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.

@PyongyangKipperbang except Henry Jones the third, was called Mutt. No?

Most of that sort of name come from the soap operas and movie characters.

In the films yes, but I just used that name as an example.

John Smith then, with John Junior and John the third aka Trey

@Lycidas

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

Yes, yes they very much are. This thread is full of xenophobia.

I was just being silly.

It’s late.

Instead of Trey, it could also be Tripp

Sorry, not long finished work, tired and a bit grumpy!

Skip. Is that short for something?

I always assumed names like Brick and Stone and Trey were from American soaps so this has been an education. Canadian here and when I was growing up boys were mostly called John, Mike, Steve, Geoff, David and Chris. I’m seeing a lot more last names as first names in my kids’ generation, but here it’s somewhat socioeconomic. Wealthier kids are more likely to be Peter, Lucas, Andrew, Duncan. Girls are slightly more all over the map, but aside from the name Michaela (& all its spelling variants) I don’t see too many last names for girls, more creative names like Autumn, Briar etc.

Skip is usually a nickname rather than a given name. It's short for Skipper as in boat captain. The only one I know got the nickname because he was in charge of a group, who called him Skip instead of 'boss'.

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Cloudesley Shovell (1650-1707) was an Englishman with his mother's maiden name up front. Perhaps this practice crossed the Atlantic with the pilgrims and they never stopped?!

American here.

When I moved to the UK I was shocked to find real live people called things like Alasdair and Finnegan and Calum. Those names sounded like characters from a 19th-century novel to me.

I also think names like Chip, Randy (shudder), Brock, Hudson, etc. are far more common on baby name boards than they are in real life America. You're much more likely to meet a James or a Michael than a Dirk or a Savannah.

That said, I do think that generally Americans are far more permissive about names.

Over here it's all like "oh heavens no, you can't name your baby Plum. It's a fruit, a fruit I say!"

Whereas in America you could call the baby Raspberry Fireplace and people would be like, huh, weird but I've heard weirder.

In the UK do you still shorten names to Gaz, Shaz, Daz, Baz, etc? Or did that disappear with white stilettos?

I think it disappeared. But that could just be because nobody has been named Gary, Barry, Sharon or Darren in at least 20 years

I do know a Sunshine here in the US. I start emails to her with 'Good morning Sunshine' and in my head I always say it in a cockney accent and snigger.

Raspberry Fireplace :o:o

DD, with a very traditional name, was nicknamed Raspberry for years and I'm sure many people will have thought it was her given name!

When she was born DS asked what her name was, I said it was Firstname Rosemary, he obviously misheard and said "Raspberry?! Why have you called her Raspberry?!" and it stuck. Then when she was about 8 or 9 decided she hated it but I loved it! I might start calling her that again now she's gone and got all growed up, I think she'll like it again!

@BritWifeinUSA was it really necessary to throw the "red neck" in to your description of the South?

All those names are actually quite recent arrivals on the scene, and I suspect the UK will be awash with them in a few years.

They reflect a Scots tradition of using surnames as names, and in the South, such names have always been used as that is the region where Scots and Ulster immigrants tended to settle. They were up to recently less common in the more RC north/ northern midwest, the industrial regions and the cities of the NE where Germans, Italians, Jews and Irish brought with them traditions of using RC saint names and Judeo/Christian names. The WASPs of the NE also used surnames as names.

When my DCs were in RC school in the US - 1994 to last year (five of them) their peers tended to have normal names. The most popular name for boys in class with three of my DCs was Alex, and there were loads of Olivias. There were lots of Maggies, Katies, Rachels, Sarahs, Ryans, Michaels, Liams, Kevins... There was one Paris and one London in preschool with DD1 in 1994.

Now I see 5 yos (in a public elementary) with names like Campbell, Barrett, Sterling, Landon, Mason, Bennett, Logan, Harrison, Mackenzie, Carter, Parker, Porter, Sawyer, Quinn, and more in that vein alongside many Lucas, Olivers, and other names that would be very familiar in the UK.

cerios156 I suspect the more traditional names are losing ground very dramatically in my prosperous MC area.

YANBU i watch a youtuber who's son is called Wentworth with the last name Wadsworth she's a lovely person and i love her channel but that one always baffles me

Don't think it's just an American thing, see it in the UK a lot too... Blake is quite popular here despite how awful it is.

Hank is a NN for Henry.

Herb is short for Herbert.

Many Randys are short for Randall or Randolph.

To be fair, many were greatly taken aback by the names Sarah Palin bestowed on her children. Maybe not so much Willow, but the rest . At least around here, in bluer than blue land.

Baby name wizard places Alaska in the Frontier/Creative fringe naming region, so perhaps the names shouldn't be a surprise.
www.babynamewizard.com/map.html

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
I would venture to say it's just an English perspective, with Welsh and Scottish often left out.

Someone always mentions that, in our classless (!) American society, no one worries about judgment regarding names. Just because a foreigner doesn't understand the rules doesn't mean they aren't there.
With bells on.

This thread is not going to go well, by the way. It’s very anti-USA, just for the sake of it.

Why is it though? It's a name discussion. Have you seen the drubbings that various British names get on the baby names board right here on MN?

Are you being unreasonable to make fun of names that sound "different" to you of people in other cultures than yours? Of course you are. You're being xenophobic over nothing. You aren't being witty, you aren't being kind, you're just making yourself look bad.

Don't ever come to New Zealand - there are a lot of names here you would find "weird", especially some of the spellings of them!

We have different cultures in the U.S. Are you also going to mention native American names or common African American names?