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Help[Opinions] Posh British names
Are there any you can think of? Which names would you put into that category? I immediately thought of Matilda, Helena and Harriet and some very unusual but classic names like Araminta plus some Greek names like Charis but I am wondering which names you would put into that category :D Maybe some of you from the UK will tell me now that these aren't posh there at all :P
This message was edited 4/18/2018, 12:03 PM
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I think of Helena and Harriet as normal, because they're in my family, and Matilda has been quite popular here, probably due to the musical - not particularly posh at all. I've never met or even heard of a Charis, or an Araminta - I vaguely associate that with the Old South in the US, e.g. Harriet Tubman, who was born Araminta Ross.
I do know an Atalanta, though, & that's probably quite typically posh.
I do know an Atalanta, though, & that's probably quite typically posh.
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Off the top of my head, posh kids' names you might find in the Telegraph:
Monty or Montgomery or Montague
Humphrey
Tarquin
Torquil
Rupert
Edmund
Jolyon
Rollo
Bertie
St.John (pronounced Sinjin)
Inigo
Magnus
Roland
Ralph
Cecil
Cedric
Florian
Caspian
Jasper
Clement
Tristram
Willoughby
Marmaduke
Winston
Spencer
Ivor
Barnabas / Barnaby
Digby
Hugh
Hugo
Felix
Crispin
Fraser
Otto
Archibald
Orlando
Geoffrey
Percy / Percival
Mungo
Benedict
Horatio
Piers
Rufus
Ambrose
Hector
Julius
Merlin
Roderick
Cosmo
Beatrice / Beatrix
Monty or Montgomery or Montague
Humphrey
Tarquin
Torquil
Rupert
Edmund
Jolyon
Rollo
Bertie
St.John (pronounced Sinjin)
Inigo
Magnus
Roland
Ralph
Cecil
Cedric
Florian
Caspian
Jasper
Clement
Tristram
Willoughby
Marmaduke
Winston
Spencer
Ivor
Barnabas / Barnaby
Digby
Hugh
Hugo
Felix
Crispin
Fraser
Otto
Archibald
Orlando
Geoffrey
Percy / Percival
Mungo
Benedict
Horatio
Piers
Rufus
Ambrose
Hector
Julius
Merlin
Roderick
Cosmo
Beatrice / Beatrix
This message was edited 4/18/2018, 3:46 PM
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Ottilie & Montague
Those two immediately came to mind.
Those two immediately came to mind.
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I don't know if this is actually a "posh" name, but I used to read a lot of Rosamunde Pilcher books and she had a character named Loveday and she was "posh" so now I always think of it as posh.
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Loveday is a Cornish name. I live just outside of Cornwall and know a couple of (not particularly “posh”) people who have it as a middle name. I kind of like it as a mn. :)
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Loveday is interesting. Rosamund is very posh to me too. I have never seen it spelled Rosamunde, except in her case, though.
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Well it depends on what you meant by posh names. If you mean names which come across as posh, then yes, names like Matilda, Harriet, Araminta etc would probably fit that.
However if you mean names that real (and I mean REAL) posh British people use, then those names don't fit as well. I attend a very prestigious boarding school, there are plenty of posh students here - and by posh, I don't just mean rich - I mean offspring of upper-class people with titles like Duke/Duchess, Earl/Countess, Lord/Lady etc. Their names? Well they're either very traditional (Edward, James, Charles, Elizabeth, Sarah, Catherine), or very posh nickname type names (think along the lines of Jonty, Kit, Bunty, and Tiggy). 'Proper' posh people, most of the time, stick to solid, traditional names, just like the royal family do!
However if you mean names that real (and I mean REAL) posh British people use, then those names don't fit as well. I attend a very prestigious boarding school, there are plenty of posh students here - and by posh, I don't just mean rich - I mean offspring of upper-class people with titles like Duke/Duchess, Earl/Countess, Lord/Lady etc. Their names? Well they're either very traditional (Edward, James, Charles, Elizabeth, Sarah, Catherine), or very posh nickname type names (think along the lines of Jonty, Kit, Bunty, and Tiggy). 'Proper' posh people, most of the time, stick to solid, traditional names, just like the royal family do!
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This is about what I’ve heard, interesting to see it confirmed. Thanks for sharing your perspective. Ah, Bunty!
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Jonty and Bunty, wow.
Those NNs sound insufferable....I guess I shouldn't judge though, my NN's Tory.
Those NNs sound insufferable....I guess I shouldn't judge though, my NN's Tory.
This message was edited 4/18/2018, 1:10 PM
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I just don't like that it's a conservative political party. I think Torrie's a little better because it's spelled differently...just out of curiosity, why'd you use two Rs?
And I have a cousin called Chip. He's kind of insufferable...wait, it just occurred to me that I have cousins called Chip and Dale, like the chipmunks. :)
And I have a cousin called Chip. He's kind of insufferable...wait, it just occurred to me that I have cousins called Chip and Dale, like the chipmunks. :)
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LOL
Because the first time I ever saw the name was in the novel "The Other" by Thomas Tryon, and it was spelled Torrie in the book, and that spelling just stuck with me.
Because the first time I ever saw the name was in the novel "The Other" by Thomas Tryon, and it was spelled Torrie in the book, and that spelling just stuck with me.
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Did you have several people with the same names in your classes? This seems like such a limited name pool to choose from. Thanks for your reply, it was interesting to read. Wow Bunty :P I didn't expect something like that at all. Oh but thinking about it, I believe Bridget Jones's mother was named Bunny and she tried to be very posh :)
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Maybe I'm being irrational or maybe it's because I'm a middle-class American, but I bristle a bit at the blatant "I go to a very prestigious school" or "I live in an extremely affluent area" statements.
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I think it's irrational in this instance. It was relevant to the thread.
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Fair enough. You're probably right.
A
A
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Agree, although I supposed “I know many people who are the actual children of nobility” could have sufficed, but that’s just nitpicking at that point.
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No, I bristle at it too. I don’t really like hearing it from a Yorkshireman either, we don’t really do that kind of thing.
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It seems totally relevant, though. Just a statement, not a brag or anything. I was pleased to hear Yorkshire Rose’s perspective from the belly of the beast, vs my just reading British name blogs and the Telegraph...
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We're referring to more than just this one post.
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Yep, exactly. Wealth comes up a lot.
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Rollo! I had no idea that was a name. It's a candy here. A lot of these seem tied to antiquity to me. I wonder if posh families use them to subtly align themselves with, say, classical Greece, like "I am such an aristocrat my lineage can be traced back to blah blah blah..."
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Are they chocolates with caramel centres? I used to love Rolos. :)
I think the use of more unusual names in the upper classes here is down to:
a) a lot of their ancestors had excellent classical educations when that wasn't common amongst the general populace, and therefore just came across more of these kinds of names in pre-internet days. And class here is all about ancestry, so those names get repeated: little Antigone may be named after great-great-aunt Antigone the explorer, or whatever
b) what I call 'non-state-school' naming: if you're going to a select school where lots of people have unusual names and there's nothing very startling about being called Hero or Saethryth or Hephzibah, parents don't have the concerns about teasing that might come up in a state school. And they also care less about fitting in - because wealth = security = not GAF. Hence the high proportion of 'eccentric' aristos.
I think the use of more unusual names in the upper classes here is down to:
a) a lot of their ancestors had excellent classical educations when that wasn't common amongst the general populace, and therefore just came across more of these kinds of names in pre-internet days. And class here is all about ancestry, so those names get repeated: little Antigone may be named after great-great-aunt Antigone the explorer, or whatever
b) what I call 'non-state-school' naming: if you're going to a select school where lots of people have unusual names and there's nothing very startling about being called Hero or Saethryth or Hephzibah, parents don't have the concerns about teasing that might come up in a state school. And they also care less about fitting in - because wealth = security = not GAF. Hence the high proportion of 'eccentric' aristos.
This message was edited 4/19/2018, 7:57 AM
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My impression is that they use the Classical Greek / mythological names to show how cultured and widely read they are. :D
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Thank you :) Perdita is actually very pretty, I wish it had a nicer meaning.
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