English Last Names

Ellington's popularity may be inspired by jazz great Duke, but the name is used slightly more often for girls today, perhaps because of its trendy El- beginning. Like a host of other El- names, from the familiar Ella to Eleanor to the more niche Elodie and Elula, Ellington carries the popular Ellie nickname.

Before there was esteemed actress Anne Hathaway, there was Anne Hathaway, wife of Shakespeare — the former being named after the latter.

An English surname derived from multiple place names, which ranked in the Top 500 for boys in the US until the turn of the 20th century.

A preppy English surname. Newscaster Megyn Kelly used it as a middle name for her son in 2009.

A rising surname name for girls — it's overwhelmingly feminine, despite the association with Kenny Chesney.

Could join such up-and-comers as Miller and Gardener.

Calloway is one of those irresistibly jaunty, animated three-syllable surnames, like Sullivan and Finnegan — but this one has the added attraction of jazzy ties to the immortal "Dean of American Jive," Cab Calloway. For a girl, this could be an unconventional route to the cool nickname Callie.

Bingham is the unusual surname name chosen by Kate Hudson and Matt Bellamy for their son. It was Bellamy's mother's maiden name, and the nickname Bing, coincidentally, belongs to almost-stepfather Kurt Russell's dad. We haven't heard Bing since crooner Crosby, but it does have a lot of zing.

A common surname in Scotland, but a starchy first name choice.

Variously spelled trendy name in the 1970s that hasn't even been in the Top 1000 in a decade.

This surname name fits in with current favorites like Hudson, but is much less common as a given name. It's widely familiar thanks to the late Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets.

Stuffy surname.

Goodwin — which is mostly seen as a last name — comes from the long-forgotten given name Godwine. Godwine was a relatively common name in medieval England. It later traveled to Germanic regions in the form of Godwin.

Another meaningful word name that actually dates back to pre-Emancipation days.

All names ending in ville are in nowheresville.

Lincoln, Tyler, Taylor, Jackson, Jefferson, Harrison, McKinley, Grant, Kennedy, Carter -- yes. Washington -- probably not.

A cool surname name made famous by One Direction band member Harry Styles.

Surname name with an uplifting meaning. Just beware that this is a well-known mattress brand.

Likable choice for history-minded parents who might want to honor Irish patriot Charles Parnell.

Stark is an ancient surname derived from the Old English word stearc, meaning firm and unyielding. In modern parlance, stark means severe or plain. But Stark's use as a first name -- 15 boys were named Stark in the US in 2017 -- stems from its prominence in Game of Thrones, which has inspired so many new baby names. House Stark is a ruling family on GoT; its motto is fittingly "Winter is coming," so Stark and other names from the show might make creative names for winter babies.