Help me find a surname

[IAmSproutycus]

I’d be glad of any ideas suitable for a surname for a woman who no longer wishes to be named after the men in her life. She would ideally like something three or four syllables (although would consider two), must not be a derivative of a male name (e.g. Oliver, Jackson, etc). It would be nice if it had some meaning associated with women, strength, resilience or similar, or something with a good female history. She would prefer to not have a surname at the furthest end of the alphabet due to publishing, but would be open to all suggestions. Sorry that I won’t be going into more detail than that, so will understand if people wanted more information before contributing, but for anyone up for a bit of free thinking fun, bring us your best! Many thanks collective womyn (this is like the ‘name my baby’ threads, but for an adult) 😊

Andrea literally means man. It's a feminised version of Andrew. Bernadette is a male name with a little feminising frill as well.

Of course there are a lot of these kinds of names, Charlotte, Roberta, Stephanie etc etc and plenty of them are very nice names. But would be an odd choice for someone consciously choosing a new name because she was fed up of being named after men.

I was thinking for Ada Lovelace, using the similar Adaline. I believe it means Nobel.

When surnames were originally invented they went by some personal characteristic of the original - be it hair colour, location, personality or profession. So use that as a starting point.

One way to achieve this might be to ask 5 or more friends to each write a 100 word description of you which covers physical appearance, personality and skills - then feed all the resulting paragraphs into one of those "word cloud" generators which create an image according to word frequency, and see what stands out.

Are there no place names round your way that would do?

From my area there could be few.
Montrose
Tealing
Airlie
Lunan

Dundee is a strong name but has too much association with a man...

Another to suggest a Scottish place name. Is there somewhere you particularly love?

Lovelace Melrose & Lawless and surnames that have stuck with me from women Iv seen online. I like Bronte & Wild though. I like Wildling.

Portree?

Cumhra (coo-ra) gaelic meaning fragrant, scented or Saoirse (sair-sha) gaelic, meaning freedom.

I've always liked Baxter- it originated as an occupational surname and it is the female version of Baker. I always liked the fact that way back in that family line there was a woman who was so significant her occupation was the basis of the name passed down her family line for generations, even if after her it was passed son to son.

Otherwise my vote would totally be for Weatherwax.

This book might give you some inspo
www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Night-Stories-Rebel-Girls/dp/014198600X?linkCode=xm2&SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&creativeASIN=014198600X&tag=mumsnetforum-21&creative=165953&camp=2025

Idlewild?

Wildthyme

After this magnificent character

It's got to be Womendonthavepenises, surely?

Or Stickerwoman.

Labrys
Crone

Both Mary Daly references.

femadvocate.blogspot.com/2011/04/old-battle-axe-forgotten-symbol-of.html

I am here for the Pratchett inspired names:

(Esmeralda) Weatherwax
(Tiffany) Aching
(Magrat) Garlick
(Agnes) Nitt
(Gytha) Ogg
(Alice) Nutter
(Miss) Tick
(Susan) StoHelit
(Angua) VonUberwald
(Adorabelle) Dearheart
Eskarina/ Esk (Smith)
(Erzulie) Gogol
Kelda

Lovelace, after Ada the first programmer.

Pankhurst.

Hopper after Grace, the first person to debug a computer.

Tereshkova - might not be great in the UK.

Charity Adams Early - I think a double barreled Charity-Adams might work, I know Adams is a male influenced name but Charity was a remarkable woman, not afraid to refuse to be overseen by a white male officer in an army segregated by sex and colour
www.womenofthe6888th.org/charity-adams-earley

Gentileschi, after Artemisia, the Italian Renaissance artist (and one of the most significant women painters in Western art history).

Others that spring to mind include

Mornington
Eve
Eden

though some of them are shorter than you wanted.

Another suggestion in the SamPotatoes mould, how about Webster (a female weaver) or Brewster (a female brewer).

The latter is also near the top of the alphabet.

How about Soames?

No! It makes me think of the hideous ghastly awful Soames Forsyte, and I'd much rather not.

Avani?
Means Earth.

Lots of amazing ideas, thank you very very much. I've been inspired by one of the suggestions and have found a real possibility by looking into that so I'm really grateful! I'm also going to the library at the weekend to borrow some Discworld books so I can spend some time getting to know Granny Weatherwax (not related to name choice).

Celtic godess Belisama, means "brightest one" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belisama

^It's got to be Womendonthavepenises, surely?
Or Stickerwoman^
Could be fun to practise with those in coffee shops where they call out your name.

You're going to love Granny!

Totes it’s going to be penis related, or banana-hammock! Although seriously I might start telling Starbucks it’s Stickerwoman!

I need to sit on my hands for a few months to be very sure and then go for it. Older kids are very supportive, spouse understanding, wider family already think I’m batshit crazy feminist so not much to lose.

Could I be super cheeky and ask for any ideas how to get round not having to discuss it when I make the change professionally? I don’t want people to think I’m having some huge marital problem, but don’t want to lie and say it’s my maiden name. I need a brief response which doesn’t sound defensive or hostile or make people feel bad, but which doesn’t invite long explanations or discuss politics, because obviously wanting some basic equality in ones life means you’re a right wing man hating neo nazi 😳