Names as social indicators

[Laly]

What names are, for example, considered high-class or lower class in your country? And how would your name be considered?

By the way, I found an article on the names that are the most common among those that have the best/the worst high school diploma results in France in 2020:

https://www.dna.fr/education/2020/07/08/quels-prenoms-predestinent-a-obtenir-une-mention-au-bac

Best male results:

Gaspard, Augustin, Emile, Timothée, Félix, Etienne, Alban, Grégoire, Mathieu, Martin.

Best female results:

Joséphine, Adèle, Anouk, Apolline, Garance, Diane, Alice, Iris, Jeanne, Lison (My daughter's name is among them :cool:).

The names with the best results are then chic and noble names.

Among the worst male results, there are rather names such as: Jordan, Rayan, Allan, Walid, and Mehdi. So we find, unsurprisingly, Anglo-Saxon names that are popular among white trash people in francophone countries, and Muslim names.

[Faklon]

Isn't Mehdi like Iranian or North African or smth?

We don't generally have "high-class" names here but we have some larpers choosing forgotten ancient Greek names. You won't see the average fisherman or shepherd naming his daughter Nefeli for example.

edit: Walid isn't Arabic too?

[Östsvensk]

In Sweden, it is considered "higher class" to spell your name with a C instead of a K. Carl, Eric, Victor and Fredric instead of Karl, Erik, Viktor and Fredrik. Our former PM Ingvar Carlsson changed his last name from being born Karlsson to be spelled with a C. For women, it is to put a H after T, like Elisabeth and Christina instead of Elisabet and Kristina.

Highest earning names among men are apparently Håkan and Mats, and for women Annika and Åsa.

Names that end with Y, like Jimmy, Ronny, Conny and so forth are thought of as "white trash" names and people with them are stereotyped as more likely to be criminal.

[Laly]

Isn't Mehdi like Iranian or North African or smth?

We don't generally have "high-class" names here but we have some larpers choosing forgotten ancient Greek names. You won't see the average fisherman or shepherd naming his daughter Nefeli for example.

edit: Walid isn't Arabic too?

What you say is very interesting. In francophone countries, the name is very much a social marker. There are the lower-class names, that are generally Anglo-Saxon names like also Kevin, Jessica, for the white trash, and then, the Muslim names, for our dear colonisers, like as you mentioned, Mehdi and Walid. Regarding female names, the ones ending with an "-a" are generally considered lower-class. Then there are the neutral, traditional ones, and then, there are the names favoured by high-class people, which are chic and noble names, often composed of two names with a dash in between, like "Charles-Antoine". High-class names are often of Greek origin.

[Celestia]

This isn’t really the case for the United States. Maybe classical names like Eleanor, Ophelia, etc. You’ll see those names in every social stance but higher class tends to stick with classical names rather than new age ones.

[Laly]

For example, Jordan Bardella, a star of the far-right in France, vice-president of Marine Le Pen's party, was attacked a lot because of his low-class, "proletarian" name, "Jordan":

https://www.jordan-bardella.fr/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/jordan-bardella-05-cc-by-nc-20-675x1013.jpeg

[Faklon]

What you say is very interesting. In francophone countries, the name is very much a social marker. There are the lower-class names, that are generally Anglo-Saxon names also like Kevin, Jessica, for the white trash, and then, the Muslim names, for our dear colonisers, like as you mentioned, Mehdi and Walid. Regarding female names, the ones ending with an "-a" are generally considered lower-class. Then there are the neutral, traditional ones, and then, there are the names favoured by high-class people, which are chic and noble names, often composed of two names with a dash in between, like "Charles-Antoine". High-class names are often of Greek origin.

There are some names like Vaggelis/Vaggos that are considered to be more brutish. In TV series you will see the working class hero portayed as Vaggos or Takis and Mitsos (both from Dimitris) or something rather than Socrates (both ancient and Christian name) but I wouldn't go as far as to say that they represent a social marker.

Do you perceive the names of the "colonizers" to represent the French working class? We also stereotype Albanians as Florian and Edi.

[Laly]

There are some names like Vaggelis/Vaggos that are considered to be more brutish. In TV series you will see the working class hero portayed as Vaggos or Takis and Mitsos (both from Dimitris) or something rather than Socrates (both ancient and Christian name) but I wouldn't go as far as to say that they represent a social marker.

Do you perceive the names of the "colonizers" to represent the French working class? We also stereotype Albanians as Florian and Edi.

I would rather say the names of the "colonizers" represent the class of the assisted people.

https://amp.agoravox.fr/local/cache-vignettes/L478xH300/articleCaf2-4b3c8.jpg

https://cdn.radiofrance.fr/s3/cruiser-production/2016/11/c2cd1b60-066a-4788-bc40-a7964f00e72c/1200x680_maxnewsworldthree914208.jpg

Is my daughter's name, Apolline, common in Greece?

[Faklon]

Is my daughter's name, Apolline, common in Greece?

Very rare as Apollonia, Apollonas (Apollo) is much more common but still not your everyday guy. Can be one of those "cultured" names I guess despite its presence in medieval Christians.

[Laly]

When I say "Anglo-Saxon names", I actually mean names that became popular within some social strata through the influence of American pop culture.

[Benyzero]

I image lali as a big buffed guy with a fake gold necklace that weighs a kilogram. You would be like that in hungary

[Laly]

I image lali as a big buffed guy with a fake gold necklace that weighs a kilogram. You would be like that in hungary

Why do you have to be mean? What have I done to you?

[Benyzero]

Why do you have to be mean? What have I done to you?

nuffin

[frankhammer]

I image lali as a big buffed guy with a fake gold necklace that weighs a kilogram. You would be like that in hungary

I imagine Benny being a guy who only see tits instead of the woman and has a crazy theme song in his head as he pursues them ;)

[Benyzero]

I imagine Benny being a guy who only see tits instead of the woman and has a crazy theme song in his head as he pursues them ;)

lol, sometimes its close to being true I guess

[frankhammer]

On topic, names from the pop-sports culture only affect those in the lower end of society.

The poorer Polynesians with pride still name their children with traditional Polynesian names.

[Brás Garcia de Mascarenhas]

In Portugal most people will agree that giving a foreign name to a Portuguese child is usually of poor taste, to not say from a lower social background.

[Latinus]

In Brazil, lower classes tend to name their kids with common Anglo names, but brazilianized: Michael becomes Maicon. Adeilson, also very common among poor people here, same for Gislaine, female one.

Upper classes tend to display common/not fancy names: Augusto, Joaquim...

[Dark Snyper Lord 666]

the names i encounter of elementary age children in my neighbourhood are absurdly posh with a slight mix of the bizarre added. i dont know if this is standard now or not but:

crimson (boy, yes a boy), georgia, abigail, mckenzie, layton, etc

idk growing up as an early millenial the names were still mostly - ian, mike, jim, sarah, jessica, kate


looking at my ancestors names easily 3/4ths contain - anna, mary/maria, william, georg/e, john/johann, elizabeth and one.. JEMIMA (NO. im not.)

[Dark Snyper Lord 666]

also take a look at this and see the future:

https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/6f046710-1bbb-4949-aea7-bd14d4de8ef1/resource/6fa60953-9f83-4e74-ac5d-98e898df04fd/download/sa-baby-boy-names-registered-in-2019.pdf

aaroun, aavvhudj, al-ahhkknna, abduluh, albuldh, abddruouman, etc

[Mikula]

I dont know about any simillar examples in my country. We are an egalitarian, democratic nation.

[JamesBond007]

Among the worst male results, there are rather names such as: Jordan, Rayan, Allan, Walid, and Mehdi. So we find, unsurprisingly, Anglo-Saxon names that are popular among white trash people in francophone countries, and Muslim names.

Funny thing is Kevin is not technically an anglo-saxon name , yet, it is white trash in France. There are probably more Scottish and Irish people with the name Kevin than English people. Kevin comes from the Irish name : Caoimhín ([kiːvʲiːnʲ], Middle Irish: Caoimhghín [kəiṽʲʝiːnʲ], Old Irish: Cóemgein.

[Laly]

Funny thing is Kevin is not technically an anglo-saxon name , yet, it is white trash in France. There are probably more Scottish and Irish people with the name Kevin than English people. Kevin comes from the Irish name : Caoimhín ([kiːvʲiːnʲ], Middle Irish: Caoimhghín [kəiṽʲʝiːnʲ], Old Irish: Cóemgein.

Yes, you are right. As I said, I used the term "Anglo-Saxon" to refer to names that became popular through the influence of American pop culture. But also through the British one. So let's say the term was used by metonymy.

And I know the Irish saint Kevin of Glendalough:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Kevin-black.jpg

[Dark Snyper Lord 666]

Funny thing is Kevin is not technically an anglo-saxon name , yet, it is white trash in France. There are probably more Scottish and Irish people with the name Kevin than English people. Kevin comes from the Irish name : Caoimhín ([kiːvʲiːnʲ], Middle Irish: Caoimhghín [kəiṽʲʝiːnʲ], Old Irish: Cóemgein.

yup, looking at the irish origin of so many words we take for granted is crazy. its really powerful

[Jana]

I have very high class, old fashioned and strict name. It's not a Croatian name, I got it after my German grand-grandma.

[IrisSelene]

Dang, one of the names I wanna name my future kids is Iris, so that's nice lol.


Idk what mine would be considered, they're both pretty fuckin common in Romania, especially my first name lol, it's like top 3 female names.

Enviado desde mi CLT-L09 mediante Tapatalk

[Laly]

I have very high class, old fashioned and strict name. It's not a Croatian name, I got it after my German grand-grandma.

Cool! My name is also extremely rare and old fashion. :) The vast majority of people have never heard my name.

[Ylla]

Traditional names were seen as favourable and foreign names less so but now modern sounding names seem to be topping the lists. Some names I've heard sound cute for small babies but will sound a bit strange when they are grown adults XD I was going to choose a Latin name for my second son because it had sentimental meaning but my in laws said it sounded "too Italian" so we decided on a traditional albanian name instead when we registered his birth.

[PaleoEuropean]

In Sweden, it is considered "higher class" to spell your name with a C instead of a K. Carl, Eric, Victor and Fredric instead of Karl, Erik, Viktor and Fredrik. Our former PM Ingvar Carlsson changed his last name from being born Karlsson to be spelled with a C. For women, it is to put a H after T, like Elisabeth and Christina instead of Elisabet and Kristina.

Highest earning names among men are apparently Håkan and Mats, and for women Annika and Åsa.

Names that end with Y, like Jimmy, Ronny, Conny and so forth are thought of as "white trash" names and people with them are stereotyped as more likely to be criminal.

Ronny is just short for Ronald. Jimmy is just a nickname for James, never met anyone name just Jimmy or Ronny. I have met a women named Ronnie though.

[PaleoEuropean]

In Sweden, it is considered "higher class" to spell your name with a C instead of a K. Carl, Eric, Victor and Fredric instead of Karl, Erik, Viktor and Fredrik. Our former PM Ingvar Carlsson changed his last name from being born Karlsson to be spelled with a C. For women, it is to put a H after T, like Elisabeth and Christina instead of Elisabet and Kristina.

Highest earning names among men are apparently Håkan and Mats, and for women Annika and Åsa.

Names that end with Y, like Jimmy, Ronny, Conny and so forth are thought of as "white trash" names and people with them are stereotyped as more likely to be criminal.

Also Connie is just short for Constance or a female form of Conrad, never seen it spelled with a y and and rarely is anyone named connie, usually named Constance.

[sekhmet777]

In Egypt the higher social classes tend to choose "larpy" names taken from ancient Egypt for their daughters (Neftis and Lamis, for example). For men however the Mohammeds and Mahmouds still dominate the charts.

Names that are obviously christian tend have a negative effect on your social life and employment chances. It's hard living in Egypt if you're called Kirilos or Boutros for example.

[The Blade]

Born with an international name. Bulgarian enough not to be treated as following WASP trends and common in enough states not to be considered ''weird'' or ''Eastern''. Many Bulgarians are like that. More so in the cities but to a large degree in villages, too.