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HelpRe: Posh British names
in reply to a message by Mireio
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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