http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PreppyName

Hardison: The kid's from her first marriage. Widmark.

Elliot: Whoa, I'm sorry, Widmark?

Hardison: Rich people, man. Leverage , "The Fairy Godparents Job" The kid's from her first marriage. Widmark.Whoa, I'm sorry, Widmark?Rich people, man.

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Want to make your character sound wealthy? Just give them a snobby rich kid name.

In American works, this is for those names like Chase (or Chace), Blair, or in older programs, Libby (which is a name more strongly associated with commoners now). For extra pretentiousness points, add a Roman numeral at the end to indicate that the name itself is a legacy. "The Third" seems to be the most popular. Occasionally, first or middle initial is seen (as in, for instance, "V. Marcus Wellesley" or "Harrison E. Vandenberg"). Girls may also be given traditionally male names such as Spencer, Logan, or Blake. Men with names like Stacey or Ashley also apply. The character may also have more than one middle name. Their last names will often be of more than one word such as St. John, St. Claire, or a Dutch heritage name like Van (de/der) -something or Something-son/sen (even all in one), especially if the character is supposed to be a New Yorker, (see, e.g., Dyckman, van der Woodsen). Most often, the last name will suggest a British heritage to lend that all-important Founding Fathers touch, and will often be derived from a British place-name — Hastings, Winchester, or Montgomery, for example.

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If the setting and characters are British, these types of names would be described as "posh", "rah" (as in "tally-ho, rah!", a stereotypically posh exclamation), or "Sloaney" names, the latter named for London's Sloane Square, an upper-class haunt. Unlike in the US, Roman numerals would never be used, and would be viewed as uppity and extremely vulgar. Given names will be either very traditional — think Royal names like William (Wills), Henry, Rupert, Catherine, Elizabeth, Victoria OR more unusual, quite eccentric names like Rafferty, Rollo, Crispin, Finnbar, Tarquin, Torquil, Candida, Arabella, Pandora, Binky (yep) and Cressida (etc) that sound like something straight out of Arthurian legend or Shakespeare. The surname will usually be peculiarly spelled, often in a way that defies sense, and will always be hyphenated — commonly known as a 'double-barrel' surname — sounding as though it could be the name of a particularly expensive law firm if you slapped "LLP" on the end — Cholmondeley-Browne, fforbes-Hamilton, Wyndham-Pryce, etc. Essentially, an English girl called something like "Araminta Fortescue-Thompson" probably has a flat on Sloane Square, does a bit of light PR as a "job", spends most of her time shopping on the King's Road, and has a family that owns half of Yorkshire.

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Note — although preppy last names in the US and UK will be very similar (preppy last-names in the US will often suggest a British heritage), it's worth mentioning that there is a huge degree of cultural dissonance between the nations in terms of what are considered to be preppy / upper-class first names. For example, girls' names thought of as being preppy in the US, like the aforementioned "Chace" or "Blair", would be thought of as being tacky, overly "trendy", and at worst, flagrantly nouveau riche in the UK (especially "Chace" spelt with a 2nd "c"). Sometimes they will even be thought of as lower-class. But equally, to a US audience, "Sloaney-pony", posh English girls' names like "Henrietta", "Jemima", or "Arabella" sound parochial, old-fashioned, and evoke down-home, country-bumpkin types — funny, ain't it? There's also a whole segment of Celtic (mostly Irish) boys' names that are considered "chavvy" in England and quite smart in the New World — Aidan, Liam, Kieran and the like.

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!"

Compare It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY", which overlaps with this sometimes when people intentionally mispronounce a name just to make it sound more classy. A trademark of the Upper-Class Twit and Gentleman Snarker.

Ghetto Name is the polar opposite (yet has a knack for sounding just as stupid). Hayseed Name is the rural equivalent to both, encompassing names unique to regions considered backwoods and uncultured.

See Analysis for non-Anglophonic examples.

Examples:

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The foppish character associated with The New Yorker is Eustice Tilley.

Monocle, spats, and cutaway jacket are the signature attire of rich Uncle Pennybags. Few know him by that name, however. Parker Brothers gave up trying to enlighten the millions and rechristened him (and trademarked) his better-known moniker, Mr. Monopoly.

Anime & Manga

The English version of Tokyo Mew Mew gave us Corina Bucksworth (aka Aizawa Minto).

Yu-Gi-Oh!: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX had a bunch of these in Chazz Princeton, Atticus and Alexis Rhodes, and Syrus and Zane Truesdale. Well, the school pretty much is a prep school. Also present are Jaden Yuki, Blair Flannigan, Chumley Huffington, and Bastian Misawa. From the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series: Pegasus J. Crawford or Maximillion Pegasus.

In Yuri Is My Job, the main characters work at a salon called Liebe Girls' Academy, a fictitious school for rich girls, and roleplay as students at said school. The employees at the salon are given different surnames when working, presumably ones that sound higher-class. Examples include Hime Shirasagi (her real name is Shiraki), Mitsuki Ayanokouji (Yano), Kanoko Amamiya (Mamiya) Sumika Tachibana (Chibana) and Nene Saionji (unknown).

Comedy

Lee Evans pointed out that he could never take some names for STDs seriously because a lot of them, particularly Chlamydia, sound preppy. I have this image of a woman in some French doors going "Chlamydia! Chlamydia, your tea's ready!"

And [there's] some diseased old frump in the garden going, "OK, I'm on my way!"

..."Is Syphilis out there with you?!"

Comic Books

X-Men: Warren Worthington III (aka the Angel), as well as Charles Francis Xavier (Professor X).

Gwen Stacy is Spider-Man's Uptown Girl love interest, and her full name is Gwendolyne Maxine Stacy.

In The DCU, the closest thing Firestorm has to an archenemy is Danton Black, alias Multiplex.

Archie Comics: There's Veronica Lodge, as well as her father Hiram Lodge. Jughead's real name is Forsythe Pendleton Jones III. The fact it's a Preppy Name is lampshaded in the reboot, when Archie states it "reeks of high society".



Comic Strips

Fan Works

In the Pokémon fic The Myamoto Project, James' last name is "Rochester", befitting his wealthy parentage.

The Pokémon oneshot Confrontation gives James the full name of "James Miles William Roseworth". His rich parents are named George and Evangeline.

gives James the full name of "James Miles William Roseworth". His rich parents are named George and Evangeline. All My Kittens: Duchess' first mate is a pedigree stud that has the snooty full-name of "Cyrano de Bergerac".

In cool and new web comic, Hecka Jef's name is revealed to be short for Heckacious Jeferey.

Films — Animation

In Flushed Away, main character Roddy insists on introducing himself as "Roderick St. James of Kensington". Seeing as he's the pet mouse of an upper-crust family in Kensington, London, this isn't surprising.

The Lion King 1½: According to Timon, Shenzi's full name is Shenzi Marie Predatorra Veldetta Jackalina Hyena. It's unknown what her ranking is, but she's higher ranked than Ed and Banzai by virtue of being a female.

Bradley Uppercrust III from An Extremely Goofy Movie.

Films — Live-Action

Literature

Live-Action TV

Pro Wrestling

Radio

Hubert Updike III in The Alan Young Show, voiced by Jim Backus.

Several of Arthur's ex-girlfriends in Cabin Pressure, whom Carolyn describes as "bossy, pony-club types with Alice bands and stupid names" like Fliss, Minty, Libbett, and Pobs (when Arthur lists them, Carolyn says it sounds like he's brainstorming names for a Labrador puppy). The Grand Finale, "Zurich", introduces Tiffy, who does dressage.

Yes, What? included upper-class schoolboy Francis Marmaduke Algenon de Pledge, universally known to his classmates as "Pickles". The full names of his classmates (Rupert Bottomly, Ronald George Standforth, and Cuthbert Horace Greenbottle Jr.) might sound preppy by today's standards, but did reflect naming practices of the time (combined with a hint of lower middle-class pretension). "Marmaduke" was well over the odds even for the time.

Roleplay

Three of the most affluent, upper-class characters in the cast of Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues are called Finn N. Flannagan, Irene Melissenos, and Benedict Tudor.

Orville Brand, Blair Duchess, Hadley Sharpe, Nelson Stickling, and Tatum West on Honorable Hogwarts.

SOTF-TV: A good portion of the kids in Silver Dragon Academy have this sort of name. Examples include Mae St. Clair, Leopold Sutherland, Bob Lazenby, and Renée Carlson.

Theatre

In Wicked, Glinda is given the surname "Upland". She's posh and well-off, although not as much as she implies. This surname was later canonized in book canon come Son of a Witch.

Video Games

Web Animation

Homestar Runner: In the Strong Bad Email "independent", Strong Bad says that Pom Pom, as an "indie" movie maker, uses "middle names and/or initials" to improve his "indie cred". We then see Pom Pom's name embellished to "Pom Thomas Pom", "J. Pom Thomas Pom", and eventually "J. William Pom Thomas C. Pom".

RWBY: It's revealed in Volume 4 that Blake Belladonna comes from a decently well-off family. Weiss and Whitley Schnee are wealthy siblings. Their parents Jacques and Willow, as well as their older sister Winter, however, have less preppy names.

Tricky from Subway Surfers: The Animated Series comes from a rich family. Her name is really "Beatrice".

Web Comics

Web Videos

The idea behind Reginald Cuftbert's name in Spoiler Warning's Let's Play of Fallout 3. The original suggestion was Reginald Cuthbert, but something was lost in translation.

Western Animation

Real Life