Preppy Name: Difference between revisions

In Germany, the phenomenon of upper class parents giving their offspring more conservative names like Emil, Cornelius or Viktoria has coined the term "Emilism" as opposed to "Kevinism", describing the tendency of lower class parents to give their children names unusual to German-speaking areas, especially English names like the aforementioned Kevin, Justin or Mandy.

Note, a name associated with upper class characters in one generation will often sound "common" in the next as working class mothers decide to name their children after characters in books or movies, members of the royal family etc. For example, [[James Bond]] married a very classy young woman called Theresa, known as Tracy. And she wasn't the only classy Tracy in films of that era either. Sharon was quite a "nice" name back then too. By the 80s? Not so much. By now, Sharon and Tracy will be working class mothers whose own children have names ''they'' considered classy when she chose them, only to discover that all the other Sharons and Tracies had chosen them for their urchins, too. (this specific example applies only to the UK; in the US people simply ''stopped using'' these two names so that "Sharon" among Baby Boomers and "Tracy" among Generation X are time-capsule names, linked '''far''' more strongly to generation than class.)

Royal names are another example of this latter phenomenon. In the late 19th Century there was a fashion for Victoria/Victor and Albert/Alberta in honour of the queen and her husband. By the time the first ''[[Steptoe and Son]]'' movie was made, 'Arold (Son) told Albert (Steptoe), with reference to the baby they had adopted, "''Naw'', we're no' callin' 'im Albert; 's ''common''!"

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

[[Category:Naming Conventions]]

[[Category:Preppy Name]]