English Last Names

For fans of Warren G. All two of them.

If you find West not substantial enough, this would make a more solid path to it.

A small number of girls are given this Irish surname as a first name each year.

The spelling Woolf inevitably conjures writer Virginia. If you're a fan of Mrs. Dalloway and the Bloomsbury group, Woolf might be a creative way to combine a trendy animal name with an original honor name. Woolf was the surname of Virginia's husband, Leonard.

If it's not too phlegmatic for you, this surname and name of a Scottish clan could honor a number of people, especially Alexander Fleming, the father of antibiotics, and Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond.

We once dismissed Bird as "too flighty", but with the rise of avian names from Lark to Robin to, well, Birdie, we don't see why Bird can't be a fine choice, especially as a middle name.

Wharton is a rather stiff banker name that becomes creative as a middle name choice for lovers of the novels of writer Edith.

Atkinson has never made it onto the American charts, although historical records provide evidence that it has been used as a given name before. Atkin is a Medieval nickname for Adam, making Atkinson a sneaky and unique way to honor an important Adam in your life.

Powerful surname choice with many distinguished bearers, fresher sounding than Parker.

Gently pleasant English family name long associated with 60-Minuteman Morley Safer.

Possible alternative to Anderson.

Falconer is one choice that has morphed rapidly from outlandish to possible, even attractive, thanks to the fashion for occupational names. And really, if Archer is getting popular and Miller seems normal, why not Falconer?

Stiff and sedate surname name, despite its salty start.

A WASPy surname that fits in with names like Clayton, Layton, and Payton. Drayton peaked in 2012, when it was given to 78 baby boys in the US.

This is a solid surname choice for people looking for a change from Cooper, Parker and Carson. Australian parents will probably instantly associate this name with famous rock legend Jimmy Barnes, but this has an even older pedigree as a namesake - Barnes Wallis was a UK aviator and inventor, most remembered for designing the Dambuster bomb (a bomb that bounces across water to reach its target) and working on supersonic flight in the 1940s and 50s.

Uppity name associated with muckraking novelist Upton Sinclair.

A better modern solution than Robert Jr. ; known to fiction readers via Canadian novelist Robertson Davies.

One of the most distinguished names in literature could become a hero name in a family of poetry-lovers -- or be seen as a trendy new occupational name.

Try Simon. Or Homer.

Belden is a little-used surname-name that might work in this age of Belles.