1450+ English Names

Charming Dickensian route to Nick.

A jolly, bawdy image that recalls the hero of the eighteenth-century novel Tristram Shandy; also a drink in British pubs.

Try Abraham or Lincoln instead.

To honor Roy's son...or grandson.

Superseded by Lauren.

Paterson is a surname-name to continue a line of Peters and also the name of a city in New Jersey, hometown of poets William Carlos Williams and Allen Ginsberg.

Forever the upstairs neighbor on The Honeymooners.

Name of a poet, this will be one for consideration by literary parents. The name fits well with the current trend towards surnames as given names, but beware the three syllable pronunciation, which may be a trap for the poetically disinclined.

All the names ending in-lyn seem sadly dated.

Rather than going with a yooneek spelling like Macen (or Maysen or Masyn), we'd suggest sticking with the original Mason, as Kelsey Grammer did for his daughter.

A case in which the son is now more attractive than the father. There have been Colonial settlers surnamed Dennison on this side of the Atlantic since 1623.

Rekker comes to us thanks to actor Cam Gigandet, who gave his son this phonetic spelling of badass word name Wrecker. Use at your own peril.

And if it's triplets: Pembroke, Pendleton, and Penley.

Not only did rocker John Mellencamp name his son Speck, but he appended the middle name Wildhorse to it.

As always, that oy sound is problematic.

Palin has suddenly become a hot new surname-name given usually to girls. The inspiration can only be former Alaska governor Sarah, though the name Palin is her husband's -- her original surname is Heath. Palin herself is no stranger to the adventurous baby name, as the mother of daughters Bristol, Piper, and Willow, and sons Track and Trig.

Surname choice that could be used to honor the playwright Lanford Wilson.

 As a surname, it's most familiar as Hearst -- publishing magnate William Randolph and kidnapped granddaughter Patty. Few would use it if it wasn't their own family name.

Both Madisyn and Madison have lost ground in recent years.

Sisley may look like a modern coinage, building on the fashionable -ley ending, but it's actually a medieval English variant of Cicely or Cecily, which in turn is a variation of Cecilia. Also found as an English surname, from the same root.