I tend to think that famous surnames make for more interesting, unconventional and overt references to inspirational people, real or fictional.
I especially enjoy them in the middle spot, and being surnames they generally work for any gender!
Some I like include…
(Maya) [name_f]Angelou[/name_f]
(Cab) [name_u]Calloway[/name_u]
(Elinor) Dashwood
(Amelia) [name_f]Earhart[/name_f] – also a nice nod to a pilot in the family
(Michael) [name_u]Faraday[/name_u]
(Ella) [name_m]Fitzgerald[/name_m]
(Federico García) [name_u]Lorca[/name_u]
(Ada) [name_u]Lovelace[/name_u]
(Florence) [name_u]Nightingale[/name_u]
(Mary) Seacole
(Virginia) [name_m]Woolf[/name_m]
[name_u]Marlowe[/name_u] (our [name_u]Kit[/name_u] is partly named for him!)
[name_u]Auden[/name_u]
[name_f]Millay[/name_f]
Wilding or [name_u]Wilde[/name_u]
Midwinter (!)
[name_u]Mercury[/name_u]
[name_f]Holliday[/name_f]
[name_m]Kepler[/name_m]
[name_u]Pevensie[/name_u]
[name_u]Austen[/name_u] (the only spelling I like!)
[name_m]Tolkien[/name_m]
Your list is just stunning! Two of my favorites are (Louisa May) [name_u]Alcott[/name_u] and (Jane) [name_u]Austen[/name_u].
I also quite enjoy…
(Nathaniel) [name_m]Hawthorne[/name_m]
(Ernest) [name_m]Hemingway[/name_m]
(Harper) [name_u]Lee[/name_u]
(Emily) [name_m]Dickinson[/name_m]
(Edgar Allen) [name_u]Poe[/name_u]
(J.D.) [name_m]Salinger[/name_m]
(Sylvia) Plath
(Lewis) [name_u]Carroll[/name_u]
(Franz) [name_m]Boas[/name_m]
(Elizabeth) [name_u]Chase[/name_u]
(Mary) [name_u]Shelley[/name_u]
(Anne) [name_u]Shirley[/name_u] and [name_m]Cuthbert[/name_m]
(Marie) Curie
(Hazel) [name_u]Wiley[/name_u] and Byfield(I adore [name_f]Buffy[/name_f] as a nickname for Byfield!)
(A. A.) Milne(How cute would nn [name_f]Millie[/name_f] be? )
(Margaret) [name_u]Mead[/name_u]
(Alice) Pleasance(middle name) and Liddell
(Gilbert) [name_f]Blythe[/name_f]
(Josephine and co.) [name_u]March[/name_u]
(Theodore) [name_u]Laurence[/name_u]
(Rose and co.) [name_u]Campbell[/name_u]
(Wendy and co.) [name_f]Darling[/name_f]
(Emma) [name_u]Watson[/name_u]
More I like that aren’t really after anyone specific (but I’m sure there are some great folks with these surnames anyway)…
[name_u]Olsen[/name_u]
[name_u]Lowell[/name_u]
[name_u]Sullivan[/name_u]
[name_u]Sheridan[/name_u]
[name_u]Seeley[/name_u]
[name_m]Foster[/name_m]
[name_m]Fletcher[/name_m]
[name_m]Lafayette[/name_m]
[name_u]Marin[/name_u]
[name_u]Royce[/name_u]
[name_m]Phelan[/name_m]
Some fabulous ones here! [name_m]Hawthorne[/name_m], [name_m]Hemingway[/name_m], [name_m]Salinger[/name_m], Pleasance and [name_u]Campbell[/name_u] are
Looking through the list I feel that [name_u]Parks[/name_u] has been missed. [name_u]Parks[/name_u] inspired by [name_f]Rosa[/name_f] [name_u]Parks[/name_u] would be a great option for either gender something like [name_f]Francesca[/name_f] [name_u]Parks[/name_u] or [name_m]Theodore[/name_m] [name_u]Parks[/name_u]. [name_f]Rosa[/name_f] [name_u]Parks[/name_u] is such an inspirational surname choice!
Hi! I know this thread hasn’t been active for a few days now but I just wanted to come on here and talk a little about A.G. Bell, since we are talking about inspirational names here.
First of all, I just want to say that my intention is in no way to call @Remington out or preach anything in this comment, but simply to shine some light on why Bell is a very controversial historical figure. Since Deaf people are so under-represented in our media, it is no surprise how stories like this and other controversies fly under the radar, especially when it comes to a famous person (e.g. Mother Theresa and Gandhi).
As some of you might know, Bell actually had both a deaf mother and a deaf wife. Bell was of the belief that being deaf was a threat to society and opposed marriage between two d/Deaf people, believing that it would lead to “contamination” of the human race, although it is now known that most deaf people (90-95%) have hearing parents. Him and his father were supporters of a method called oralism, which focuses on teaching deaf children how to speak and lip-read, instead of teaching them sign language. Here is a link for those who might be interested in how he played a role in oralism being the dominant way of teaching deaf children: disability history museum--Education: Essay: Disability History Museum.
If you really like Bell, I think it’s still usable, and could be a nice nod to the Brontë sisters, who used Acton, Currer and Ellis Bell as their pen names. However, if you are using it because of A.G. Bell, I would advise everyone to rethink that choice.
