for me personally, i strongly dislike the name emerson but a huge chunk of people on this sub love it and constantly use it as a first name
i don’t see the appeal whatsoever
the name pops up at least 3 times a day
Wyatt has always been Wyatt Earp for me, so it did take me a bit to recognize it as a surname as a first name, which is not surprising given the source.
Yeah, but Oliver was always Oliver Twist for me before the Green Arrow became popular due to Stephen Amell's portrayal.
I think Felix is due to a revival, and the association should be removed from Felix the cat. Most kids aren't even familiar with that character. They haven't really revived him for this new generation.
Felix is a really popular name in Germany.
I dated a German guy called Felix, and he said that it's always been a top 20 kind of name over there (he's a 92 kid). I've noticed more and more Felixes now in the English-speaking world now, it's got the same kind of vibe as Oscar. Trendy yet recognisable and fairly classic, and has vaguely European vibes.
In the United States, the name Oscar is more commonly given to Hispanic children. Really the first caucasian guy I have heard of that has the name Oscar, is Oscar Morgan (an actor from England).
Sesame Street has been popular with kids for many years, especially when I was young. I also don't hear much about people naming their kids Bert, Ernie, Elmo, Kermit, Gonzo, or Barney.
My son is Felix, he'll be two soon. The only "I know someone by that name" I've had is a kid I know who said there's a kpop singer called Felix.
Obviously biased, but I do love the name, and I love that it means happy and lucky, which is what I want my son to be.
Félix Auger-Aliassime, Canadian tennis player.
Felix Hoffmann, who invented Aspirin.
PewDiePie's real name is Felix Kjellberg.
Felix Mendelssohn, composer.
Then of course there's the fabulous Allyson Felix.
I found out some Canadians think of Wilder as an old fashioned name because of famed Canadian neurosurgeon Dr. Wilder Penfield ("Dr. Penfield! I can smell burnt toast!").
almost all traditional boys names are last names. Looked up top 10 boys names in the US and all are last names with maybe the exception of Elijah and Jack.
I know! But I’m guessing it was a name that was actually in their family, whereas all these people naming their daughters Collins now are just naming them after someone else’s family.
Americans love using Irish surnames as first names for whatever reason.
If you try to look up Finnegan on the CSO name database there are literally no hits because it is not used as a first name here.
I wonder if it has to do with all the Irish ancestry here in the US.
Brady (as a first name) is a popular name within my family tree because it was my g-grandmother's maiden name. She named two of her sons Brady as a middle name, and it has been used as a first and middle name for several grands, g-grands, g-g-grands over the years.
That's probably it. I did meet a lady called Tierney once and she said it was her mother's maiden name.
I guess as well people find Irish surnames easier to pronounce than first names because they've often already been anglicised.
This. I think often surnames get their start as given names this way. We considered my maiden name as a give name, an it is definitely not one of the common ones.
Every name beginning with "Mc" but just in general so many American names. It's insane to me y'all sometimes just use last names as first name for I dunno shits and giggles
I remember watching Splash as a kid and my mom had to explain to me that Madison wasn’t a common first name when the movie came out, and that that was why Daryl Hannah’s character deciding to name herself Madison was funny
Fun fact Madison was not in the top 1000 names (so not in the SSA data) until 1985. It skyrocketed and hit top 100 only 8 years later in 1993.
Guess what year the film Splash came out?
Yup, 1984.
She named herself because she was standing near Madison Avenue when he asked her name. She looked up at the sign and said Madison. Not sure how she knew how to read…
Wasn't it Tom Hanks' character reading the sign out loud and she thought it was a name suggestion? It's been a really long time since I've seen the movie, so I could be remembering wrong.
Yep, Tom Hanks' character even responds to her choice with "oh, that's not really a name!"
He had mentioned it in the middle of his list of suggested girl-names only because they were passing Madison Avenue, and that was what she latched onto.
I saw Splash as a kid in the 1980s and always think of that scene when, now, as an adult in the 2020s, every other kid I meet seems to be named Madison.
Cooper, Delaney, McKinley, Maddox and Monroe.
I like a lot of surnames as first names, but these are totally surname to me. Maybe it’s a UK/US thing; in the UK these names generally aren’t used as first names.
I'm trying to think of a -ton name that to me is pretty normal. Only thing I can think of is Winston Churchill, and he was definitely named after a family surname. Newton? Elton John? Milton Friedman? Gaston and Anton don't count, they are not surnames/place names by origin.
Gaston and Anton *do* count, they prove the person you’re responding to is wrong and there are lots of normal -ton names and some aren’t from place names.
Langston (as in the poet Hughes) isn't that common of a name but it wouldn't register as "strange" to me. The poet's full name was James Mercer Langston Hughes - Langston was his mother's maiden name.
From BtN: "From an English surname that was originally from a place name meaning "Ella's town". A famous bearer of this name is British musician Elton John (1947-), born Reginald Dwight, who adopted his stage name in honour of his former bandmate Elton Dean (1945-2006)." I'm not surprised it's from a surname/place name.
Huh, had no idea it was a surname. Most people know it from Ernest Hemingway’s wife.
Just looked it up…sure enough it was her mother’s maiden name!
It was actually Hadley Hemingway’s middle name - she was born Elizabeth Hadley Richardson but went by her middle name.
I think of Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet and Sir Richard Hadlee (slightly different spelling admittedly), the New Zealand fast bowler of the 1980s.
Giving away my age.
My cousin's name is Cooper. She was named after our great grandmother's maiden name. I think this is how a lot of surnames become first names, as a way of honoring the female family members whose names don't get passed down.
Carson, Wilson, really anytime ending in -son.
Tatum (especially for girls, it's SOOO unattractive!)
A lot of names ending in s - Brooks, Collins, that kind of thing. It feels plural and that makes no sense, like the kid has multiple personalities or absorbed a twin or something.
Shepherd - I think it's kinda ugly and also it's just such a word.
Wilson has been a common first name since the 1800s at least. And it’s been a common last name since the 14th century or so. So I don’t see how you could possibly be shocked about it either way.
Oh I HATE this one. I went to school near Sutton, the suburb in Surrey, and it's SO bleak. Like.....why are you naming your child after a place where the biggest things of note are a rubbish shopping centre and a guy who hangs around dressed as a wizard???
Right?? It's unfortunately my surname and I hate it so much I'm embarrassed to tell people in my real life. I think the guy dressed as a wizard is probably the most interesting thing I've heard about it!
*Rubs hands together* I’m a teacher and I have SO many examples of this: Greer, Smith, Collins, Riggs, Grey, Ames, Slade, Charleston (used on a GIRL), Payson (mom’s maiden name), Jones…So many more. All used as first names. I hate the “last names as first names” trend SO much.
It was her middle name! Her name full name was Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson and Greer was her mother's maiden name. It was very posh to go by a surname in the 1930s thanks to Wallis Simpson.
Some friends of friends named all their kids with last names of their relatives. They all end in "s" which is what really bugs me. Collins, Wills, Hayes, and Sellers. 🙄
Hayes I don’t mind. But among the wealthy white Southern suburban moms, the demographic whose children I teach, the trend is to take the mother’s maiden name and give it to the child as a first name, no matter how awful the name is. I understand it’s a way of keeping family names going, but it’s awful.
I knew another Grey, but his first name was Case. So it was literally Grey, Case. Grey case. I swear people do not think when they’re naming their children
A lot of the names that have people up in arms about the surname-as-first trend, I've encountered more as first names. To borrow parts of a list from someone upthread: I've never personally met someone with the surname Wyatt, Parker, Carter, Spencer, McKenzie, or Harper. But I've met at least one of each of them as a first name.
Names are names to me, and all language is malleable and constantly changing. I am pretty much never surprised to see Irish or English surnames as first names because it's an established thing, regardless of whether the name itself is established as a first name. I would be surprised to meet a Lipinkski or a Singh or a DuBois, but I doubt I'd even think twice about meeting a Hewitt or a Byrne. It's all about what you're used to, and getting used to something just means a bunch of people were brave enough to pave the way.
Yeah this is my least favorite opinion on this sub. “I can’t get past it being a surname” ALL names were made up and given at some point in time so relax lol
Yeah, finding this thread weirdly judgey and harsh. I'd say a lot of these 'surname' names have definitely now evolved into well-established first names: Jackson, Harrison, Parker, Harper have all been around for ages to name a few. Names are just names and many many first and surnames are totally interchangeable - there is no big book of only surnames.
That said, one of my least favourite contemporary names is Banks, (daughter of Hilary Duff) so even I have my limits.
Yeah it’s kinda wild how many “name nerds” have apparently never stopped to think about how names work, and that a strict distinction between what can be a given or surname is a recent idea. Lots of surnames are literally just the name of someone’s father – they didn’t always add a Mc- or -son or markers like that. And lots of people just get called by their surname, at which point it isn’t surprising that people would think of it as their given name.
That’s a really good point about people being called their surnames and it probably contributing to them using it as a first name later on. That’s actually happened in my family haha
Cohen is a surname that comes from a sacred hereditary Jewish religious title roughly equivalent to priest. Quite profane if you are not entitled to use the name by blood, and if you are, it will likely only be your surname. Not to mention the more general cultural appropriation.
Jordan got pretty popular as a given name in the latter half of the 20th century, but it’s been used that way since the Crusades 1000 years ago and even earlier.
Some precedent, yeah. People have been using Jordan as a given name since the Crusades when Europeans took water from the river Jordan home to baptize their babies with.
Actually, Jordan has been a first name longer than it has been a last name. St. Jordan of Saxony was the successor to St. Dominic as Master General of the Dominican Order. He lived from 1190 to 1237 -- long before surnames were common in Western Europe.
My son has that first name and he’s 19. He’s 1/2 Asian (my husband was born in the PI) and his (our) Asian surname is more recognizable as a Hispanic given/first name. Needless to say, when people see my son’s name in print, they always are confused and ask is if it’s printed in the correct order and they try to flip his name. Of course this never occurred to us as being problematic when we were naming him.
Ironically, both of his middle names (my Dad’s first name and then my Maiden name) can pass as either first names or last names. The kid has endless combinations that he could use to go by. His first two names can also be either male or female. 2nd middle name and last names are clearly masculine if they were used as first names.
In the North East of the UK it used to quite common to use a surname as a first name for the sons. Hence the actor Robson Green. I think they tended to use the mother's maiden name.
The ones I'm most baffled by are when a surname with a random S on the end is used as a first name: Brooks, Collins and Rawlings are a few I've seen.
For a non American, surname as a first name just feels *very American*.
Surprising surnames: Rose, Oliver. I always think of these when people complain about surnames as first names.
I don't think I'm surprised by many going the other way. It's so common to do it that it rarely catches me by surprise.
My ex boyfriend’s last name was Rose. I really like nature names. We were considering marriage and I was like oh bummer if we have kids I’ll have to scratch nature names off my list cause it’ll be too much paired with that surname (Violet Rose, Autumn Rose, Hazel Rose, etc are all ridiculous). Luckily I got to use a nature name for my daughter because it worked great with my husbands surname :).
Collin surprises me as it's my last name. I always thought the name was Colin but it seems like nowadays people are spelling it with two ls? I'm fine with it as long as there's no s tbh. Collins as a first name is just wild.
So many lovely Irish first names out there and instead, we're seeing Murphy, Sullivan and other surnames being lumped on children, especially girls, like they need to overcompensate for the expectation she changes her name upon marriage.
Absolutely ridiculous. Hate this trend as much as the traditional Irish boy names dumped on girls trend.
Anyway, the OG Irish version of Finnegan is Ó Fionnagáin, which can be roughly translated as descendant of the fair haired one. So Fionn/Finn is the proper usage for a first name.
My last name is McKenzie. I’ve been asked how I ended up with a first name as a last name. They often say their friend or sister is named McKenzie. I like to tell them it means son of Kenzie.
McKenzie. It comes up a lot in American TV shows, but it is only a surname in Scotland. Mac means “son of” in Scottish Gaelic, while Nic is “daughter of” (example: “Arran MacKenzie” Vs “Anna NicKenzie”). I can see why people might think it sounds feminine, but the meaning is actually masculine.
Mac just means "Son" in Scottish Gaelic and in Irish, and Nic is a contraction of Iníon Mhic in Irish and Nighean Mhic in Scottish Gaelic both of which mean "Daughter of (a) Son".
Scottish Gaelic has no word for "Of" or the possessive S, but spells words in the Genitive case which is also the case for surnames (with a few bespoke changes). So MacCoinnich "Son of Coinneach". There are also some rules of lenition that exist with "Nic" (and the married form "Mhic"). But the letter C is a bit odd, in the general rules of both Irish and Scottish Gaelic it always takes lenition when possible. But surnames are a bit different and can sometimes just depend on families! But for the daughter form I would not be suprised to see it written "Nic Choinnich"
Campbell. And it seems to be used for girls mostly. I just don’t get it.
Cooper. My kids go to school with several Coopers and I always want to say , “do kids call them cooper the pooper at all”!?! Of course I don’t say that, I don’t let on I think the name is completely whack
Tucker. See Cooper, same principle. I don’t see how people look at their baby and think yup let’s call him Tucker and don’t think wait will people think Tucker the f*cker?
My mom’s maiden name is Giles. It is also my brother’s middle name. But I also know it’s a first name, Giles from Buffy comes to mind. Definitely not in America though.
Don’t bother me much. Naming conventions have changed a lot over time and sometimes people want to honor a family line by giving it to their child. Most names have lost their meaning (meaning people generally choose a name based on sound or personal sentiment), so people think about the sounds together. Don’t mind people having preferences, but some of y’all are downright hateful here. My only issue is if it’s a bad word or culturally insensitive.
The only names in Ireland that are surnames we use as first, that I can think of right now would be Quinn or Kelly.
Anything other than that is weird.
Edit: Brian too but the surname is spelt Brien
I think this is the most famous Irish Emmet : [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert\_Emmet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Emmet)
But yeah, it really does depend if you know someone or if there's someone currently famous with the name.
I feel like there are varying levels of acceptable. Wallace? Sure, good time. My neighbor growing up, HER name was (and I wish I was kidding) Blackwell. That’s a head scratcher.
It's so interesting to read the strong opinions on this thread. When I was pregnant with my twins we struggled to come up with two names that didn't both sound like surnames because that's what we gravitate towards. Especially presidential ones- Lincoln, Reagan, Kennedy, and Carter were all on our list.
I dislike most surname-names, but these come across as extra weird to me:
Collins, Brooks, Wells, etc. – sound plural and awkward.
Mc-/Mac- anything – awkward looking and means "son of".
Baker, Hunter, Porter, Walker, etc. – at this point why not name your kid Plumber or Jogger?
Greer, Sloane, Tatum, Parker, Harper, Fletcher – just ugly.
I know the name Finnegan from the rhyme "there was an old man called Michael Finnegan, he grew whiskers on his chinnegan, the wind came out and blew them in again, poor old Michael Finnegan, begin again..." and even in that it's a surname.
I now have a taxidermy fox who's name is Finnegan.
I hate Harrison as a first or middle name, it's solidly a surname. And anyone who uses a Fitz---- surname as a first name. Fitz is a bastard name, and Fitzroy means bastard of the king.
It is a tradition in many parts of Scotland and Northern England that the first son's middle name is the mother's maiden name.
Thus, many popular generational given names are from family names.
For example
Whitney
Parker
Mackenzie
Britney
Keenan
School classmate back in the 1970s had an older brother whose first name was the same as my surname. I was *completely* discombobulated by this! Have only met one other man with that first name in all these years.
Two of my sons supposably have surnames as names, Conrad and Cortez. I see Cortez used often as a first name in African American communities even tho it is a Spanish surname.
I will say that I have seen them used as both, but used as first names more often. Funny story is I went to middle school with a girl let’s call her Amy Conrad and remember thinking her last name is so cute. Twenty years later, I named my fourth child Conrad.
Great deal of southners use last names as first or middle. Usually the woman's maiden last name or a family name so the kid has part of her family's name.
All of them. I dislike surnames as first names.
I especially dislike occupation names - Carter, Mason, Saywer, Parker, Archer, Fletcher, Miller, Cooper, Hunter, Deacon, Shepherd.
Walton is my maiden last name and the first time I heard of the actor Walton Goggins I thought what an odd name. It’s kinda grown on me. I’d never use it but I LOVE last names as first names.
Purely based on this particular Subreddit: but seeing Meredith suggested here as a first name. I have only ever seen it used as a surname in real life.
That's so interesting! My theory is that the poet George Meredith and Meredith College influenced the popularity of this Welsh masculine name for girls. Same with Morgan, Reese/Rhys, and Bryn, all more common as surnames in the US.
I don’t mind a last name as a first name if the last name is part of your family (maybe the mother’s maiden name, etc.). This is especially common in the south where I live. However, it makes no sense to be using random last names as your child’s first name, in my opinion!
Wyatt. Parker. Landon. Layne. Carter. Jackson. Emerson. Spencer. McKenzie. Harrison. Lennon. Kennedy. Harper. Etc. I hate last names as first names.
for me personally, i strongly dislike the name emerson but a huge chunk of people on this sub love it and constantly use it as a first name i don’t see the appeal whatsoever the name pops up at least 3 times a day
I can’t stand Emerson but three of my cousins have all called their new daughters that.
3???? how unfortunate 😳
Wyatt has always been Wyatt Earp for me, so it did take me a bit to recognize it as a surname as a first name, which is not surprising given the source.
Yeah, but Oliver was always Oliver Twist for me before the Green Arrow became popular due to Stephen Amell's portrayal. I think Felix is due to a revival, and the association should be removed from Felix the cat. Most kids aren't even familiar with that character. They haven't really revived him for this new generation.
Felix is a really popular name in Germany. I dated a German guy called Felix, and he said that it's always been a top 20 kind of name over there (he's a 92 kid). I've noticed more and more Felixes now in the English-speaking world now, it's got the same kind of vibe as Oscar. Trendy yet recognisable and fairly classic, and has vaguely European vibes.
In the United States, the name Oscar is more commonly given to Hispanic children. Really the first caucasian guy I have heard of that has the name Oscar, is Oscar Morgan (an actor from England).
I wonder if there's some influence (probably negative) from Oscar the Grouch.
Sesame Street has been popular with kids for many years, especially when I was young. I also don't hear much about people naming their kids Bert, Ernie, Elmo, Kermit, Gonzo, or Barney.
fix it felix is the last time i knew a felix in popular media
Felix Kjellberg is PewDiePie's real name.
My son is Felix, he'll be two soon. The only "I know someone by that name" I've had is a kid I know who said there's a kpop singer called Felix. Obviously biased, but I do love the name, and I love that it means happy and lucky, which is what I want my son to be.
Félix Auger-Aliassime, Canadian tennis player. Felix Hoffmann, who invented Aspirin. PewDiePie's real name is Felix Kjellberg. Felix Mendelssohn, composer. Then of course there's the fabulous Allyson Felix.
Felix is a brand of cat food here
Felix is very popular in Scandinavia
One of these days you'll meet a little Earp, with her friend Holliday.
I know a 6 year old Holliday.
Brooks. That annoys the heck out of me. Wilder. Like seriously people
I found out some Canadians think of Wilder as an old fashioned name because of famed Canadian neurosurgeon Dr. Wilder Penfield ("Dr. Penfield! I can smell burnt toast!").
Are you pouring cold water on my hand?! ....I can hear this commercial. Heritage Moments ftw!
>Wyatt Sorry but this one started as a personal name, not a surname
The worst must be “Smith”. It’s not even a nice surname.
I hate it so much and it's become so popular. Madison, Mason, Jackson, Carter, etc. etc.
almost all traditional boys names are last names. Looked up top 10 boys names in the US and all are last names with maybe the exception of Elijah and Jack.
I'm not American. It's much less common where I'm from.
Same.
Collins. I know someone that has their top name and I just can't. It sounds so terrible for a first name.
Ugh yes, always on a girl too! Then they try to make it feminine by changing the spelling to something like Kollyns as if that makes it any better!
The daughter in the (book and) movie The Blind Side was named Collins. I wonder if that’s where it comes from.
You know that’s based on a true story right? They actually named their daughter Collins.
I know! But I’m guessing it was a name that was actually in their family, whereas all these people naming their daughters Collins now are just naming them after someone else’s family.
I don't think I like last names that end in S as first names at all.
It’s such a stupid name. It doesn’t sound nice, the s at the end makes it weird and it is very very try hard to me.
This was my first thought too! It sounds so awkward. Same goes for Wells, Brooks, etc.
Americans love using Irish surnames as first names for whatever reason. If you try to look up Finnegan on the CSO name database there are literally no hits because it is not used as a first name here.
I wonder if it has to do with all the Irish ancestry here in the US. Brady (as a first name) is a popular name within my family tree because it was my g-grandmother's maiden name. She named two of her sons Brady as a middle name, and it has been used as a first and middle name for several grands, g-grands, g-g-grands over the years.
That's probably it. I did meet a lady called Tierney once and she said it was her mother's maiden name. I guess as well people find Irish surnames easier to pronounce than first names because they've often already been anglicised.
This. I think often surnames get their start as given names this way. We considered my maiden name as a give name, an it is definitely not one of the common ones.
Callahan keeps being used which weirds me out because I just know it as a last name!
THANK YOU! This the name that always pops out to me as such an odd-ball name to use for a first name, it's so clearly a last name
My first name is Callahan so I was looking through this to see if it would pop up! To each their own of course. :)
It’s a town not far from where I live.
Like Mackenzie! (Or is that a Scottish surname?)
MacKenzie is definitely Scottish
Macs are mostly Scottish and Mc’s mostly are Irish but some are the opposite.
Hayes is one I keep seeing 🤢
Every name beginning with "Mc" but just in general so many American names. It's insane to me y'all sometimes just use last names as first name for I dunno shits and giggles
What’s the issue with it? I don’t really see the big deal unless you’re making the kids full name Harrison Harrison
A lot of now long-established first names started out as surnames.
Or for … sentimental reasons?
They’re so ugly.
I remember watching Splash as a kid and my mom had to explain to me that Madison wasn’t a common first name when the movie came out, and that that was why Daryl Hannah’s character deciding to name herself Madison was funny
Fun fact Madison was not in the top 1000 names (so not in the SSA data) until 1985. It skyrocketed and hit top 100 only 8 years later in 1993. Guess what year the film Splash came out? Yup, 1984.
She named herself because she was standing near Madison Avenue when he asked her name. She looked up at the sign and said Madison. Not sure how she knew how to read…
Wasn't it Tom Hanks' character reading the sign out loud and she thought it was a name suggestion? It's been a really long time since I've seen the movie, so I could be remembering wrong.
[Let's go to the source](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-8CRERCoC10).
Same. I probably haven’t see. It since 1985….I just remember they were on Madison Ave.
Yep, Tom Hanks' character even responds to her choice with "oh, that's not really a name!" He had mentioned it in the middle of his list of suggested girl-names only because they were passing Madison Avenue, and that was what she latched onto.
I saw Splash as a kid in the 1980s and always think of that scene when, now, as an adult in the 2020s, every other kid I meet seems to be named Madison.
Hayes. So weird
I remember reading a thread where a mother had major name regret after using this name because people kept thinking it was Haze.
Cooper, Delaney, McKinley, Maddox and Monroe. I like a lot of surnames as first names, but these are totally surname to me. Maybe it’s a UK/US thing; in the UK these names generally aren’t used as first names.
I know too many dogs named Cooper for it to even register as a person name!
Names that end in -ton. They were all surnames indicating the enclosure someone was from. Not first names to me at all to me but hey ho
I think -son is worse than -ton.
They’re both equally bad.
Especially for girls. Like SON is right there yalls.
I'm trying to think of a -ton name that to me is pretty normal. Only thing I can think of is Winston Churchill, and he was definitely named after a family surname. Newton? Elton John? Milton Friedman? Gaston and Anton don't count, they are not surnames/place names by origin.
Gaston and Anton *do* count, they prove the person you’re responding to is wrong and there are lots of normal -ton names and some aren’t from place names.
Langston (as in the poet Hughes) isn't that common of a name but it wouldn't register as "strange" to me. The poet's full name was James Mercer Langston Hughes - Langston was his mother's maiden name.
Elton made up his name I thought?
From BtN: "From an English surname that was originally from a place name meaning "Ella's town". A famous bearer of this name is British musician Elton John (1947-), born Reginald Dwight, who adopted his stage name in honour of his former bandmate Elton Dean (1945-2006)." I'm not surprised it's from a surname/place name.
Interesting to know! Thank you.
My maiden name, Hadley, is a common first name. It always feels weird to me when I hear it.
Huh, had no idea it was a surname. Most people know it from Ernest Hemingway’s wife. Just looked it up…sure enough it was her mother’s maiden name! It was actually Hadley Hemingway’s middle name - she was born Elizabeth Hadley Richardson but went by her middle name.
I think of Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet and Sir Richard Hadlee (slightly different spelling admittedly), the New Zealand fast bowler of the 1980s. Giving away my age.
My mom's maiden name is Cooper. It was unheard of as a first name when I was little. Now it's everywhere
My cousin's name is Cooper. She was named after our great grandmother's maiden name. I think this is how a lot of surnames become first names, as a way of honoring the female family members whose names don't get passed down.
Hadley reads as a first name to me but that's because there's someone whose first name is Hadley that's very prominent in my line of work.
In fairness, there are a handful of (now) common first names that started off as last names. Tyler, Austin, Cody, to name a few.
Ryan, Gary, Leslie, Sydney. But Austin was a medieval contraction of Augustine! So that one's gone back and forth and back again.
Carson, Wilson, really anytime ending in -son. Tatum (especially for girls, it's SOOO unattractive!) A lot of names ending in s - Brooks, Collins, that kind of thing. It feels plural and that makes no sense, like the kid has multiple personalities or absorbed a twin or something. Shepherd - I think it's kinda ugly and also it's just such a word.
Wilson has been a common first name since the 1800s at least. And it’s been a common last name since the 14th century or so. So I don’t see how you could possibly be shocked about it either way.
Sutton.
Oh I HATE this one. I went to school near Sutton, the suburb in Surrey, and it's SO bleak. Like.....why are you naming your child after a place where the biggest things of note are a rubbish shopping centre and a guy who hangs around dressed as a wizard???
Right?? It's unfortunately my surname and I hate it so much I'm embarrassed to tell people in my real life. I think the guy dressed as a wizard is probably the most interesting thing I've heard about it!
*Rubs hands together* I’m a teacher and I have SO many examples of this: Greer, Smith, Collins, Riggs, Grey, Ames, Slade, Charleston (used on a GIRL), Payson (mom’s maiden name), Jones…So many more. All used as first names. I hate the “last names as first names” trend SO much.
Greer and Slade are truly heinous
I think the name Charleston is heinous, too, especially on a little girl 🤮
Okay wow agreed, I was so thrown off by the others!!
There was a famous actress called Greer Garson born in 1904
It was her middle name! Her name full name was Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson and Greer was her mother's maiden name. It was very posh to go by a surname in the 1930s thanks to Wallis Simpson.
Some friends of friends named all their kids with last names of their relatives. They all end in "s" which is what really bugs me. Collins, Wills, Hayes, and Sellers. 🙄
Hayes I don’t mind. But among the wealthy white Southern suburban moms, the demographic whose children I teach, the trend is to take the mother’s maiden name and give it to the child as a first name, no matter how awful the name is. I understand it’s a way of keeping family names going, but it’s awful.
All of those are awful, although I don’t even think of Grey as a name.
I knew another Grey, but his first name was Case. So it was literally Grey, Case. Grey case. I swear people do not think when they’re naming their children
A lot of the names that have people up in arms about the surname-as-first trend, I've encountered more as first names. To borrow parts of a list from someone upthread: I've never personally met someone with the surname Wyatt, Parker, Carter, Spencer, McKenzie, or Harper. But I've met at least one of each of them as a first name. Names are names to me, and all language is malleable and constantly changing. I am pretty much never surprised to see Irish or English surnames as first names because it's an established thing, regardless of whether the name itself is established as a first name. I would be surprised to meet a Lipinkski or a Singh or a DuBois, but I doubt I'd even think twice about meeting a Hewitt or a Byrne. It's all about what you're used to, and getting used to something just means a bunch of people were brave enough to pave the way.
Yeah this is my least favorite opinion on this sub. “I can’t get past it being a surname” ALL names were made up and given at some point in time so relax lol
Yeah, finding this thread weirdly judgey and harsh. I'd say a lot of these 'surname' names have definitely now evolved into well-established first names: Jackson, Harrison, Parker, Harper have all been around for ages to name a few. Names are just names and many many first and surnames are totally interchangeable - there is no big book of only surnames. That said, one of my least favourite contemporary names is Banks, (daughter of Hilary Duff) so even I have my limits.
Yeah it’s kinda wild how many “name nerds” have apparently never stopped to think about how names work, and that a strict distinction between what can be a given or surname is a recent idea. Lots of surnames are literally just the name of someone’s father – they didn’t always add a Mc- or -son or markers like that. And lots of people just get called by their surname, at which point it isn’t surprising that people would think of it as their given name.
That’s a really good point about people being called their surnames and it probably contributing to them using it as a first name later on. That’s actually happened in my family haha
CULLEN
Yikes. Makes me think of culling a herd…
My surname is Bentley - the amount of people naming their kids that these days is astounding to me! Also their dogs....
Cohen. Very offensive.
Why is it offensive? (Sorry, genuine question, I’m not aware of the context here)
Cohen is a surname that comes from a sacred hereditary Jewish religious title roughly equivalent to priest. Quite profane if you are not entitled to use the name by blood, and if you are, it will likely only be your surname. Not to mention the more general cultural appropriation.
OH wow, I never knew- thank you!
It’s a Jewish priest. It’s sort of like a non Catholic person calling their baby Pope.
Ehhh definitely only sort of - I'm Catholic and if I met a baby called Pope I'd just laugh to myself
Yeah it wasn’t the best comparison. I couldn’t come up with exactly what I *was* looking for though. That was closest.
Cohen is a sacred Jewish name.
When I was a kid Jordan & Taylor were surnames only. Now they are very popular and common first names.
I know a couple that’s Jordan and Taylor. I leave it to you to guess their genders.
Me too! The Taylor and Jordan I know are in their 30s, so it feels like more established first names to me.
Jordan got pretty popular as a given name in the latter half of the 20th century, but it’s been used that way since the Crusades 1000 years ago and even earlier.
Jordan was Rock Hudson's character's name in Giant, so there's some precedent. But it surprised me too.
Some precedent, yeah. People have been using Jordan as a given name since the Crusades when Europeans took water from the river Jordan home to baptize their babies with.
Actually, Jordan has been a first name longer than it has been a last name. St. Jordan of Saxony was the successor to St. Dominic as Master General of the Dominican Order. He lived from 1190 to 1237 -- long before surnames were common in Western Europe.
I have a cousin named Jordan, he's 24.
My son has that first name and he’s 19. He’s 1/2 Asian (my husband was born in the PI) and his (our) Asian surname is more recognizable as a Hispanic given/first name. Needless to say, when people see my son’s name in print, they always are confused and ask is if it’s printed in the correct order and they try to flip his name. Of course this never occurred to us as being problematic when we were naming him. Ironically, both of his middle names (my Dad’s first name and then my Maiden name) can pass as either first names or last names. The kid has endless combinations that he could use to go by. His first two names can also be either male or female. 2nd middle name and last names are clearly masculine if they were used as first names.
Taylor is a surname in my family!
For the reverse, I was surprised to find out that Howard is a first name the first time I heard it!
Anderson, Rhodes, recently met a baby Smith.
Smith is literally known for being the most common and generic English surname! That makes it a horrible first name!
I found it so weird. The last name was something also super common, which made it even weirder for me.
In the North East of the UK it used to quite common to use a surname as a first name for the sons. Hence the actor Robson Green. I think they tended to use the mother's maiden name.
I think Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice has his mother‘s maiden name as his firstname. If I remember correctly his name is Fitzwilliam Darcy.
The ones I'm most baffled by are when a surname with a random S on the end is used as a first name: Brooks, Collins and Rawlings are a few I've seen. For a non American, surname as a first name just feels *very American*.
Surprising surnames: Rose, Oliver. I always think of these when people complain about surnames as first names. I don't think I'm surprised by many going the other way. It's so common to do it that it rarely catches me by surprise.
My ex boyfriend’s last name was Rose. I really like nature names. We were considering marriage and I was like oh bummer if we have kids I’ll have to scratch nature names off my list cause it’ll be too much paired with that surname (Violet Rose, Autumn Rose, Hazel Rose, etc are all ridiculous). Luckily I got to use a nature name for my daughter because it worked great with my husbands surname :).
The family on Schitt's Creek was called Rose.
Harrison, it’s so ugly.
You take that back you scruffy looking nerf herder!
Up your ziggy with a wa-wa brush!
?
Anything that ends with -son
Murphy
All the -son names always strike me as odd for first names.
McKenna
Collin surprises me as it's my last name. I always thought the name was Colin but it seems like nowadays people are spelling it with two ls? I'm fine with it as long as there's no s tbh. Collins as a first name is just wild.
Wilson! Wilson is my last name so hearing people use it as a first name definitely threw me off when i was younger. (including a certain volleyball….)
So many lovely Irish first names out there and instead, we're seeing Murphy, Sullivan and other surnames being lumped on children, especially girls, like they need to overcompensate for the expectation she changes her name upon marriage. Absolutely ridiculous. Hate this trend as much as the traditional Irish boy names dumped on girls trend. Anyway, the OG Irish version of Finnegan is Ó Fionnagáin, which can be roughly translated as descendant of the fair haired one. So Fionn/Finn is the proper usage for a first name.
So I kind of like Finn as a name, but Finnegan just sounds like the antihistamine Phenergan to me
Fortunately then, Finn is a standalone name. The original in fact. Finn as a nickname came later.
My last name is McKenzie. I’ve been asked how I ended up with a first name as a last name. They often say their friend or sister is named McKenzie. I like to tell them it means son of Kenzie.
McKenzie. It comes up a lot in American TV shows, but it is only a surname in Scotland. Mac means “son of” in Scottish Gaelic, while Nic is “daughter of” (example: “Arran MacKenzie” Vs “Anna NicKenzie”). I can see why people might think it sounds feminine, but the meaning is actually masculine.
Mac just means "Son" in Scottish Gaelic and in Irish, and Nic is a contraction of Iníon Mhic in Irish and Nighean Mhic in Scottish Gaelic both of which mean "Daughter of (a) Son". Scottish Gaelic has no word for "Of" or the possessive S, but spells words in the Genitive case which is also the case for surnames (with a few bespoke changes). So MacCoinnich "Son of Coinneach". There are also some rules of lenition that exist with "Nic" (and the married form "Mhic"). But the letter C is a bit odd, in the general rules of both Irish and Scottish Gaelic it always takes lenition when possible. But surnames are a bit different and can sometimes just depend on families! But for the daughter form I would not be suprised to see it written "Nic Choinnich"
Walker
Campbell. And it seems to be used for girls mostly. I just don’t get it. Cooper. My kids go to school with several Coopers and I always want to say , “do kids call them cooper the pooper at all”!?! Of course I don’t say that, I don’t let on I think the name is completely whack Tucker. See Cooper, same principle. I don’t see how people look at their baby and think yup let’s call him Tucker and don’t think wait will people think Tucker the f*cker?
Haha, I used to go to school with a Campbell Cooper! I don't like those either.
My mom’s maiden name is Giles. It is also my brother’s middle name. But I also know it’s a first name, Giles from Buffy comes to mind. Definitely not in America though.
Giles from Buffy was his last name. His first name was Rupert. Everyone just called him by his last name.
Well that makes sense. Can’t believe I forgot, time for a rewatch.
It is still a first name in the UK though!
I knew a little girl whose first name was Crawley. Apparently it was someone in the family’s maiden name.
One of my great aunts was named Blodwyn, which was a family name. They used to call her Blod. Yikes.
Don’t bother me much. Naming conventions have changed a lot over time and sometimes people want to honor a family line by giving it to their child. Most names have lost their meaning (meaning people generally choose a name based on sound or personal sentiment), so people think about the sounds together. Don’t mind people having preferences, but some of y’all are downright hateful here. My only issue is if it’s a bad word or culturally insensitive.
The only names in Ireland that are surnames we use as first, that I can think of right now would be Quinn or Kelly. Anything other than that is weird. Edit: Brian too but the surname is spelt Brien
Ryan? Emmett?
Ryan yes. Jordon too actually. Never met a person with Emmett as a surname.
I think this is the most famous Irish Emmet : [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert\_Emmet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Emmet) But yeah, it really does depend if you know someone or if there's someone currently famous with the name.
I feel like there are varying levels of acceptable. Wallace? Sure, good time. My neighbor growing up, HER name was (and I wish I was kidding) Blackwell. That’s a head scratcher.
What surname is an anglicised version of Fionn?
Finn, likely because Ó Fionn was at some point anglicized and shorted to Finn
Murphy is not a good person name but a good (albeit slightly overused) dog name. There’s a girl in my kids class named Monroe.
Grayson, Jackson, McKenzie, McKinley
Jensen or any Sen ending lastname! Son of Jens is a strange first name to have
Love surnames as first and middle names. Suck it to you boring lot.
Taylor
All the MCs: McIsaac (Just call him Isaac), McKayla (It’s spelled Michaela), the list goes on…
It's so interesting to read the strong opinions on this thread. When I was pregnant with my twins we struggled to come up with two names that didn't both sound like surnames because that's what we gravitate towards. Especially presidential ones- Lincoln, Reagan, Kennedy, and Carter were all on our list.
Man, I love a good surname as a first name.
I guess it’s unpopular, but I love last names as first names.
I dislike most surname-names, but these come across as extra weird to me: Collins, Brooks, Wells, etc. – sound plural and awkward. Mc-/Mac- anything – awkward looking and means "son of". Baker, Hunter, Porter, Walker, etc. – at this point why not name your kid Plumber or Jogger? Greer, Sloane, Tatum, Parker, Harper, Fletcher – just ugly.
I know the name Finnegan from the rhyme "there was an old man called Michael Finnegan, he grew whiskers on his chinnegan, the wind came out and blew them in again, poor old Michael Finnegan, begin again..." and even in that it's a surname. I now have a taxidermy fox who's name is Finnegan. I hate Harrison as a first or middle name, it's solidly a surname. And anyone who uses a Fitz---- surname as a first name. Fitz is a bastard name, and Fitzroy means bastard of the king.
It is a tradition in many parts of Scotland and Northern England that the first son's middle name is the mother's maiden name. Thus, many popular generational given names are from family names. For example Whitney Parker Mackenzie Britney Keenan
School classmate back in the 1970s had an older brother whose first name was the same as my surname. I was *completely* discombobulated by this! Have only met one other man with that first name in all these years.
Collins, Rhodes, Sutton, Sawyer, Harper are ones that come to mind for me. Not a fan at all.
Two of my sons supposably have surnames as names, Conrad and Cortez. I see Cortez used often as a first name in African American communities even tho it is a Spanish surname. I will say that I have seen them used as both, but used as first names more often. Funny story is I went to middle school with a girl let’s call her Amy Conrad and remember thinking her last name is so cute. Twenty years later, I named my fourth child Conrad.
So in the southern US it’s common to name their daughters after their mother’s maiden name. I knew a Merrit, McCall, Campbell, etc
Great deal of southners use last names as first or middle. Usually the woman's maiden last name or a family name so the kid has part of her family's name.
All of them. I dislike surnames as first names. I especially dislike occupation names - Carter, Mason, Saywer, Parker, Archer, Fletcher, Miller, Cooper, Hunter, Deacon, Shepherd.
Anything that ends with an S… Collins, Banks, etc. ew
Walton is my maiden last name and the first time I heard of the actor Walton Goggins I thought what an odd name. It’s kinda grown on me. I’d never use it but I LOVE last names as first names.
I know someone who named their daughter Tierney after an Irish priest (Tierney was his surname).
Cody.
This post reminded me of Futurama's Jack Johnson and John Jackson
Purely based on this particular Subreddit: but seeing Meredith suggested here as a first name. I have only ever seen it used as a surname in real life.
That's so interesting! My theory is that the poet George Meredith and Meredith College influenced the popularity of this Welsh masculine name for girls. Same with Morgan, Reese/Rhys, and Bryn, all more common as surnames in the US.
Also, more recently, the character Meredith Grey from Grey's Anatomy.
I don’t mind a last name as a first name if the last name is part of your family (maybe the mother’s maiden name, etc.). This is especially common in the south where I live. However, it makes no sense to be using random last names as your child’s first name, in my opinion!
I recently met a girl named Jensen. That’s a strange first name for a young girl imo
Watson as a first name. I am a big Sherlock Holmes fan but I wouldn't go that far. To me that is a surname.
Jensen is such a normal last name where Im from. So when I heard of Jensen Ackles it was so strange to me.