran by some. Lewis too is a lovely name and I know or have known a few

Your 'friend' is just being nasty- for whatever reason. Jealousy maybe? Whatever, you could do without her 'friendship'

In the first place, if she actually believes what she is telling you, then at the very least if she was really a friend she shouldn't have said anything, but if she did she would certainly have apologised when she realised she had upset you

Secondly though if she believes what she is telling you she is also both stupid and ignorant. It is true that as individuals, if we come across someone called [XYZ] and they are either really lovely people/children or really troublesome, it will colour our views when we meet other people with the same names in the future: but many lists made up and found on the internet aren't FACT - they are someone's opinion, often meant to get a laugh and aren't meant to be taken seriously

I hope you ditch this so-called friend permanently.