Is Katie Hopkins Right?

This was originally posted on July 5, 2013

By now you have probably already witnessed Katie Hopkins interview on This Morning, if not you can view it here. In this interview, aired on Wednesday, Katie claims that certain baby names will put her off allowing her own children to associate with them. She specifically points out the names Tyler and Chardonnay as examples of ‘working class names’ which should would lead her to immediately prevent those children from befriending her own children.

A look at Katie’s Twitter feed will show you all you need to know about her opinions if you weren’t convinced by her TV appearance.

Katie brings up an interesting point though, and it is one that many parents battle with before they name their children. Just what will other people think of the name I’ve chosen? Katie dismisses certain names as ‘working class’ and says that she has an immediate opinion of that child, and their parents. I can understand that at the most basic of levels everyone makes a judgement when they first meet people, but Charmaine and Brooklyn could quite easily become your child’s best friends – despite the reservations you might have. Katie also claims she hates ‘geographical names’, perhaps at this point she had taken it too far and forgotten that she had named her own child India.

Parents are in a constant battle over what people may think of their choice in baby name, and a baby will eventually grow into an adult who also has to deal with the name that they have been given. I’m sure that Katie probably has many friends whose name wouldn’t pass her test, but for a bit of controversy I’m sure she is happy to forget that. But how would you feel if someone prevented your child from being friends with their own child simply because of the name that you chose? I know I’d feel rather upset.

Katie’s world is clearly a very boring world where everyone is named Richard, Elizabeth or William – but the general trend we see on here is our readers slating celebrities for the names that they choose, so is Katie that far off the mark?