To think that Americans have weird first name preferences!

[Lycidas]

Why do so of their popular first names sound like surnames?

Chace
Trace
Brock
Blake
Penn
Tucker
McKenna

Etc

Of course there are the usual standard names too, but it’s odd that you just don’t see the above kinds of names in the UK.

Yes, Harry, Hal and Hank are all diminutives of Henry.

This has become prevalent in the US only in the last 20 years or so. Before that it was common only in upper class East Coast white Anglo-Saxon Protestant families, (known there as Wasps) and was usually a family name - often a surname from a mother or grandparent or older ancestor. It was meant to honour them and/or to represent continuing their line in a culture where "who your people are" mattered. It has become popular because those English-y sounding surnames-as-firstnames sound cultured and moneyed to American ears and the parents want their child to sound posh.

Also, a lot of them don't have a gender association, so they sound gender neutral, which many parents think is a plus, especially for a girl. Which is probably true, on a practical level. As a staunch feminist I would push back against the idea that my daughter has to pass as a boy to get respect, but I don't have any girls and I respect any parent doing what they think is best for their daughter.

Plus Americans tend to be keener to avoid common or popular names and give their little bundle a name no one else is likely to have. Not easy if you stick with saints names and don't want to go full-subversive and pick an ugly one. This is why in the African American community many people consider it a point of pride to create a unique name for their child, or at least a unique spelling.

I have a Canadian cousin called Dirck. It's a Scottish name! As is Doyne (a Canadian uncle).

A lot of the names in the US and Canada we think are strange are actually old European names.

Meh - I’m American myself and hellyeah there are lots of weird names, and sorry to say some of the weirdest ones I’ve seen come from my Southern relatives. One of my cousins named his daughter Harley back in the 90s and my brother asked “what’s the next one going to be called - Suzuki?” (I’m not proud of how superior we Yankees felt towards our Southern kin.)

There is definitely a trend, which seems to have started in the South (though I think it was more in the upper middle classes) of giving girls forenames that are also common surnames - I met loads of female Taylors and Tylers and Madisons and Courtneys at university in Virginia in the late 80s. Quite how we got to McKenna from there though I have no idea.

I’ve known many, many people of both genders with either fore or middle name the mother’s maiden name. I gave my own DS my maiden name as his middle name, mainly as a way of tipping the hat to my father and DS’s American roots (such as they are - we’re a mishmash on both sides of British Isles ancestry). I could have given DS my father’s forename but it’s one that’s been mentioned already on this thread as way beyond the pale for this age, and they’re right. (Bizarrely, DH’s father, who is as English as John Bull, has the same name!)

My dad was named for his father, i.e. “Junior”, which was (and in many families still is) the only way an eldest son could be named (exceptions to the rule allowed ONLY when Junior was already taken and thereby requiring “III”, “IV” and so in). My grandmother was scandalised when my mother didn’t name my brother “III” (even though she’d divorced the first holder of that name 20 years prior and hadn’t spoken a civil word to him since!). My brother dodged a bullet with that one in the same way my DS did.

Oh, and so delighted it’s been recognised that Prince Harry’s “real” forename is Henry. If I had a penny for all the idiot American TV presenters who thought it so extraordinary to “discover” this when they converged en masse on Windsor for the royal wedding ...

I work in a school which is a veritable treasure trove of all of the names people have mentioned as "American". My British husband used to joke about my dad's name, saying it was too American, but then we met a baby a a group called (I kid you not) Canute, and he decided it wasn't so bad!

I know an baby called Palmer. Mother is American, father British. Everytime I see the baby I wonder if the father was on drugs when they went to register.

(I’m not proud of how superior we Yankees felt towards our Southern kin.)

Nor should you be. Although I do have to agree with you on Harley. Georgia born and bred although I did marry a Yankee, who as it happens, has his mother's maiden name as a forename.

A Dirk is a knife - possibly a Scottish name for a knife - I've never heard the name Dirck , I'm in Scotland.

Having just watched the news I feel very guilty about having sniffed at the name Harley as that was the name of the poor little boy killed in a hit and run in Essex 😢.

happyjules yes, piper is a word in English, and also a surname originating in England.

But using the word piper or the surname Piper as a forename is an American thing.

It's just as bad here, idly looking at Christmas decorations over the last few days at a couple of events, some with names. I could've bought Jayden, Lola and Harrison but my son's fairly traditional unremarkable by MN standards name, wasn't present which has made me look out for it in a variety of places. I've not found it once. Found Kaylee and Jorden today though!

I know a dog named Piper. It's a good dog name.

I quite like Piper for a girl, except that being Irish, :-p (joking, half joking) it will always be a potato to me. Maris Piper. And of course, showing my age, an oil rig that exploded.... But i get that it sounds preppy and upbeat.

America was basically made up from immigrants for a lot of its history. Some of what we think of as being strange names may be derivatives of foreign language names. Though nowadays a lot of the made up ones are just as daft as tge ones here

Dirk and Dirck are short for the Dutch name Diederik/ Diederick (related to Dietrich).

It's found as a forename and surname.

Obv there was a considerable Dutch influence in the NE of what came to be the USA. Dutch/German settlers went west at the same time and at the same rate as the Scots and Ulster Scots did and outside of the Amish, Mennonites, etc. they all intermarried.

I done my family tree one family member was born without a father but name was
First name grandmother surname ( was quite popular to name a first born child mother maiden name especially up north)
Middle name father name ( it meant the child was given child support)
Surname mother name

Despite some posters claiming that this thread is bigoted and xenophobic etc (I disagree) - I've actually found it really interesting regarding not only the names, but where they are likely to have come from.

I know it's obvious, but I'd never thought of Dirk ("the groundsman" - some of you will recognise this) as being related to Diederik/Dietrich, and by extension, it it likely to be the origin of "Derek", too.

I noticed a couple of mentions of Brock. I remember learning in primary school that it was an old English word for badger. So, although I like the sound, in the same way as the word 'brook' appeals to me, as a name it will always be a badger to me!

OP have you ever thought of actually looking up the name meanings of these names instead of assuming it weird/strange..?

It is actually quite fascinating and I say this as someone who wrote for a company researching name meanings and writing small synopsis that could be placed on merchandise.

As someone mentioned before, the US is a country made up of immigrants. A lot of common names in the US are actually European and part of older languages that are different from what they are now.

Blake- Old English

Brock- Old English

Penn- Celtic

Chase- Middle English

Tucker- Old English

Trace- Norman French

Neither William nor Henry is a Christian name, and one of them is going to be the Supreme Governor of the Church of England

Of course they are Christian names. For starters, both have been christened and that's when they official were given their names. Therefore they are Christian names.

Talking of Brock, did anybody else love this book as a child: www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/title/ben-and-brock/author/shepard-ernest/

What about the name 'Kodah' ? I heard that one recently, not sure if it's a boy or a girl but I've never heard the name before

I noticed a couple of mentions of Brock. I remember learning in primary school that it was an old English word for badger. So, although I like the sound, in the same way as the word 'brook' appeals to me, as a name it will always be a badger to me!

And the name Reynard (presumably from the German Reinhardt) means a fox!

If you had enough children, you could probably compile a personal bestiary .

I'm now a little bit sorry that I'm past my reproductive years. LOL!

It might not seem xenophobic to everyone but when you’re researching your family tree and you look at how comparatively recently some generations of your family were disconnected from their cultural origins (even those who chose to migrate) often traumatically (particularly those who were enslaved and the indigenous population), and you see that disconnect in the hearts and minds of their descendants, it’s uncomfortable to read what sounds like mockery and sneering.

Completely British family here and we have
Rochelle
Zena
Elvin
Dalton
Mason
Kelsey
Lola
Scarlett
Bentley

Also, a lot of them don't have a gender association, so they sound gender neutral, which many parents think is a plus, especially for a girl. Which is probably true, on a practical level. As a staunch feminist I would push back against the idea that my daughter has to pass as a boy to get respect, but I don't have any girls and I respect any parent doing what they think is best for their daughter.

A lot of traditional girls names can be shortened to something gender neutral though - Christine, Josephine, Nicola, Alexandra, Victoria etc.

What about the name 'Kodah' ? I heard that one recently, not sure if it's a boy or a girl but I've never heard the name before

"Brother Bear"?