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.

Just back from the US, heard lots of

Brandon
Parker
Bennet
Preston
Ireland
Stirling
Aurora
Savannah
Kennedy
Mckenzie

I know a Brock - somewhat pretentious family!

I'm American and we've always sort of laughed at this. Your versions are Harrison and Harper. They're kind of like our Hunter, Tucker, Parker.

Woody is short for Woodrow.
Randy is short for Randall.
Hank is short for Henry.
Herb is, of course, Herbert.

Anyway, I've been here in the UK nearly 25 years and I have to say, you guys are catching up with us in the 'silly name' department.

Slightly off topic but I know a girl from London who named her son Harlem.

They probably find the oldfashioned 'sameness' of the names over here very odd: so many Jack, Georges, Freds, Archies, Alfies, etc Awful names, and yet every other kid is one!

Randy is short for Randall and in American English it doesn’t have the same meaning as British English.

For posters calling US names ugly, I think it’s just a reflection of different cultures. They can’t be that bad as some of the UK’s popular names have come from over the Atlantic.

I've met an Armani, Chanel, and a Dior. That's just taking the total piss. There should be a law against such an atrocity. This was in a London playground all on the same day!

You know what I do like? That American naming is very no-fucks-given.

You like the name of a river? Use it. You like that sound? Turn it into a name.

It doesn't hold people back in the same way it would here (and let's face it British/English snobbery is typified on this thread). I work with a Macee, a Briar, a Khaelynn, and loads more that would be sneered at here.

And nobody blinks or thinks less in that 'you have to think what if they became a high court judge' bollocks British people get all knotted up over.

Randy is Randolf My friends Dh is Randy
Other friends Dh was Rudi as in Rudolf, he was from Holland so not named in the US.
I always fancied giving my kids more unusual names, we lived in Cowboy country and I like Levi, Troy, Travis, Dusty (Dustin) and Logan all popular amoungst the local cowboy kids.

I specifically named all 3 of my kids with nice "surname" type first names. Because I wanted powerful sounding names that sounded cool. I didn't want drippy, dorky sounding names that would cause them to get made fun of as they are growing up.

It was a tradition in some circles to name a daughter with their mother's 'maiden' surname. Harper Lee is an example.

Yes they do sometimes have weird names. Remember Sarah Palin's children were called, Trig, Track and Willow. Weird.

In the UK here and I know a
Mackenzie
Chase
Harrison
Cameron
Lewis

I was thinking of Chace as in the actor Chace Crawford, but yes Chase works too.

I didn’t intend for this thread to be anti-American. It’s actually quite interesting especially with the parallel UK naming traditions..

Oh, I always thought Randy was short for Randolph.

PS Both Woodrow and Piper have been on my lists in the past. Woody was quickly vetoed by DH but one of our girls was nearly Piper.

Brick is another American name us Brits probably wouldn’t used (and made famous as a name in Outnumbered),

My grandfather was Randolph, Randy for short. He was named after Winston Churchill's father.

My husband is American born and raised. He has one of the most common male names you can imagine. His brothers also gave equally run-of-the-mill names. I’m looking at the phone list of people I work with here... Steve, Michael, Jill, Lisa, Jenny, Michelle, Diana, Christina, Sarah... but this is the west coast. Not the redneck south.

Maybe they find our standard and most popular names dated, boring old people names.

It's becoming a trend here, too
See: Tyler/Taylor, Jackson, Riley, Dawson(!), McKenzie, etc etc.

They do it here in Australia too. Lots of Rileys and Taylors...Jensons and Smiths.

Weird.

There is a chase in a school that work in I think its popular because of Paw Patrol

And the Scottish tradition of using the mother’s maiden name as a middle name.

Not unknown in NW England either.

I'm a dual UK / US citizen and none of my American family have "weird" names at all.
My brothers and sisters kids all have very normal names and my siblings all have typical 70's and 80's names ( think Sarah , Claire , Andrew for example not their names) mine is probably the most unusual and American sounding yet I was born here and adopted by my parents whilst they were working here.
They wanted to give me a name reflecting my heritage and honour my adopted grandmother, so I've got a very southern / country sounding name because it's a double barrelled first name.
They don't think the names found on this island are weird either but maybe that's because they aren't judgemental.
Never once have I heard an American say a negative thing regarding an English name but plenty the other way round.
Although some of the names I've seen on Mumsnet lately are an acquired taste but I'd never even think about judging someone because they have different tastes.
Honestly the Brits can be a judgy bunch.

@Lycidas

I used to dislike this (using surnames for first names,) but it's grown on me this past half a decade.

I like

Taylor
Carter
Harrison
Jackson
Murphy
Parker
Brady
Bailey
Chase
Lewis
Cameron
Piper
Preston
Lennox
Tyler

And a few others.