New Post
Search
Help[Opinions] Re: Milo?
in reply to a message by lillybud
It sounds rather like a dog's name to me, too. However, it's been adopted as one of the upper-class-sounding fads, which actually don't sound upper-class to me at all, just try-hard. Other examples of this trend are Sebastian, Jasper, and in the USA, Oliver.
_____________________________________________________________________
♥Elinor♥
_____________________________________________________________________
♥Elinor♥
Archived Thread - replies disabled
1
Replies
about Milo, Oliver, Jasper, etc...
Why is Oliver more pretentious in America than it is in the UK?
Certainly it's been popular for longer in the UK, but there aren't that many Olivers in the 30-50 cohort in the UK. And there was a classist element to the name's resurgence there, too; an Oliver in my brother's year group (born 81-82) got called posh all the time.
I might tend to agree with you on Sebastian, but Jasper, Oliver, Milo and others like Felix, Jude, Crispin, Barnaby, Edmund/Ned, Jonathan/Jonty August/Gus, Frederick/Freddie, Archibald/Archie, Henry/Harry, Maximilian/Max (just to list off some of the boys' ), are often given out of a sense of sort of historic fun, not so much pretension. When I first heard some of the names that my cousins (the posh London cousins, especially) and my siblings were giving their children, I rolled my eyes for sure. But over the years I sort of came to realise that all names can be criticised on various grounds, and a name, any name, that has meaning and historical use as a name is probably good in some way, and that if a parent is naming their sons Felix and Oliver, that's fine, they're good fun names that also have their historical side to give them substance.
There are some names that yes, I do think cross the line into irredeemable pretension, but few are widely used, and often the ones which come across "try-hard" are completely acceptable when the circumstances are explained- for example, my cousin's daughters Ottilie and Sophrona, who are upper-class Londoners, yes, but the girls are both named for grandparents, and are widely known as Tillie and Rona.
Why is Oliver more pretentious in America than it is in the UK?
Certainly it's been popular for longer in the UK, but there aren't that many Olivers in the 30-50 cohort in the UK. And there was a classist element to the name's resurgence there, too; an Oliver in my brother's year group (born 81-82) got called posh all the time.
I might tend to agree with you on Sebastian, but Jasper, Oliver, Milo and others like Felix, Jude, Crispin, Barnaby, Edmund/Ned, Jonathan/Jonty August/Gus, Frederick/Freddie, Archibald/Archie, Henry/Harry, Maximilian/Max (just to list off some of the boys' ), are often given out of a sense of sort of historic fun, not so much pretension. When I first heard some of the names that my cousins (the posh London cousins, especially) and my siblings were giving their children, I rolled my eyes for sure. But over the years I sort of came to realise that all names can be criticised on various grounds, and a name, any name, that has meaning and historical use as a name is probably good in some way, and that if a parent is naming their sons Felix and Oliver, that's fine, they're good fun names that also have their historical side to give them substance.
There are some names that yes, I do think cross the line into irredeemable pretension, but few are widely used, and often the ones which come across "try-hard" are completely acceptable when the circumstances are explained- for example, my cousin's daughters Ottilie and Sophrona, who are upper-class Londoners, yes, but the girls are both named for grandparents, and are widely known as Tillie and Rona.
1
edits
Gah. No point pointing them all out, I didn't realise I'm not signed in. The one that galls me most is "priviledged." I DO know it's privileged. Really.
Gah. No point pointing them all out, I didn't realise I'm not signed in. The one that galls me most is "priviledged." I DO know it's privileged. Really.
1
1
.
1