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.

Xander or Xan as a diminutive of Alexander used to be posh but it's now all over the place.

Yes true, and Alexander used to be purely upper class but now definitely not at all

Many of the names on 180+ Posh Baby Names for Girls and Boys | Mumsnet I expect.

Hartley and Virginia

I went to 'posh' uni in south of england in the early 00s. In those days, I remember the fancier people from public schools etc and their siblings had the following names which i found quite unusual but they then became really common:

Lily
George
Isobel (Izzy)
Clara
Flora
Sofia

I went to a state grammar school and we had loads of names like Laura, Paul, Neil, Michael, Claire, Alison

I went to private school and the names were similar to the state school children. Mix of fashionable names of the time, classic names, etc. However, only difference were names like, for example, Clemency, Bertram, etc. Those you might find almost exclusively in the broadsheet announcements.

Isobel/Isabella and variations haven't ever been exclusively upper class, and history and popularity bears this out.

Those are names that were exclusively upper class and now used by everyone?

Jude.

BTW note of mine were EXCLUSIVELY used by the upper classes. I actually don't think that exists. While Isobel would have been popular all over Scotland, I never met one till I got to uni and then the only ones i met were Izzy and went to Roedean or somewhere, so it struck me as a 'posh girl' name at the time. They really are everywhere now though.

I remember my friend going out with a posh boy called Fred, whose name we all found extremely funny. That was in the 90s - obviously it's everywhere now.

Similarly there were a lot of ex public schoolkids at my uni - Bertie, Rupert, Lexi, Sienna, Savanna (early 00s). They, and their names, seemed like beings from another planet!

Mungos and Cosmo’s everybloodywhere these days.

I used to work at a pretty exclusive boys boarding prep school (most pupils went on to Harrow, Stowe, Eton, Sherborne. Several 'Right Honorable''s amongst the pupils) and Olivia was definitely an upper class sibling's name in those days for several of the boys. This would have been girls born in the early to mid-1970s.

By the late 1980s it had moved to a more mainstream name so I can see why you don't think it was upper class if you grew up in the 1990s.

Amongst the boys there were a lot of Williams, Harrys, Freddies and Alexanders. Those are all pretty mainstream/common now but they weren't amongst children born in the mid-1970s.

Posh boys names I have experienced:
Crispin
Charles
Rupert
Giles
Hector
Humphrey

Posh girls names I have experienced:
Ginny/Jinny
Jane
Maude

😀

At a uni in the late 90s the girls from public schools had names like Olivia, Margot and Annabel. I'd never encountered those before but they are popular now.

The boys had pretty standard names though

We have apparently given DD a posh (shakespearean) name, hope it helps her social climbing!

Names like Wilfred, Beatrice, Rufus, Hugo, Tabitha probably fall into this category

I don’t think very many of these names were ever particularly upper class. For that I would chose Cressida, crispin. Ptolemy. Names like Ophelia, Persephone were uncommon, I don’t think theyv ever been particularly upper class though. And of course the majority of the upper classes have common names which are pretty classless

These used to be 'posh' but now feel mainstream

Isabella
Arabella
Tabitha

Sebastian
Quentin
Hugo

This thread is about names that used to be the preserve of the upper classes and now are more widely used.

Sorry to pick on your post, as so many have just listed names they think are upper class. It's interesting to read as it's obviously quite subjective these ideas of upper class, going by posts here.

By the late 1980s it had moved to a more mainstream name so I can see why you don't think it was upper class if you grew up in the 1990s.

I agree this is a good example as Olivia hadn't, I'm sure, ever been a top 100 name until around the '90s.

Even 10 years ago posters on Mumsnet advised against using names like Sebastian, Hugo or Quentin because they were deemed to 'posh' and the poor child would get teased

Well, I know several boys/teens with these names and they all seem happy with their names. In fact, these names are now often suggested on here.

I disagree, names go in trends, many of the cited names weren't in fashion 20 years ago and are now.

My name is supposedly posh according to pp here but is a normal Scottish name (I'm not Scottish)

Most obvious examples to my mind:
Georgia
Alfie
Evie/Evelyn
Oliver
Harry

I think you're right. Many of the examples are just waxing and waning fashion trends.

Oliver was rather grand at the time I considered it for my first child in the early 1990s (not required, I had a girl) but a few years later it was one of the most popular boys' names.