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.

Dawson(!)

Fun trivia, but I'm almost certain that the first Irish man to climb Everest was called Dawson. And he must be about 60.

My grandfather was called Ranald and people called him Ran for short.

Perhaps folk from USA think some of OUR names are silly/weird/boring ?

I over hear some conversations on bus or train journeys and the children's names being called out just make me think "what!!?" No idea if they are truly made up or come from some other nation.

There is one name I just can not understand anyone wanting to call their girl child. Storm.

Never heard a cloud or a shower. Never heard a wind or a snow.

This is getting silly.

My cousin's American cousin was named Wade. It was his mother's maiden name, she came from Yorkshire.

My dad is a Brock and he’s in his 60s, it’s my grandmother’s maiden name. If I ever had a son (highly unlikely) it would be a name I would consider.

I am Canadian and I know young kids named:
Bennet
Harper
Judd
Peyton
Quinn
Piper
Paisley
Porter
Parker
Carter
Jackson
Avery
Mackenzie
Addison
Sawyer
Jace

Some I like but they are not all to my taste. It doesn’t really affect me in anyway.

Jesus Christ on a badly argued pushbike... its fine not to like surnames as first names, but it's ridiculous to think that its an American phenomenon FFS.

Cameron
Fraser
McKenzie
Donald
Barclay
Bruce
Clark
Innes
Stewart for gods sake

All proper Scottish names. And very common surnames. And sometimes they are also put together, which to be honest is ok for a slagging, I know a couple of Fraser Frasers, for example and Cameron McCameron isn't unheard of round my way.

My old boss was called Dawson- he hated it as a child, he wanted to be called Steve! They did the mum's maiden name thing until his son met and married a woman who had a name that just wouldn't have worked.

My Great-Great Aunt was engaged to a guy called Hamilton (nn Hammy ) back in the 50's. Always makes me think of the piggy bank in Toy Story.

This is probably common in other parts of the UK as well as the US- you might not know as often the person goes by their middle name which is a bit more pedestrian. At least we don't do the numbers thing here.

You do know there are something like 300million Americans right ?

YABVU to be so critical of "Americans" as if they were one person.

I have access to a database of hundreds of thousands of children in in England. Believe you me, there are some very weird names on that database, and plenty of them.

Considering the hierarchy in the US was made up of a totally immigrant population, who then had to change their names to be successful, hide being Czech/Polish/Jewish etc it's hardly surprising that they started to reject mainstream English names and make them up.

The African Americans did, because their ancestors were forced to take names, totally alien and made up, to them, as slaves.

The names we recognise are 'made up' from a single source, we now call them variations.

I hate the snobbery and sneering at 'made up' names, most often there's underlying racism and classism at play.

Different cultures have different names. What a shocker. I suppose “forrin” names are funny to you too?

I haven’t encountered the vast majority of the common UK names mentioned here. Perhaps my social circles are stunted.

@BarbourellaTheCoatzilla this would be funny if you actually knew my name. Forrin to the max but go off.

I live in the US. For every Madison and Jagger, there’s a John, a Sam, a Ruby, an Emma. The surnames as first names thing isn’t as common as you’d think.

American here. I have a weird first name.

That is all.

I think it's a bit off to say something is weird just because it's different.

And the reason they're different is quite clearly because they're a different country with different a different history and culture, etc.

My husband had a US colleague decades ago whose name was Randy Katz. He was a lovely man who coped manfully with the reaction his name got over here.

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

My Dad’s ancestors did this, and they were Welsh and English. It was a big help when tracing the family tree.

I don’t like some of the nouns and surnames used as first names, especially when given to girls. But others are fine, so I’m probably biased. My own DD has a noun for a middle name, although to be fair, it’s a flower not a profession.

it depends on the location in america - very big country.

In the South, surnames as first names or middle names seems fairly common. Very traditional to give the mother's maidan name as first name or a grandmother's maiden name as middle name. Also with families with history/money (Bushes for example). Mostly it was a way of keeping a record of ancestory. So, for example, Lowell was a pretty important name in Massachusetts. If a Lowell woman married she might give her son the first name or middle name Lowell to signify connection to that family.

I think surnames as names is also common in Scotland and there is a lot of scottish influence in the US.

Other than that, my daughters - in the US - were in hockey (field) teams with what seemed like 25 girls called Alex and Emma. Most of the boys my kids mixed with were called Oliver/Jacob (TONS of Jakes in their early 20s) or similar.

People here would find the Alfie/Archie/Kai names really odd too. So like pp said - different cultures have different preferences in names. Hardly a shocker.

The most popular US girls names:

Sophia.
Olivia.
Emma.
Ava.
Isabella.
Aria.
Riley.
Amelia.

The top UK girl's names:

Olivia
Sophia
Amelia
Lily
Ava
Emily
Ella
Isla
Mia
Aria

I think we just notice the names that are very rare here, and I imagine they do the same in reverse. But the most popular names in both countries are similar, and classic, mostly. Riley seems the only outlier.

My husband had a US colleague decades ago whose name was Randy Katz. He was a lovely man who coped manfully with the reaction his name got over here. grin

I know so many Randys! Male and female (not a common name in younger people though) I knew a Randy married to a Woody too. They had no idea so I never told them.

Our local weatherman years ago was called Mike Wankum.

Randy is short for Randall. Neither is a great name, IMO. While Bruce Willis and Demi Moore are technically Americans, they're celebrities, so it doesn't seem fair to cite Rumer and Scout as weird American names, they're not exactly common.

Yes Hank os a nickname for Henry. My father and brother both have that name. My grandparents (maternal and paternal immigrated from Ireland Im an american and I spent 4 years in the UK and my children's names are Brett,Rhys (actually born in Lakenheath) Liam and Gwynna.....I get lots of comments. Lots and lots of comments. Also, If 1 more person calls my son Rice one more time I think his head will explode

Troys like Scarlett O'Hara's son Wade Hamilton.

Do the more unusual names here belong to the offspring of famous people? Most Americans I know have pretty unremarkable names. But as pp have said it is a different culture so I guess not exactly like the UK. Who knew?

@steff13. Didnt Chris Martin name his daughter Apple...

When you get to know a bit more about why they choose what they choose it seems less weird. or less random. Hudson, I thought weird, so random, why's that so popular, but of course, it's a river in new york
I'm embarrassed of course. I should be I know.

Trey, short for the third in a line of some shit name gets to be Trey, not reginald or whatever
Hoyt. I thought what, ugly, randon, but it was the surname of somebody on the mayflower

Also, names sounding Italian, Spanish, French sound very glamorous to us, but they sound like staff to the Americans who prefer names that sound north european, not hispanic. They may not consciously realise this. McKenzie, Kennedy, Delaney, they don't sound like the mexican maid.

Many English people only have a British perspective of class, history, constancy, legend, folk lore etc. For example, Conor, the name of a High King is a chav name to English people. The only respectable perspective is the English one!

Crazy spelling is a bigger thing in the states I think. I don't knwo why they do it!