English Last Names

Julia Styles used Newcomb as the middle name for her son Strummer.

A new crop of gender-neutral English place names have suddenly become trendy — those ending in -ton. Multi-syllabic but not dramatic, these names are rising quickly for girls and boys. Think Charleston, Lexington, and Kensington. Livingston isn't as hot as some of the others, but its time will soon come. For a girl, Livingston boasts the nickname Liv.

Legitimizes the newly coined Denim, as does the Scottish place-name Denholm (both pronounced DEN-um).

Driver seems prime for adoption as a first name, with the rise of occupational names ranging from Archer to Ranger to Sawyer.

The hazel tree meaning is on-trend, but it also sounds a lot like "hassle".

Literary, occupational, and very neglected.

Epes is often considered a variation of the surname Epps, which typically refers to the aspen tree, from the Old English word æpse. Some branches of Epes may have derived from the Middle English given name Eppe — Eoppa in Old English — from a root meaning "red". It has also been proposed the Eppe came from the Old Norse Øpi, meaning "cry out" or "shriek".

Family name best used in the middle, especially since it was seen as the portly postman in Seinfeld.

For football fans who have decided Peyton has become too feminine. Or they could look to brother Eli for inspiration.

Upper-crusty surname name.

You might consider Hedges for a first name if you find the surname on your family tree.

An unconventional route to the nickname Penny. Pennington debuted on the charts for girls in 2015.

This surname could work as a given name to honor an ancestral Jacob.