[name]Just[/name] wondering what names you berries think are very pretentious or try-hard.
Names like Thackery and nature names like [name]North[/name] and [name]Fox[/name] seem like parents are trying a little hard to be cool. Now if the name actually has meaning, that’s a different story.
These mostly have to do with the people I know with these names
[name]Preston[/name]
[name]Alastair[/name]
[name]Pierce[/name]
I think a lot of names mentioned on the board are pretentious sounding and make people look like they’re trying too hard.
[name]Persephone[/name]
Unusual surnames that aren’t family names, especially when used on girls
Commonly boy names used as girl names
I’ll have to think on this some more, I’ll come back if I think of anything else!
[name]Remington[/name]
[name]Kensington[/name]
[name]Sloane[/name]
[name]Beckham[/name]
[name]Hunter[/name]
Carrington
Basically waspy surnames, especially if they are on a girl.
What’s a waspy surname, meimei? Lol I agree scarletrune! But I can’t say that I’m not guilty of liking a lot of those names. 
Often I find names that are just “way too out there” to scream “trying to hard”. I don’t really want to mention any example out of fear for upsetting people but there were a thread not long ago with some very unique girls names that I felt really tried too hard to stand out and be cool!
That’s hard to say since to me it depends on the individual. A name like [name]Lotus[/name], fits my hippie/boho personality but it would sound ridiculous if my preppy sister used it. While if I named my kid [name]Elizabeth[/name] it would be so uncharacteristic that anyone who knows me would consider it trying too hard
Pretentious names tend to be longer/more syllables
[name]Arabella[/name]
[name]Seraphina[/name]
[name]Sebastian[/name]
[name]Theodore[/name]
[name]Penelope[/name]
[name]Emerson[/name]
WASPy as in White Anglo-[name]Saxon[/name] Protestant. White Anglo-Saxon Protestants - Wikipedia
Ahhhh, very clever, meimei. I never knew of that.
Ugh. Definitely the random waspy surname. The McMansion of names.
I have been told that many of my favorites sound pretentious, but each of them has a carefully chosen meaning and reason behind them. For me, a name becomes pretentious based on the reason it is used. Like to use a name like [name]Atticus[/name] because it sounds literary and cool and makes you ‘appear’ intelligent despite you hating the names main namesake reference. Using a name for hipster reasons also to me makes it pretentious, like oh that name is so edgy cool and I thought of it first!!! I don’t think any name on it’s own is pretentious, the intent makes it so.
You’ve got a really good point, kibby. The reasons for choosing a name can definitely be a try-hard factor. I’ve never liked any Wasp names (glad I have a word for them now.) Although, I do think names from a radically different culture than one’s own look funny on anyone not of that culture and can therefore seem pretentious also. Such as Kamiyama on a blonde haired, Caucasian child.
I agree with this. I don’t think names themselves are pretentious, I think the reasoning behind them can be.
Lots of really great points in this thread!! Making me really think about my negative reaction to certain types of names. I agree with the random surname (on girls or boys, but it gets an extra eye roll from me on girls), and boys’ names on girls. I also think there’s different types of pretentiousness, though. If you mean “trying to sound rich” then it’s the above types of names. But personally, when I hear super hippie-ish type names (which for me range from [name]Rain[/name] to [name]Clementine[/name]), they sound pretentious also to me, but in a more “trying to sound different” way. That being said, I do agree with kibby that a lot of it is about the reason for choosing a name, but you don’t always know a reason when you first hear someone’s name.
Made up names. More than one middle name.
Like others, I don’t think you can specify pretentious sounding names unless you know the context, like the parents or the reasons for naming. For instance, if a lower/middle class family (in my area, at least) named their kid [name]Mortimer[/name] or [name]Araminta[/name] in an attempt to sounder wealthier, I would think they were trying too hard to be something they were not.
Totally all of these. SO and I were talking about how you really only hear the name [name]Skip[/name] on Waspy sweater-over-the-shoulders types. Not sure if that’s a nickname, but it sure seems to be popular in that world.
Another thought, creative spellings are for sure pretentious! There are other ways to incorporate meaning in a name so there’s no need to spell it weird.
Names that are extremely long. [name]Aureliana[/name] comes to mind, even though I think it is stunning and could see myself using it (I’m pretentious like that!).