Interesting, as always - thank you! For interest, I had a relative whose baptism record shows him as
Percy, but his death certificate (when in his 50s) reads
Percival. In the family, he was only referred to as
Percy; perhaps a bureaucrat filling in the form decided that the "correct" version should be used ... I prefer
Percy, but I don't perceive either name as particularly elite or aristocratic; rather the reverse. Solid, working-class names!
Piers seems more exclusive than
Peter, but I chose
Peter for my son without hesitation.
And those Aubrey-type previously all-male names: I assume it's the -y ending that looks female, so can we expect girls named
Antony,
Gregory,
Jeremy etc to appear? Or am I becoming too logical?