Holly Willoughby and Katie Hopkins in kids’ names class row

Defending her opinion, she said: “I think you can tell a great deal from a name. For me there are certain names that I hear and I think ‘urgh’. For me, a name is a shortcut of finding out what class that child comes from and makes me ask: ‘Do I want my children to play with them?’”

She was joined on the sofa by Anna May Mangan, a writer, who said she was discriminated against as a child because her parents were Irish immigrants. Anna May told her: “This is snort-worthy, Katie. I can’t believe you’re such an insufferable snob. And I can tell you that if you do let one of your little darlings play with a working class child they won’t come home singing My Old Man’s a Dustman.

“For you to categorise [children] because of their names, which they didn’t even choose themselves, is cruel and unkind and snooty and old-fashioned.”

Holly Willoughby chipped in, asking Katie: “Do you think your opinions are restricting your children?”

After Katie replied that they probably were, Holly asked: “Why would you do that? Why would you do that?”

As the debate continued, Holly said: “Sorry, I just can’t help but get involved.”

Katie went on to say that she didn’t like footballers’ names or geographical names like “Brooklyn” or “London”. Philip Schofield pointed out that Katie’s daughter is named India. “Isn’t that a geographical name?” he asked.

Katie replied: “That’s not a geographical location. It’s a lovely name for a lovely child.”

The debate ended when Katie said that girls named Chardonnay had probably been named after cheap bottles of wine, such as Blue Nun.

“Oh stop, stop right there,” Holly said, moving on to the next segment.

After the show, Katie took to Twitter to defend her opinion: “Dear PC brigade. You smile in public, but in private you say the same things as I say. You are closet Hopkins’. I can help you get out.”

“There is something about being a snob people just don’t like. I think an honest snob is better than a lying fool. No?”

She even went onto insult children’s hair colour: “Ginger babies. Like a baby. Just so much harder to love.”

Interested to see whether children's names have an impact on their career? American baby name app, Nametrix, uses data from the US census, Wikipedia and a US politcal campaign to give an in-depth analysis on names. It also allows users to see the peak year and locaton for a name's popularity. And the verdict on Charmaine? In the US, most adult Charmaines are accountants.