Does anyone else love the American surname type names?

[IcedCokeFloat]

I do but I feel so alone in this. I'm a big fan of names like Hunter, Hudson, Ryder, Wilder, Sullivan etc.

If you're a fan what are your favourites?

I love them!! But definitely think they’re cooler in America

I love these types of names!! Love Holden, Wilder, Sullivan and Kingston for boys! Plus many more I'm just tired and can't think right now 😂.

I used to LOVE Ramsey for a boy, and would've used it if my ex and I had had children. I know there's a negative GoT reference there but I've never seen it so it makes no difference to me.

I don't know why people think these names are an issue. Edward, Thomas, William(s), Owen, Adam(s) etc are all first named and surnames.

@17caterpillars1mouse

Actually I could get behind Fletcher too and think Thatcher would be lovely if it wasn't so strongly associated with Maggie (I'm not a Tory)

Oh yes Thatcher! I love it, but yes, totally unusable!!

Not keen on that sort of name for humans but love them for dogs

@YesILikeItToo

Great Scots I have known and loved - Grierson; Campbell; Granger; Bremner; Innes.

Innes, yes, and can add Sinclair, Forbes, Manson and Burnett. I was at school with all of them.

However, I’m not personally keen on all the ‘trade’ names like Tyler and Cooper.

I'd much rather the surname names than the 'breyleigh/braylee' 'cashleigh' sorts

I'm American, so I'm probably biased, but I don't mind the last name for a first name that goes on here.

I really like that so many people, in my part of the US, have such varied first names and that people can be unconventional.

There are many people who just like the sound of names and use them just because they like them and aren't bothered that it may be a name outside their culture or their language.

My daughter was born in England and I gave her a Spanish first and middle name but her surname is an English name. People actually told me that I should "reconsider" her name because it would be seen as "difficult to pronounce" and one such ridiculous person told me that seeing she was born in England with an English surname, she shouldn't have a foreign first name. She's named after my Mexican parents. Here in the US, no one has ever cared. There are no such naming conventions and I'm glad for it.

I discovered that a friend's grandchild was named, "Salazar". They are in the UK. I'm guessing it's due to Harry Potter. I was tickled because it's my maiden name. Someone gave a child a Spanish surname as a first name. They call him "Sal" and I'm jealous I never thought about it for my sons. I love it.

Name your kids what you want. If you like it, use it!

I really like that so many people, in my part of the US, have such varied first names and that people can be unconventional

Exactly, if everyone just used the name they liked the sound of rather than pandering to sad class rules, then there would ‘be’ no ‘downmarket’ names. The only people that keep the name snobbery going are the people who are painfully self conscious about it, not people who mark exams or conduct job interviews etc.

As someone who interviews a lot, I’ve started to ask my HR team to remove the names of applicants.
I live in the Caribbean and I recruit from a predominately local market but don’t want any biases (gender led or name assumptions) to feed in.

I generally think people that spout “would they ever be a high court judge or prime minister with that name?” are quite simple, as if all their children would have the intelligence to become high court judges or politicians based on their name 🤣

In a world that becomes ever more “global” thanks in large part to social media, it diminishes a large number of social biases fed by pre-conceived notions around names.

[quote SendARavenToRiverRun]@knitnerd what would be the 'tells' of an American name? Genuinely interested. My eldest has a name that's often slagged off in here for being boring and overly popular. I've met about 4 in her 17 year life lol. My younger one has an American surname name. It's mentioned on this thread. We love it. It's originally Scottish but that doesn't stop the mn snobbery. I really like:
Hunter
Cooper
Hudson
Emerson
Jefferson
Carter.
Honestly each to their own![/quote]
It's quite complicated--I've got some instincts now! Obviously with many ethnic names you just have to learn. That includes Black names, though I've observed that West Indians tend not to use the more distinctive ones and often have very English names. White Americans who have close ties to a particular culture may still use names from that language/culture. Some Chinese parents still give quite old-fashioned names in English.

Middle and upper-middle class white Americans, especially on the East Coast, tend now to try to avoid the 6 Isabellas in a class problem (meet a group of white American women in their 40s, and about a third of them will be named Jennifer or Amy), but stick to either more traditional names or the surname as first name pattern. Using unusual spellings or very creative naming tends to be seen as a bit lower class. I've seen all sorts of names from different cultures where I live near DC, but I've not had any names like Nevaeh or Aynjel or Ansyr on the class lists.

Southerners have a history of double names, and you'll see more religiously themed names and more obscure Bible names.

You can find pockets of hippie-ish names everywhere but they're especially common on the West Coast: I know a Kale and a Rune.

Thanks @knitnerd90. I love stuff like that. Very interesting. I really like the Southern (I think) double name tradition. Life would be very boring if we were all the same!

I love Archer and Harrison

After reading this thread I also like Baxter and Miller 😍

@Strokethefurrywall I absolutely agree! I get so tired of seeing the usual ‘you can’t be a high court judge with a name like Milly/Tilly etc’… it’s just so patronising and snobby!

I love surname type names but not the overly popular ones like Jackson and Mason.
I am happy to be in the minority because I dislike names like archie, Jack, Michael, poppy, Elizabeth, Margaret and Mollie.

I've taught quite a few kids with first names that sound like last names. I am down under though where it's more common. I've had Ellis, Fletcher, Spencer, Cooper, Harrison, Riley for a girl and Ryliey for a boy, Logan, Baxter, Kohen, Hunter, Madison, Clayton, Ashton, Tate, Taylor. Probably more if I thought about it. It just seems normal now it's so prevalent.

Works in America, doesn't work 'ere.

Does 'ere include Scotland?

@mathanxiety I'm in England, I don't know about Scotland I have no clue.

They are awful without exception.

Awful.

I assumed 'ere meant the UK.

I love them and definitely don't see them as "down-market"