Last Names That Are Adorable First Names

Regal Kingsley seems like an all-boy name, but a growing number of parents have bestowed this name on a girl. Credit the ever-trendier -ley suffix.

The Wolfe spelling shifts this name from animal name to surname-name, aggressive to aristocratic. One source suggests that bearers of the Wolfe family name were all fierce and cunning and/or hunters of wolves. An intriguing choice.

Hyde, of course, is most familiar as a surname -- as in Mr. Hyde, evil alter ego of Dr. Jeckyll. Unless Hyde is a family name or you have some other excellent reason for using it, we think you could do better.

A unisex surname now seeing some use for girls, as it fits right in with such trendy crossover girls' names as Everly. Ellery and Emery, and others with the popular ly/leigh/lea ending

Corliss, eccentric yet well-established, has an independent and artistic air.

As Levi becomes more common, we're noticing parents turn to more creative alternatives such as Levitt.

Messer has trendy surname style, but a "messy" first syllable and sharp imagery may give some prospective parents pause. Reality star Stassi Schroeder named her son Messer Rhys in 2023, brother to Hartford Charlie Rose.

Lander is a name that straddles two trends. It's an er-ending surname name, ala Cooper and Carter. And it's also, more subtly, a green name, in the manner of Fielder or Reed.

An attractive North Carolina unisex place name, Raleigh's soft sound is particularly appropriate for a girl.

Proper Bostonian.

Forbes is a business magazine in the U.S., long led by Malcolm Forbes, with a buttoned-down Brooks Brothers image. If you name your son Forbes, you're definitely implying a connection to the prominent and wealthy family -- which may be exactly what you're intending. But if you have a more down-to-earth image in mind, try Field.

Grey is the more common spelling in Britain and Australia. This color name has a softness and ambiguity which makes it equally lovely for a boy or a girl.

Adley made the Top 1000 at Number 735 in 2012 on the heels of sister name Hadley, only to vanish again in 2013. But now, with the popularity of Adelaide and Adeline, it has leaped upward and entered the Top 1000 once again. Adley feels in step with name trends of the moment, but will it survive the ages? Other such mashups have not.

Morrison is one of the more uncommon patronymics; it could be used to honor an ancestral Morris, or one of the well-known surnamed Morrisons: Toni, Jim or Van.

Randolph is a timeworn classic that had its last hurrah in the 1940s, when Randolph (born George) Scott was starring in westerns, but then was probably done in by its tricky nickname Randy (which, strangely enough, was itself a Top 50 name in the fifties and sixties).

This worthy name, imported by the early Dutch colonists, has been all but overpowered by the phonetic spellings -- Skyler for boys and Skylar for girls. With the surnames-as-first-names trend, however, and the popularity of the Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical Hamilton, which features the Schuyler sisters, perhaps Schuyler might receive some more interest in the coming years.

An attractive Irish surname that is used more often among girls — likely due to the feminine associations with Kerry.

This color name, spelled either Gray or Grey is rapidly catching on. Actress Jenny von Oy recently called her daughter Gray Audrey.

The great sax player John Coltrane could be a cool naming inspiration for a jazz fan.

Unfortunate identification with an army of rats in the movie of the same name.