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HelpMost Pretentious Names?
I'm really into using pretentious sounding names on my sims, I just find a lot of them to be a lot of fun to play with, even if I'd never use them in real life.
What are the most pretentious/snobby-sounding names you can think of? I keep trying to google more ideas, but I think BtN would come up with the best lists.
What are the most pretentious/snobby-sounding names you can think of? I keep trying to google more ideas, but I think BtN would come up with the best lists.
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For me, I find most pretentious- overly academic names, fussy British names, feminine names used on boys, flowery names or very extravagant names, or titles. I also find many of the hipster / ultra trendy 'cool' names to be incredibly pretentious.
Boys
Prescott
Alistair
Ambrose
Aubrey (Male)
Basil (especially pronounced Baz-ul)
Hilary (boy or girl)
Magnus
Sebastian
Cassius
Eustace
Girls
Cordelia
Ariadne
Bridget (maybe it's just me, I've never known a Bridget who wasn't pretenious
Hilary
Guinevere
Beatrice
Eugenie
Anastasia
Bella names like Arabella, Clarabella, Isabella, Orabella
Persephone (or any Greek mythology name especially if it ends in -phony)
Boys
Prescott
Alistair
Ambrose
Aubrey (Male)
Basil (especially pronounced Baz-ul)
Hilary (boy or girl)
Magnus
Sebastian
Cassius
Eustace
Girls
Cordelia
Ariadne
Bridget (maybe it's just me, I've never known a Bridget who wasn't pretenious
Hilary
Guinevere
Beatrice
Eugenie
Anastasia
Bella names like Arabella, Clarabella, Isabella, Orabella
Persephone (or any Greek mythology name especially if it ends in -phony)
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Evangeline
Imogen
Any name that is clearly another culture to which you have no association... like Johannes and Hermes
Ava/Ada
Beatrice is getting there...
Desmond/ Declan (I like these two, but they do sound a bit entitled)
Emerson
Arabella
Liviana
Any name ending in -worth or -well
Adalaide
Florian
there are more, but these are some of the first that came to my mind haha.
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Definitely some of the ancient Roman ones. Some of them even make me roll my eyes a little.
How 'bout Seraphicus? I've been thinking about that one lately (from hating it and thinking it's cool all at the same time - the hate mainly comes from an association), and it sounds really pretentious.
How 'bout Seraphicus? I've been thinking about that one lately (from hating it and thinking it's cool all at the same time - the hate mainly comes from an association), and it sounds really pretentious.
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What's Seraphicus? What does it mean?
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Not sure if these fit the bill, but these are over the top (but I still like many of them):
Cleopatra
Hermione
Maximilienne
Mercedes
Lourdes
Leandra
Leonarda
Lucretia
Temperance
Pleasance
Hibernia
Sebastienne
Shulamith
Nokomis
Nausicaa
Nyx
Shoshannah
Salome
Sahara
Gaenor
Eleuthera
Eulalia
Valentine
Orlanda
Orianna
Emmanuelle
Echo
Elysia
Delilah
Cassiopeia
Alegria
Kasimira
Anastasia
Gregoriana
Montserrat
Fernanda
Fabiana
Kallista
Loveday
Forgot boys:
-us names: Julius, Maximus, Julius, Antonius, Darius, Ignatius, Marius...
Zebediah
Zoltan
Valentine
Washington
Diogenes
Damien
Immanuel
Hadrian
Gamaliel
Gershom
Hillel
Jeremiah
Joachim
Cleopatra
Hermione
Maximilienne
Mercedes
Lourdes
Leandra
Leonarda
Lucretia
Temperance
Pleasance
Hibernia
Sebastienne
Shulamith
Nokomis
Nausicaa
Nyx
Shoshannah
Salome
Sahara
Gaenor
Eleuthera
Eulalia
Valentine
Orlanda
Orianna
Emmanuelle
Echo
Elysia
Delilah
Cassiopeia
Alegria
Kasimira
Anastasia
Gregoriana
Montserrat
Fernanda
Fabiana
Kallista
Loveday
Forgot boys:
-us names: Julius, Maximus, Julius, Antonius, Darius, Ignatius, Marius...
Zebediah
Zoltan
Valentine
Washington
Diogenes
Damien
Immanuel
Hadrian
Gamaliel
Gershom
Hillel
Jeremiah
Joachim
This message was edited 2/20/2011, 1:33 PM
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Clytemnestra - everything about it is snobbish and/or pathetic: the meaning, the length, the sound
Carrington/Remington/anything -ington
Willoughby
Chauncey
Parthenia/Parthenope
Rutherford
Eustace
Minerva - not too bad, but sounds kind of snobbish
Flavius/Aurelius/Valerianus/etc. - Most -us names are stuck-up. Some, like Julius or Lucius, are usable, but the ones I listed aren't.
Some French names, such as Francois and Antoine, when used on non-French people
Walburga
Luitpold - Leopold isn't bad, though.
Most surnames as FNs on girls, such as Sloane, Harper, and Kennedy.
Foreign names on people who have no connection to the cultures (i.e. something like Abdullah on a non-Muslim)
Narcissa
Maximilian - It works in some languages, but I think it's pretentious in English.
Napoleon
Hephzibah
Jedidiah - These ultra-biblical names should stay in the Bible.
Caledonia/Cambria/etc. - Latin names for countries/regions usually look very silly. What's next, Catalonia? Silesia? Egyptus?
Lucasta
Zeus
Renesmee - Not only pathetic, but also stuck-up sounding.
A lot of the names on my PNL could be considered pretentious, I guess, but I think it depends on the person using it. For example, something like Aglaia might look pretentious on a WASP-type person, but would look perfectly fine on a Greek person.
Carrington/Remington/anything -ington
Willoughby
Chauncey
Parthenia/Parthenope
Rutherford
Eustace
Minerva - not too bad, but sounds kind of snobbish
Flavius/Aurelius/Valerianus/etc. - Most -us names are stuck-up. Some, like Julius or Lucius, are usable, but the ones I listed aren't.
Some French names, such as Francois and Antoine, when used on non-French people
Walburga
Luitpold - Leopold isn't bad, though.
Most surnames as FNs on girls, such as Sloane, Harper, and Kennedy.
Foreign names on people who have no connection to the cultures (i.e. something like Abdullah on a non-Muslim)
Narcissa
Maximilian - It works in some languages, but I think it's pretentious in English.
Napoleon
Hephzibah
Jedidiah - These ultra-biblical names should stay in the Bible.
Caledonia/Cambria/etc. - Latin names for countries/regions usually look very silly. What's next, Catalonia? Silesia? Egyptus?
Lucasta
Zeus
Renesmee - Not only pathetic, but also stuck-up sounding.
A lot of the names on my PNL could be considered pretentious, I guess, but I think it depends on the person using it. For example, something like Aglaia might look pretentious on a WASP-type person, but would look perfectly fine on a Greek person.
This message was edited 2/20/2011, 12:53 PM
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A very long list...
I suppose some of the names I like could be considered pretentious, although I suppose that makes sense, as I like them because of how old-fashioned they are. These are actually all from my PNL:
Masculine: Algernon, Camille *, Céleste *, Constantine / Constantin *, Cosimo, Evander, Félix *, Florian *, Fyodor, Galahad, Gilbert * (I like the French pronunciation, which makes me think of Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette; that's pretentious!), Guillaume *, Hamlet, Honoré, Horatio, Leander, Lysander, Marcel *, Marlowe, Maximilian, Maximilien * (as in Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre, another French historical figure with an overly long name), Ninian, Octavian, Percival, Prospero, Quincy, Rainier *, Rémy *, René *, Sidney (somewhat pretentiousness as a masculine name, especially if you give your Sim a long British surname), Valentine, Vasiliy (lots of Russian names, actually, but this especially), Victor * (with the right surname, or in a French string of names), Vivian (like Sidney, it's very pretentious with the right surname), Vivien *, Yvain
I suppose some of the names I like could be considered pretentious, although I suppose that makes sense, as I like them because of how old-fashioned they are. These are actually all from my PNL:
Masculine: Algernon, Camille *, Céleste *, Constantine / Constantin *, Cosimo, Evander, Félix *, Florian *, Fyodor, Galahad, Gilbert * (I like the French pronunciation, which makes me think of Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette; that's pretentious!), Guillaume *, Hamlet, Honoré, Horatio, Leander, Lysander, Marcel *, Marlowe, Maximilian, Maximilien * (as in Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre, another French historical figure with an overly long name), Ninian, Octavian, Percival, Prospero, Quincy, Rainier *, Rémy *, René *, Sidney (somewhat pretentiousness as a masculine name, especially if you give your Sim a long British surname), Valentine, Vasiliy (lots of Russian names, actually, but this especially), Victor * (with the right surname, or in a French string of names), Vivian (like Sidney, it's very pretentious with the right surname), Vivien *, Yvain
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I tend to think that there's some pretentiousness to most mythological names, and being pretentious doesn't exclude names from being wholesome. I guess it might be a cultural difference (all of those names would seem pretty pretentious in the US, where I live). Besides, as I mentioned to Alisha, some of them require the right surnames to seem pretentious (especially if it's for characters or, as Rachel Shaina said, Sims).
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The names I pointed out are more common in the places I've lived, and there's about as much pretention attached to Imogen as there is to Caitlin or Chloe. ;)
Rhiannon in particular is just so dated to a certain generation for me, and all of the Rhiannons I have known have been lower middle class. I don't think that most people are aware of the roots of it here; the popularity is tied to the musical reference. That's popular culture for you.
I think many names sound pretentious with the right surname, but those names in and of themselves aren't universally considered pretentious.
I'm not American, so there you go. Fascinating how names appear differently around the globe. For instance, it always surprises me when people list Matilda as being upper-class or something, as some people have done here, when it is as common as dirt to me.
Rhiannon in particular is just so dated to a certain generation for me, and all of the Rhiannons I have known have been lower middle class. I don't think that most people are aware of the roots of it here; the popularity is tied to the musical reference. That's popular culture for you.
I think many names sound pretentious with the right surname, but those names in and of themselves aren't universally considered pretentious.
I'm not American, so there you go. Fascinating how names appear differently around the globe. For instance, it always surprises me when people list Matilda as being upper-class or something, as some people have done here, when it is as common as dirt to me.
This message was edited 2/20/2011, 6:58 PM
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It seems like it really is all about location and culture. Caitlin and Chloe may not be considered pretentious in the US, but Imogen, Rhiannon (I've never even heard the song, but that's probably because I'm 17 and not especially pop culture-savvy), and Matilda are seen as old-fashioned and thus pretentious here. I've never met anyone with any of those names (although I remember seeing a Rhiannon listed in a program for something at my school, but she had a surname that seemed to match so I didn't think anything of it), as they really aren't common here. It really is fascinating.
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It's all in the surname
I don't actually think any of those names are pretentious on their own, but they lend themselves very well to becoming pretentious with certain surnames.
In addition, Imogen is Shakespearean, which could strike some people as a bit pretentious, Victoria is associated with royalty, Aurora is associated with mythology and fairy tales, and Bryony goes very well with long, pretentious surnames.
Also, I'm American :P
I actually love all of those names because they strike me as nicely old-fashioned and possibly a bit pretentious. Every single one of the names in that list was pulled from my PNL, after all.
I don't actually think any of those names are pretentious on their own, but they lend themselves very well to becoming pretentious with certain surnames.
In addition, Imogen is Shakespearean, which could strike some people as a bit pretentious, Victoria is associated with royalty, Aurora is associated with mythology and fairy tales, and Bryony goes very well with long, pretentious surnames.
Also, I'm American :P
I actually love all of those names because they strike me as nicely old-fashioned and possibly a bit pretentious. Every single one of the names in that list was pulled from my PNL, after all.
This message was edited 2/20/2011, 1:15 PM
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Baha, fair enough! Those four are quite popular here, so I found it hard to understand how they could be pretentious, but I guess you're right about the surname bit :)
This message was edited 2/20/2011, 1:37 PM
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Blanchefleur (female) and Meriwether (male) immediately come to mind. I really like them, too!
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Remmington
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Bartholomew
Benedict (still like it though...)
Nicolaus
Priscilla
Bernadette
Benedict (still like it though...)
Nicolaus
Priscilla
Bernadette
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Ooh, I love pretentious names!
Willoughby
Chauncey - poor Chauncey, I see that it has been mentioned a lot (love Chauncey!) but it's just so over the top pretentious that I had to include it too.
Jean-François and other French hyphenated names seem very pretentious to me in an Anglo-American context
Remington, Hamilton, Eaton, Pemberton, Arrington, Arlington etc - basically surnamey names ending in -ton
Aloysius - and other names ending in -us, especially Ancient Roman ones like Aurelianus, Bartholomeus, Hieronymus, Innocentius etc
Willoughby
Chauncey - poor Chauncey, I see that it has been mentioned a lot (love Chauncey!) but it's just so over the top pretentious that I had to include it too.
Jean-François and other French hyphenated names seem very pretentious to me in an Anglo-American context
Remington, Hamilton, Eaton, Pemberton, Arrington, Arlington etc - basically surnamey names ending in -ton
Aloysius - and other names ending in -us, especially Ancient Roman ones like Aurelianus, Bartholomeus, Hieronymus, Innocentius etc
This message was edited 2/20/2011, 10:27 AM
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Celia
Primrose
Hunter
Atticus
...these come to mind instantly.
Primrose
Hunter
Atticus
...these come to mind instantly.
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I disagree on Hunter; it seems way common and middle class to me. I agree on the others, however.
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Ooh Atticus. Good one.
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Hildegarde and Algernon are the most pretentious names ever to me.
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I don't think there's any way Arabella could be sold as nonpretentious, do you? I can't really see that argument for Isabella either, although I guess you're asking for names so OTT that people don't really use them. Annabella, Isabel, there's something a little understated about them, but there's no defending Arabella.
Desdemona also comes to mind. Who can pretend they're not naming their child an entire heroic epic when they name her Desdemona.
Looking at the bottom of the 2009 lists, - okay, these names like Illiana? Anyone who names their kid Illiana is anticipating that she won't fart. There is just no two ways about that.
Ceridwen. Everything about it, the mythology, unfamiliarity, ancientness, exoticism, everything phonetic about it, PLUS the meaning which cannot be surpassed in terms of pretentiousness.
Ysabella beats out Isabella, for sure.
These names like Braylin are incredibly pretentious in their own ways, aren't they? Although I guess they don't qualify here because they wholly lack elegance.
I guess mythology is the best place to find these names. Ariadne - there's just no pretending that you gave your kid a normal name here.
I feel I'm not doing a good job. How about this one: Berengaria ! I don't know if it counts as pretentious because it's pretty unfamiliar plus it's a bear, but damn look at it.
No we need some ancient Roman stuff. Aureliana? Maximilienne? Severina? Thomasina? Tatianina?
I dunno, I hope someone else has better ideas.
Desdemona also comes to mind. Who can pretend they're not naming their child an entire heroic epic when they name her Desdemona.
Looking at the bottom of the 2009 lists, - okay, these names like Illiana? Anyone who names their kid Illiana is anticipating that she won't fart. There is just no two ways about that.
Ceridwen. Everything about it, the mythology, unfamiliarity, ancientness, exoticism, everything phonetic about it, PLUS the meaning which cannot be surpassed in terms of pretentiousness.
Ysabella beats out Isabella, for sure.
These names like Braylin are incredibly pretentious in their own ways, aren't they? Although I guess they don't qualify here because they wholly lack elegance.
I guess mythology is the best place to find these names. Ariadne - there's just no pretending that you gave your kid a normal name here.
I feel I'm not doing a good job. How about this one: Berengaria ! I don't know if it counts as pretentious because it's pretty unfamiliar plus it's a bear, but damn look at it.
No we need some ancient Roman stuff. Aureliana? Maximilienne? Severina? Thomasina? Tatianina?
I dunno, I hope someone else has better ideas.
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I know a girl named Iliana, and she definitely farts.
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I don't think...
Illiana (well, actually it's Iliana) really counts. It's on the US charts because it's a Spanish name, so you can't hold it to English standards of pretentiousness.
Maybe I'm just defending it because it's similar to my name (although I don't actually like the way it looks). I completely agree about everything else, though.
Illiana (well, actually it's Iliana) really counts. It's on the US charts because it's a Spanish name, so you can't hold it to English standards of pretentiousness.
Maybe I'm just defending it because it's similar to my name (although I don't actually like the way it looks). I completely agree about everything else, though.
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Maybe. I feel that way about most names with that particular set of consonants and vowels, Ilana, Eliana, Lilianania, Ilianialaniana, Leilani.
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Chauncey. I've met maybe three guys with this name and they were all douchebags.
Other "pretentious" names, imo, (used today) are: Alistair, Aspen, Bentley, Byron, Ptolomy, Grayson, Mackenzie, Makayla, Kennedy, Beauregard, Benedict, Maximillian, Chardonnay, Tiffany, etc
Any name that is the name of a high-end product, essentially. And names that are common amongst "East Egg" types.
Other "pretentious" names, imo, (used today) are: Alistair, Aspen, Bentley, Byron, Ptolomy, Grayson, Mackenzie, Makayla, Kennedy, Beauregard, Benedict, Maximillian, Chardonnay, Tiffany, etc
Any name that is the name of a high-end product, essentially. And names that are common amongst "East Egg" types.
This message was edited 2/20/2011, 10:07 AM
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Sebastian
Ferdinand
Maximilian
Archibald
Kingston
Isadore / Isidore
Ignatius
Winfield
Chauncey
Albert
Arthur
Alfred
Arabella
Charlotte
Georgina
Cordelia
Sophronia
Bernadette
Theodosia
Annabella
Anastasia
Philomena
Felicia
Camilla
I actually really like some of them, but I can imagine them being called pretentious.
Ferdinand
Maximilian
Archibald
Kingston
Isadore / Isidore
Ignatius
Winfield
Chauncey
Albert
Arthur
Alfred
Arabella
Charlotte
Georgina
Cordelia
Sophronia
Bernadette
Theodosia
Annabella
Anastasia
Philomena
Felicia
Camilla
I actually really like some of them, but I can imagine them being called pretentious.
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Chauncey
Reginald
Neville
Reginald
Neville
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