Demise of the ‘chav’ name?

[stilllill]

I’ve lived on the same council estate for years. When I was younger every girl was Keeley, Courtney, Charmaine, Chantelle, etc.
Boys were Tyler, Liam, Scott, Riley, Bailey, etc.
Knew 3+ of each in school, and these names generally made our class very obvious.

Now I’ve noticed that the children on my estate have completely different names.

Girls:
Iris, Francesca, Esme, Belle and Elizabeth

Boys:
Roy, Jasper, Anthony, Isaac, Jacob

I think these are really timeless, classic names!

I know MN is very middle class, but anyone else noticed this change?

I also grew up and live in a "chav" area (MN hates this word but most of them grew up far away from this world so get offended on others behalf!)

The kids round here all have hyphens. Usually hyphen-Mae for girls.

@garlictwist I definitely hear that but more in the teen age-range I think! -mae is so much nicer than the -lee that was popular for a while.

Hyphens are the new chav names.

Round here's it's still Jayden, Cayden, Braydon type names, or surnames as first names, Jackson, Harper

Delighted that my child’s name is in your ‘chav’ category.

I guess former

Council
Housed
And
Violent

Are choosing to live different lives

I think I know what you mean. The names associated with a disadvantaged background have already dated?

Read Freakonomics. He talks about names floating down social classes. Starts with the posh, then the MC wants to seem posh and so on. As soon as Tyler and Rae name their child Margot, it's done for the MC.

"Chav" may have its origins in the Romani word "chavi", meaning "child".

I didn't know that names like Liam & Scott, Keeley & Chantelle etc etc were considered chavvy names, I've known lots of them, mostly adults with normal jobs who I wouldn't say are 'chavs' (who is a chav these days anyway?).

Can't believe people are calling boys Roy, makes me think of Roy Cropper from Coronation Street. The other new names in use mentioned are nice.

Yooneek & made-up names are definitely the new chav names. Jasminiqua, Ber-tarkus etc etc.

Baby Roy? Really?

When I was a child in Dorset, 'chav' meant to steal, as in "I'll chav that".

Old people names with a Welsh twist are very popular with the MC here. Think Betsi, Nansi and Mabli

Can people stop perpetuating fake etymologies for ‘chav’?

OP, isn’t the most likely scenario is that your area has become somewhat gentrified? The area I grew up in was a very poor area of council ex council houses and a lot of poverty in the 70s and 80s. Recently, as our parents generation has sold on, people have realised it’s close to the city centre, hospital and universities, has solidly well-built houses and big gardens, and a completely different set of people live there. Lots of academics, medics etc.

I see them out and about. The boys are called things like Klaxon. Girls are, as PP say, Something-Mae.

@SeethroughDress No, my area is poorer than it was, and my estate has become the one which the council has designated for people with ASBOs to get moved to.

Perhaps this is more regional than I thought, I’m in the Midlands.

@MrsTerryPratchett That’s very interesting! Makes a lot of sense

I've noticed the trend for 'ie/ee/ey' names- macey, masie, darcey, gracie or ralphie, Bailey, archie.

Older names with an 'ee' like Elsie I'd associate with parents trying to appear more MC than they are. Names alike ralphie, Gracie, Archie have definitely replaced the keeleys and Liam's of my classmates.

@SeethroughDress , mine came from Wiki, and I have read a book called Chavs by Owen Jones.

@MrsTerryPratchett , I agree about Freakonomics, an IIRC it's also in Consumed by Harry Wallop

Read Freakonomics. He talks about names floating down social classes. Starts with the posh, then the MC wants to seem posh and so on. As soon as Tyler and Rae name their child Margot, it's done for the MC.

Yep. I haven't read Freakonomics, but this is a normal process. Same thing happens with goods/fashion regarded as posh. Once the 'lower classes' start buying/wearing them, the posh people ditch them and move onto the next thing.

It's hyphens and quirky spellings now. And names more commonly known as surnames.

I do think there's now a crossover of "chav" names and middle class names. For example, I know people from all classes who have little boys named Alfie and Archie.

Being from Newcastle the original term for Chav was ‘Charva’ and used to describe a certain type of person how they talked, what they wore etc. It wasn’t a generalisation for people living on council estates. The word Chav is relatively new as I recall saying Charva when I was at school and that was over 20 years ago.