Ophelia - soon to be chavtastic?

[Apphia]

What is the likelihood of Ophelia going ?downmarket? in the next 5 or so years?

I err towards classic English names (Jemima, Lucinda, Harriet?) but my husband who, although has lived in the UK since birth, is of Indian origin and is really not keen.

Ophelia is the only name we can agree on though I have a slight concern that it may be become a little chavtastic in the future? Am I being paranoid?

Oh and by the way I am very aware of the literary connection and not at all bothered! After all, was only fiction

I know you're only joking and I don't want to upset you again but waht just happened isn't funny.

I'll stick to my own friends. They might not have kids but they wouldn't speak to me like that.

I only know one Ophelia in RL. Instead of being shortened to Effie, her name is shortened to Feely. You might want to think about that.

I'm just not keen on it now.

i think a mn rule is don't issue edicts or be bossy

mn rules?pah no rules
i dont traipse through gazillion posts - read op decide if its shite or not and wade in

She didn't IMO issue an "edict" - she just said "I don't like this name".

Blimey - I think we can all search our own name or child's name in Baby Names and take umbrage at something.

There is no one universally loved name - should there be one which causes nobody's lip to involuntarily curl then there would be one who shouts "COMMON"!

im talkin about pixie bossing about,edicts to read threads "One of the first MN rules..." and all that.what are you on about?

lookey here a thing dont participate on name threads if you dont want someone sniggering at your widdle precious baby name

what trips off the parental tongue to some,is wet boak to someone else

Ah, my apologies.

Blimey - never seen things kick off like this on a name thread before!

Anyway, I love Ophelia as a name, but wouldn't use it because it is just a bit try-hard. Also because it sounds ridiculous with my surname, which you do need to take into account.

So if your surname is Biggs, or Smith, or Jones, then probably best to avoid.

Something a bit more lyrical, maybe you could get away with it.

Oh dear, seemed to have opened a can of worms here!

Honest opinions are always welcomed and very much sought but perhaps a couple of comments were a little heavy handed. Just my own opinion so please don't pounce!

What I really don't understand is how a name can be try hard? Poncey yes but try hard no We both just like the name Ophelia for the way it sounds - there is no other motivation. As I mentioned in my original post I would happily choose a more 'classic' name but it's simply no go for my husband.

Oh and married surname is Balakrishnan. Which I think would be perfect with a lovely English name but there we go

I wouldn't call it 'chav', but it has gained popularity. I can't understand why anyone would want to call their child after the Shakespeare character, though. Perhaps people don't know Hamlet.

My DTD's MN is Ophelia and I really wish we'd given it as her first. DH wouldn't go with it though.

Apphia - Balakrishnan falls into the lovely and lyrical category as far as I;m concerned, so Ophelia fits just fine! Sounds like a lovely combination.

Hmmm the literary connection is an interesting one.

I am very aware of the'tragic' character but it is just that - a character. I liked Frederick should we be having a boy but wasn't put off by a certain RL Mr West.As Pixie said earlier almost EVERY name has a negative connection if you were to look hard enough.

Evil Twins - you would think after carrying a load for 9 months we'd have a little more sway when it came to name choosing wouldn't you?! Husbands

Thanks TheBossofMe! It is certainly more exotic than my (quite standard) maiden name.

I went the other way - lovely exotic maiden name to the world's dullest surname [need to insert a sob emoticon here]

I'm intrigued now! What did you choose?

DDs name would make me sadly very easy to identify in our small expat community, so forgive me if I don't share it here, but its another literary name - tragic heroine, sadly misunderstood, dies a hideous death - so I know where you are coming from. I too wanted a plainer English name for DD, but if you put any of them with married surname, it made DD sound like a 90 year old woman....

MN has helped my already compile a great shortlist for my not yet conceived second child (I can dream!)

Pixie - I like your children's names - but I'm biased, - we have a Romilly, too.

Ophelia is a lovely name - it's dependent on the surname, I think, though. We couldn't have it and I have to say it does often remind me of the bottom/balls joke.

The thing is, we spend SO long choosing names for our DDs - making sure that it sounds right with our surnames - but at some point they are likely to change their names and all our hard work and fretting is wasted.

I like Ophelia, and think it is too posh to become 'chavvy' (horrible word).

Nicknames would be difficult, though. It could easily be shortened to 'feely', as mentioned upthread. This may not bother you.