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) 😊

Frances - means freedom

I was thinking about you this afternoon and my flash of inspiration was Nightingale. After Florence but it's also beautiful, easy to spell and 3 syllables. X

Hiraeth? Welsh word, meaning ‘longing for a home or a thing you cannot return to’.

If you’re still name gathering lots of the Icelandic volcanoes have females names and are considered to have different temperaments. If your friend is a firecracker, I think its Katla that is the one that erupts with little notice.

You could sort of lie and say it's a family name? Well, it is, as it will be your name and your in your family...

Realistically, expect people to have an opinion. Most of which you will hear. Names are such a political issue, evidenced by the shite that gets spouted on here when someone says they didn't change their name on marriage. So maybe just come up with a reply that you can trot out with low emotion.

'That's very interesting, thanks for sharing your opinion' said DEADPAN.

What a brilliant thread! I love the idea of choosing your own name. It is a very unusual thing to do, and I think TheSpottedZebra's advice is spot on.

Look mysterious and say that you were advised to change your name for reasons of National Security

What about using your birthplace or significant place as a surname?
Before people had proper surnames, they were often identified by where they were from

Back to Icelandic names I recently discovered some are based on mother's, not fathers names. So Heidar Helguson, a footballer, apparently changed his to reflect his mothers role in his upbringing.

I wouldn't take on a random woman's name. I'd choose either my mother's maiden name or a that of a female relative who meant a lot to me.

Or "femina" which google assures me is that latin word for Woman.

I await the next ten posts explaining how wrong that is

toomuchpenis, I don’t want a historical female relative’s name because it’s still following a patrilineal pattern, just further back up the tree IYSWIM.
Squiffany’s I come from a place with a name both long and fairly horrible 🙃. Definitely going to tell people I’m in witness protection! Fabulous!

I have created a pseudonym to publish under. I made the surname out of my grandmother's actual name, not her surname, with the feminine suffix -ster (spinster is formed like this because ster is the feminine form).

Can I be horrible & point out that Lovelace is also the name of the extremely bad man in Clarissa (scarred for life by Sean Bean in a BBC adaptation that with hindsight I was far too young to watch!)

I don’t want a historical female relative’s name because it’s still following a patrilineal pattern, just further back up the tree IYSWIM.

I do kind of see what you mean. but it was the woman's name. She was born with it just the same way her brothers were. Just as much hers. And the surname of most famous women will have been at one point come from a man. I think the point is that once we say, actually it's my name now. And then pass it on, then you've broken the chain.

Can I be horrible & point out that Lovelace is also the name of the extremely bad man in Clarissa

I think unfortunately most people will think of Linda Lovelace when they hear the surname. The woman who abused in the porn film deep throat.

Why do we go back to when the name belonged to a man and then say it was really his? his name came from a parent, just like the woman.

My dad is a shitbag.

but my name is my name.

Pankhurst-Banks

One for the realness and one for the glamour and songs

Malcolm X changed his surname because he didn't want a name given to his ancestor by white slave owners. You could go for XX, after your chromosome

Hauxwell because Hannah Hauxwell, for some reason I can't link? So you will have to Google.
On the site somewhere Is a thread about amazing women, my contribution was Simone Louise de Pinet de Borde des Forest, not only for the awesome name, but also because she was amazing, have you looked on there.?

No suggestions, but so jealous that you have the joy of dis world ahead of you. Tiffany Aching might appeal to you with the Scottish connections, read Wee Free Men and see if you like her. She’s the ultimate feminist.

Disc World

When people ask why you've changed your name, could you not just shrug and say "why not?"

Strongly advise you don't name yourself after someone famous or notorious, particularly if you have the same first name as them. I have had one of those and it is UTTERLY tedious to explain. Every damn smartarse who's the slightest bit into history (or literature, in my case), will ask if you're related. It turns out I actually was, and people would demand my family tree! Even worse, it was the kind of name (a noun) that small children found easy to make fun of, so I had the adults being "clever" and the kids being mean.

I went through years and years of idiotic comments at school from all sides, and was delighted to fall in love with a man who had a nice ordinary name I could pass to our children.

That grump aside, I hope you enjoy the Discworld. Granny has so much wisdom.

Hyphenated and taking cues from previous posts I am going for:

Ms Firstname Artemis-Longstocking

There is an academic with the surname Devine-Wright.