I have friends, one from [name_f]Ireland[/name_f] and one from [name_f]Canada[/name_f], who met and married in the US. They’re expecting a little boy and have considered giving him a middle name that honors a famous American or something about [name_u]America[/name_u], as a nod to the place where their family started. When I was on the phone with the mama-to-be, I threw out: [name_m]Washington[/name_m], [name_m]Elvis[/name_m], [name_m]Hawthorne[/name_m], [name_u]Kennedy[/name_u], and then a bunch more last names of former Presidents, but I really haven’t had an easy time coming up with any others that people would automatically associate with the US. Can anyone help out? I would really appreciate it!
Writers:
([name_m]William[/name_m]) [name_m]Faulkner[/name_m]
([name_m]Ernest[/name_m]) [name_m]Hemingway[/name_m]
([name_m]Jack[/name_m]) [name_m]Kerouac[/name_m]
([name_m]Mark[/name_m]) [name_m]Twain[/name_m]
Other People:
([name_m]George[/name_m] and [name_u]Ira[/name_u]) [name_m]Gershwin[/name_m]
([name_m]Charles[/name_m]) [name_m]Lindbergh[/name_m]
([name_m]Frank[/name_m]) Sinatra
([name_f]Nikola[/name_f]) [name_f]Tesla[/name_f] - Serbian by birth, yes, I know, but American nonetheless!
Places:
[name_u]Ellis[/name_u] (Island)
(San) [name_m]Francisco[/name_m]
Those are just a few from the top of my head. I’ll come back if I think of more. 
Well there’s always [name_m]Columbus[/name_m]…though I personally would lobby against that.
[name_m]Lincoln[/name_m] ([name_m]Abraham[/name_m])
[name_m]Franklin[/name_m] ([name_m]Ben[/name_m])
[name_m]Martin[/name_m] (MLK [name_m]Jr[/name_m])
[name_m]Penn[/name_m] ([name_m]William[/name_m])
Carnegie ([name_m]Andrew[/name_m])
[name_f]Whitman[/name_f] ([name_m]Walt[/name_m])
[name_m]Fitzgerald[/name_m] (F [name_m]Scott[/name_m])
[name_m]Thoreau[/name_m] ([name_m]Henry[/name_m] [name_m]David[/name_m])
[name_m]Webster[/name_m] ([name_u]Noah[/name_u])
[name_m]Lyndon[/name_m] ([name_m]Johnson[/name_m])
[name_u]Emerson[/name_u] ([name_m]Ralph[/name_m] [name_m]Waldo[/name_m])
[name_m]Wright[/name_m] ([name_m]Orville[/name_m] & [name_m]Wilbur[/name_m])
[name_m]Ford[/name_m] ([name_m]Henry[/name_m])
The first five are the ones I think would be most recognizably American. Particularly [name_m]Lincoln[/name_m].
I like esrever88’s suggestion of [name_u]Ellis[/name_u] in reference to [name_u]Ellis[/name_u] Island. Along the same lines is [name_m]Lazarus[/name_m] in reference to [name_f]Emma[/name_f] [name_m]Lazarus[/name_m] and her poem on the Statue of [name_f]Liberty[/name_f] .
[name_m]Franklin[/name_m] and [name_m]Washington[/name_m] are the most quintessentially American names to me. Where did they get married. The US is a big country. If you’re looking at a specific region it’s going to be easier to come up with names that are closely associated with the area.