English Last Names

Two completely different images come from its national pronunciations -- BOY-err or boy-AY -- the latter giving it an effete French accent.

Common as a surname, not advisable for a first.

Drover, an ancient occupational surname, is right in step with today's styles and would make a distinctive choice. Drover and brothers are fresh updates of such now-widely-used names as Carter and Cooper.

A well-to-do London neighborhood, English surname, and potential route to the nickname May. Mayfair has everything going for it, and yet it couldn't be rarer.

Dropping the H off hot surnames gets you a whole new name. The trend is multiplying: Hadley becomes Adley, Harley become Arley, Harlow becomes Arlowe, and now Halston becomes Alston.

Reality TV star Raven Gates gave her on-trend s-ending surname to her son, named Gates Zev. Gates joins an impressive lineup of celebrity babies with similar names, including Hillary Duff's Banks and Emma Roberts' Rhodes. Gates is also famously the surname of Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft.

A surname not often heard as a first, except in the case of English Gardner, the American track and field Olympian.

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.

A jaunty English surname which may derive from "betony", the name of a pretty purple-flowering shrub. A famous bearer is British historian and broadcaster Bettany Hughes.

This lively, springy, rarely used surname name has an interesting history. For the English, German, Dutch and Ashkenazic Jews it was a nickname for a lively person or traveling entertainer, deriving from the words springen/springhen/shpringen, and in English it's also a topographical name for someone living near the source of a stream. An unusual option if you're seeking an out-of-the-ordinary 'er'-ending name. Though for some it might bring to mind Jerry Springer, or a Spaniel.

The surname of humorist Ring is a new entry in the trendy occupational class -- but watch the lard.

Yardley, a surname redolent of British soaps and perfume, was used for her daughter by Megyn Kelly.

Two-syllable place-names are stylish, and this one is attached to a British city noted for its white chalk cliffs, but there are a couple of minuses: associated with the fish, Dover sole, and also rhymes with the doggy Rover.

Quincy may be unisex, but Quimby is decidedly feminine — at least according to the stats, it's never been used for boys. Perhaps it's because of Beverly Cleary's children's book heroine Ramona Quimby, or the queen-related meaning. In either case, Quimby is a quirky, unexpected choice for a daughter.

Unique name for the son of a woodworker.

Larimer is an occupational surname that originally denoted someone who made and sold spur bits, along with other equine hardware. It could be a fitting choice for a child of a horse-enthusiast.

Nichol, a Medieval English form of Nicholas, has been pretty much lost to history but survives today in the surname form of Nichols.

Sex doesn't belong in a baby name.

The 'ley' ending makes this British surname name ripe for consideration as a feminine girls' name. Brinsley joins such sisters as Kinsley and Tinsley.