Oh… no.
Who would have thought choosing a baby name could become so political? Other than just about everyone who has ever had to choose a baby name?
At the end of last month, one woman asked what she probably considered to be a fairly harmless question on parenting forum, Mumsnet.
But nothing on Mumsnet is ever harmless.
“Hit me up with your upper class/well to do baby girl names that are still used today!” she wrote.
Uh oh.
The people were… unimpressed.
One of the first responses was, “What does this matter to you?” while another added, “So are you old money and posh or wanting to be pretentious? Call your kid a name you like.”
But the very best replies were people suggesting upper class baby names that were most definitely a joke. For example, ‘Chlamydia’, ‘Cuntella’, ‘Turbot’, and of course our personal favourite, ‘Candida’ – the medical name for a run of the mill yeast infection.
Here are the worst baby names we’ve ever heard. Post continues…
Some other standouts included: ‘Cosima Urqhuart Upwardly Smytherooni,’ ‘Jocasta le plume puffball,’ ‘Cordelia Phwar Phwar Rha Oiks erson’ and ‘Henrietta Dubois phlange a rillo.’
Just. Beautiful.
There were some more serious responses, like ‘Victoria’, ‘Jacinda’, ‘Tatiana’, ‘Cressida’ and ‘Lettice’.
Actually… that last one might be a joke. It’s unclear.
What are your thoughts on ‘upper class’ baby names? Is it a little bit pretentious?
Top Comments
I think OP is confusing "upper-class" with "old-fashioned" Madison, Keira, Mia, Savannah and Jamie are all "upper-class" names in 2018, but I highly doubt that's what this woman had in mind. If she wants an old-fashioned name, she's probably better off looking through her family tree to find a common name. Mary, Alice, Katherine and Elizabeth were all very common names in the past, were literal queens' names AND still hold up perfectly well today. Easy, no internet forum needed!
I read something about this the other day. It pointed out that the real upper class, proper toffs, usually have quite ordinary/old fashioned names ( James, John, Elizabeth, Rose etc), but then they all have ridiculous nicknames. Think the Made In Chelsea crew -Blinky, Caggie, Muffy sort of thing. And according to Tatler’s ‘Sloaney Nickname Generator’, my Sloane name is Ratty Hereford-Eden. So, now I can be truly upper class.
Very true. It's really mostly a case of old vs. new money, rather than upper or lower class. OP is asking the wrong question.
I have to disagree with those “upper-class names”. They all sound pretty ordinary to me. I’d agree with Rush’s take on it. Or you get called by your last name or a play on your last name, particularly with boys.
I have a very wealthy English friend and he gets called Piggy, even by his parents!
"Is it a little bit pretentious?" Seriously? Is naming your baby from a suggestion you were given by a stranger on on mumsnet pretentious? I'm sure allll the upper crust mumsys are doing it that way now dahling. *eye roll* *heavy sarcasm*