What would you change your surname to ?

[CheshireDing]

Thinking from the numerous threads always on mn about surname changing (which are always interesting and insightful reading). It made me think what surname would I go for if I was deciding a completely new one ?

I’m thinking something that sounds old fancy English so it sounds like I have money, even though I don’t 🤣

Farquhar or Cholmondeley maybe 🤔

WalkingOnTheCracks

Bravo!

Anything that people recognise and can spell without me having to spell it out every damn time and them still get it wrong!! Maybe Jones.

Doesn’t Fitz mean bastard as in Fitzwilliam as in bastard of William? It changed my view of the name learning this

Brown or Smith, something really bland. Would make my life so much easier!

When I was a kid, I made up so many surnames, they usually had Good or Star in them because kid.

When getting married (and I had already planned to change my whole name), we considered several options, mostly farther up our mother's sides - so not our mother's, but our mother's mother's name and so on. Our kids would probably be thankful we didn't use Kittamaqundi from my side though I still have a soft spot for it.

Eldritch or L'Estrange or De'Ath or something spooky like that. Lazarus.

Santangelo, Belmont or Delaney.

@BiBabbles

When I was a kid, I made up so many surnames, they usually had Good or Star in them because kid.

When getting married (and I had already planned to change my whole name), we considered several options, mostly farther up our mother's sides - so not our mother's, but our mother's mother's name and so on. Our kids would probably be thankful we didn't use Kittamaqundi from my side though I still have a soft spot for it.

I lucked out on that one - my paternal GF's name was anglicized many generations back from Bon Coeur. So, Goodheart/Kindheart. But, as I'm a complete arsehole (if you ask my exes, at any rate), I opted for a reverse from my GM's family name instead, back into the original German.

I might go with Florentino.

I want to be Button, Flower, Darling or Diamond.

I once knew a man whose surname was Hoare. I think I would avoid that one. I always thought I'd be Victoria Culpepper, but I'm now considering some of the names on this thread. I'm quite taken with the idea of being a Darling.

Rose. It’s really pretty!

I've always fancied being a Merryweather.

@IDontLikeZombies

I think surnames in English are pretty misogynistic. I sometimes use my Gaelic one which at least names me as 'so and so's daughter' rather than son. The so and so is still a man though, so not much better. If it was a completely free choice I don't know what I would go for. I'd want something that sort of described me now but also what I would like to be ideally.

Any "surname" that ends in ..ster has come down from a female at some point. So mine, Brewster, is a female brewer.

Baxter (Bakster) - female baker
Webster - from Webber - weaver
etc

Wikipedia has an interesting entry on this

"England:
Although many English matronyms were given to children of unwed mothers, it was not unusual for children of married women to also use a matronymic surname. For instance, it was traditional during the Middle Ages for children whose fathers died before their births to use a matronym, and it was not unheard of for children to be given a matronym if the father's name was foreign, difficult to pronounce, or had an unfortunate meaning. A child of a strong-minded woman might also take a matronym, as might a child whose name would otherwise be confused with that of a cousin or neighbour. There are even instances where royal houses used matronymics to strengthen claims to the English throne – for example, Empress Matilda's eldest son was known as Henry FitzEmpress (-fitz meaning "son of" from Latin filius). Common English matronyms include Beaton, Custer, Tiffany, Parnell, Hilliard, Marriott, Ibbetson, Babbs, and Megson.[9]"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matronymic#England

I like the bit about children of a strong minded mother! I kept my lastname on marriage, and we gave it to our DC, not their father's.

So Matronymic names do exist - just not as common as the Patronymic ones.

I also knew a Hoare.

I have a very masculine surname, I'd like something natural, Rivers or something with water in it maybe. I work with someone called Appleyard which is cute. I had a long relationship with a Dutchman and I did fancy his van surname.

My parents changed our family name a few years before I was born, and we are all (the "children") really annoyed that they weren't more imaginative. We all wish they'd kept the original name. I'd like Fox.

If I were to take one, I'd probably take up my maternal grandfather's surname because basically it's 'died out' as so many of his family were murdered in the Holocaust.

My local MP's name is, Hoare. sniffs

I'd go for Wilde. Easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and it's very cool.

I'd choose something like Gillespie, Kinsella, Delaney or Costello.

Farquhar or Cholmondeley though, OP. You have notions above your station in life!

Imagine having to bellow at the plebs 'IT'S PRONOUNCED CHUMMLEY, YOU FOOL' every other day.
T'would be tiring.

Golightly. I just like it.

That's very interesting @dianebrewster
I didn't know that! I was wondering if people would know that say Diane ui Brewster means you're married to a mister brewster but Diane ni Brewster means it's your own name (at birth). Would British people know that? Is it the same in Scotland?

@PearlNextDoor

That's very interesting *@dianebrewster* I didn't know that! I was wondering if people would know that say Diane ui Brewster means you're married to a mister brewster but Diane ni Brewster means it's your own name (at birth). Would British people know that? Is it the same in Scotland?

I didn't know that - people did assume he was MrB and that I was Mrs - but it was not a title I ever used. Having that distinction would have been helpful.