What are names that used to be reserved for the upper class but are now widely used by everyone

[hcarter8]

I remember reading the freakonomics books years ago about how a lot of names start of posh and eventually filter down throughout the years and become very common place names. Olivia is a prime example for me i grew up in the 80s and Olivia back then was looked at as an upper class old woman's name that only "posh" people would've chosen, 30 years later it has became quite commonplace and number 1 name. Emily is another past number 1 name that springs to mind also wasn't used commonly until the 90s/00s when it hit its peak and began being used by all lower/working/upper class people.

A lot of the newer names that are being used now like Arabella, Ophelia, Isabella would've of been mega posh 20 years ago but have now made their way into the mainstream.

I also find it interesting how a lot of names that people on here consider (I hate this word) "chavvy" probably started off being used by rich people.

I heard that for Archie

Neaveah-Rae and Balonz

Are these even used in Britain?

I don't think Olivia was ever remotely 'posh'.

I grew up in the 90s and Olivia certainly wasn’t remotely upper class then.

Annabel

Rupert and Hugo were my first thoughts. Seems more popular in all echelons of society.

Maybe Matilda for a girl?

It was a piss take - they are the opposite of UC

Sebastian

Agree with Sebastian and Hugo. Also Theodore.

You mention Isabella as being mega posh 20 years ago. But I have Isabella’s in my family tree all the way back to the early 1800’s and we’re not mega posh so I wouldn’t agree with that.

i know what you mean though and would agree with another poster with names like Rupert and Hugo.

I don’t think Levitt and Dubner were thinking about the British UC. US classes don’t really map on to British class structure.

Theodore was my first thought.

Arabella definitely feels posh to me but seems to be used by all sorts these days too. I know what OP means about Olivia. In my experience, it wasn't particularly mainstream when we were younger. It did have quite an upper class feel that has definitely gone now.

Agree about Hugo, Sebastian and Rupert too. Jasper? Miles? Tobias?

Henry seems to have gone full circle. During our grandparents era it was popular across all classes. Then when we were younger it seemed to go quite upper class only. Now everyone is using Henry again. Arthur too.

I love the name Hugo. But the only one I know is indeed quite posh. I think it depends where you are geographically too. Here all the posh families I know( through work) have kids called:
Hamish
Angus
Charlie
Alexander
Ruaridh
Jamie

Phoebe
Flora
Kirsty
Isla

Octaves, Rupert, Hugo, Montgomery.

Emily is another past number 1 name that springs to mind also wasn't used commonly until the 90s/00s when it hit its peak and began being used by all lower/working/upper class people.

It was always commonplace, but among the older generation. It reached just outside top 20 at the beginning of the 1900s, so would have been popular across the classes, and remained in the top 100 for some time.

Agree

Isabella/Isabel/(various spellings) was very very popular and very'ordinary' in the early 19th cent in Scotland. Ditto Margaret, Helen, Catherine and to a slightly lesser extent Mary, Christine/Christian/Christina, Jane/Jannet/Janet and Elizabeth. ' Exotics' like Euphemia (more usually Eupham) were around, but rare and localised.

Popular boys' names from the same era = Alexander, James, David, George, John, William.

I'd agree that Isabella was popular cross-class at various times. Lots of these names are classless, IMO. I.e it's difficult to guess which class the person belongs to with the name.

You've chosen some odd examples to make your point
Emily was an incredibly popular name throughout the Victorian era for all classes, until it fell out of popularity c.1930s. Then came back in 1970s and hasn't been out of the top 80 ever since. So in no way, shape or form posh or uncommon. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/articles/babynamessince1904howhasyoursperformed/2016-09-02

Most of these are perfectly normal and commonly used names in Scotland.

Both Emily and Isabelle are all over my family tree from the 1800s and I had servants, farming and labourers all over my family

I am in Scotland. Definitely not ' working class" names

Yes, I have Isabellas in my family and my ancestors were lowly Scottish sheep farmers.