I am from the South, and I have always been slightly obsessed with all things Southern. And I’m not talking [name]Larry[/name] the [name]Cable[/name] [name]Guy[/name] or anything from the “modern” South. I’m talking [name]Midnight[/name] in the Garden of Good and Evil, live oaks, [name]Mark[/name] [name]Twain[/name], balmy Southern nights, fireflies, sweet tea… I love [name]Rowan[/name]'s name for so many reasons, but one of them is because my 88 year old Southern aristocratic grandmother, with her lilting [name]Charleston[/name] SC accent, approved of it and said it was a perfect name for “a strong, Southern lady.” So, what are some more names that give you that image? I’m looking for more surname-y type names, so no [name]Charlotte[/name]'s or [name]Josephine[/name]'s. Help berries!
Here are some names I found when researching plantation owners. I’m not sure if you’ll like them, but I think they’re beautiful. And I’m also a proud southerner. 
I know these aren’t very surname-y, but they are names of prominent southern ladies.
Euphemie: Wife of Charles Alexandre Grevemberg.
Cornelia: Daughter of John Hampden Randolph and Emily Jane Liddell.
Nanine: Full name- Anne Guillemine Nanine Bringier, member of an old and influential French family of Louisiana. Married to Duncan F. Kenner who built Ashland-Belle Helene for her.
Marie Eleonore “Zelia”: married Stephen Henderson when she was just 16 years old. Stephen was 30 years her senior. They purchased Destrehan Plantation after Jean Noel’s death.
Margaret Louisa: Annansdale Plantation was designed and built for her.
Varina: Second wife of the politician Jefferson Davis, who became president of the Confederate States of America.
Laminda: Daughter of Thomas M. Green, Jr. and wife of Congressman Thomas Hinds.
Catherine “Bonny Kate”: Wife of John Sevier, who was an American soldier, frontiersman and politician, and one of the founding fathers of the State of Tennessee.
Help from your fellow Southerner, and I agree with everything you wrote. I can just picture your grandmother! I LOVED both my grandmothers so much, and they also loved my baby names <3 I love to travel the world, but there’s nothing like our Southern roots
My children are: Grantson Metz (son) and Wellsley Michae (pro. McKay - daughter)- - -fn are Old English surnames with meaning for us, and mn are family names
You might like the list that went through the duration of both pregnancies-
With my son- boys- Granger, Gainer, Jessup, Rafferty, Calder, Cagney, Lander, Warren, Riordan, Stewart, Hart, Lev/Leverett, Dax/Daxton
With my daughter- Wetherly, Cagney, India, Anneliese, Jessup, Adaire, Sutton, Lael, Carina, Fleming, Melina, Corliss, Arden, Brennan, Isabeau, Saskia, Sabina, Carlisle, Windsor, Katriel, Keturah, Sorrel
Tossed around mostly for mn- Hemingway, Maverick, Rhett, Preston, Garrison, Hawthorne
girls- Mariana, Margo, Fallon, Louisa
Other names that have that flair- Landry, Mabry, Carter, Sullivan, Bembry, Gentry, Annaleah, Lennox, Daughtry, Lorelei, Liore/Liora, Linnea, Mae, Jensen, Jennings, Jarrett, Dallas, Brinson, Lark/Larken, Eden, Maura/Mara, Maren, Lachlan, Locke, Law, Rhodes, Reece, Greer, Grayson/Gracin, Larson/Larsen, Bellamy, Bethany, Bethan, Worth, Hollis (great with Rowan IMO), Anton, Sheldon, Jasper, Rex, Halstead, Jessamy/Jessamin/Jesse, Dagan/Hagan, Turner, Porter, Pierce, Spears, Chancellor, Chance, Chase, Rowe, Ridge, Beau, Kendrick, Merrick, Garrick, Kendall, Wallace, Walter, Hays, Glover, Palmer, Bryant, Hugh, Ivy/Ivah, Ada/Adah, Quinn, Sorrel, Sadler, Bridger, Parker, Ellery, Ellis, Stetson, Ragan, Bennett
Names from our 1807-1907 county record books and my family Bible-
boys- Buchan/Buck, Guedron, Josiah, Adams, Evans, Walsh, Jefferson, Emory, Ned, Ambrose, Chauncey, Lowell, Wilton, Jonas, Abner, Wilder, Crawford, Abram, Lawson, Clark, Giles, Merritt, Davis, Boyd, Foster, Houston, Jules, Tobias, Webster, Benton, Henderson, Archer, Alden, Leland, Butler, Carleton, Ashby, Zeke, Hampton, Major
girls- Maude, Nellie, Maridley, Civility, Verona, Vera, Aurie, Vina, Freda, Georgina, Georgiana, Clarice, Essa, Eugenia, Jewel, Opal, Lura, Loretta, Madge, Bess, Seaton, Johanna, Callaway, Augusta
Fun!
I have an affection for the same things…
[name]Carlyle[/name]
[name]Carmichael[/name]
[name]Harrison[/name]
[name]Wynn[/name]
[name]Winfield[/name]
[name]Waverly[/name]
I think of [name]Cordelia[/name], [name]Iris[/name], [name]Georgia[/name], and [name]Ruby[/name].
Oh, I know who [name]John[/name] Sevier is. I’m from Sevier County, TN. 
Your list is amazing! Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much, and I will respond with the names I love (there are many!) in a few hours when the wild child is asleep for the night. Your kids names are awesome, by the way.
Cool. I live in Calcasieu [name]Parish[/name], but I have a lot of close relatives that live in TN.
The name [name]Sutton[/name] was the first to come to mind. It actually means “from the southern homestead,” which I love for you.
I actually have a little cousin named [name]Sutton[/name]. She is about 10 now.
I think of the name [name]Scarlett[/name] for the “Gone with the Wind” connection. I think it pairs well with [name]Rowan[/name]. [name]Virginia[/name] might be another good option and would also compliment [name]Rowan[/name].
@notcinnamon, First of all, Wellsley is such a cool name for a girl. [name]Do[/name] you call her [name]Wells[/name]? I actually have friends and relatives with a lot of these names!
Anyway, the names I like and are usable are as follows…
[name]Mabry[/name]
[name]Maren[/name]
[name]Hollis[/name]
[name]Lael[/name]
[name]Riordan[/name] (always worry about pronunciation issues with this one)
[name]Merritt[/name]
[name]Callaway[/name]
I like [name]Wilder[/name], [name]Abram[/name], [name]Lennox[/name], [name]Reece[/name], and [name]Archer[/name] for boys.
I’ve lived a majority of my life in the same place that your grandmother is from, so hopefully I can help!
These are all women/girls I’ve come across:
Capers
Dunlap
Preller
Darden
[name]Greer[/name]
Satterlee (middle name, but it still counts)
[name]Collins[/name]
Simms
Kittrell nn [name]Kitty[/name]
…and more.
I am a Texan now living in South Mississippi and I too love old Southern names. [name]Rowan[/name] is one of my fave for a girl. It will always be a girl name for me.
Here are some other ideas, some from [name]Anne[/name] [name]Rice[/name] novels, where I first saw [name]Rowan[/name] as a teenager. Her books are of questionable literary value unless you are 15, but some great names!
[name]Clancy[/name]
[name]Quincy[/name]
[name]Destry[/name]
Alafair - an old peculiar [name]Louisiana[/name] name
Haviland
Mayfair
[name]Wells[/name]
[name]Yeats[/name]
[name]Yardley[/name]
[name]Walker[/name]
[name]Lee[/name]
[name]Shiloh[/name]
[name]Jasper[/name]
[name]Rue[/name]
[name]Blair[/name]
O’[name]Hara[/name]
[name]Laramie[/name]
[name]Darby[/name]
[name]Lane[/name]
[name]Leighton[/name]
This site has a list of old Southern surnames: webGED: Southern Families Surname List
A few from here:
[name]Abbott[/name]
[name]Darcy[/name]
[name]Flynn[/name]
[name]Frost[/name]
[name]Garland[/name]
Gatlin
Holloway
Lindley
McVeigh - kidding! Seeing if yre paying attention 
Snowden
[name]Sutton[/name]
Wimberly
[name]Bet[/name] you’d get a lot of ideas just browsing genealogy sites. Good luck!
[name]Alabama[/name] native here that wanted the EXACT same thing as you when we were naming our first, now at it again for potential #2 some day. Personally, I don’t think it gets more southern than using unique names from your own family tree! I actually joined ancestry.com just for baby naming. DS is [name]Jackson[/name] [name]Fielding[/name] ([name]Fielding[/name] is a name that has been used by my grandfather’s family for generations) and if we have a little girl next time she will be [name]Annabelle[/name] [name]Montgomery[/name] ([name]Montgomery[/name] is my great grandmother’s maiden name). I also know several other kids named the same way.
Some other southern surnames I know:
[name]Mills[/name] - boy
[name]Reid[/name] - Girl
[name]Mary[/name] [name]Owen[/name] - girl
[name]Ivy[/name] [name]Livingston[/name] “[name]Livy[/name]” - girl
[name]Bradford[/name] - boy
Forsythe - girl
[name]Carlton[/name] - girl
In the mean time, [name]Rowan[/name] makes me think of place names since [name]Rowan[/name] [name]Oak[/name] is the name of [name]William[/name] [name]Faulkner[/name]'s home in [name]Oxford[/name], MS so here are some other place names that you might like:
Evangaline (city in LA)
[name]Georgiana[/name] (city in [name]AL[/name])
[name]Augusta[/name]
[name]Florence[/name]
[name]Just[/name] thought of some more - [name]Leland[/name], [name]Campbell[/name], and [name]Callie[/name].
[name]One[/name] of the contributing anchors on the Today Show on NY’s [name]Day[/name] was [name]Kit[/name] from MTV’s Road Rules (#1) - a true Southern [name]Belle[/name]! Her kids had the coolest names - daughters [name]Campbell[/name] and [name]Hayes[/name] and son Crowley. I love them all.
My Dad’s family is Southern on all sides. Great names include:
Boys:
[name]Brooks[/name], [name]Carter[/name], [name]Harrington[/name], [name]Casey[/name], [name]James[/name], [name]Neal[/name], [name]Samuel[/name]
Girls:
[name]Flora[/name], [name]Lillian[/name], [name]Elizabeth[/name] (all the great nicknames: [name]Betsy[/name], [name]Betty[/name], [name]Libby[/name]), [name]Lydia[/name], [name]Evelyn[/name], the [name]Marys[/name] ([name]Mary[/name] [name]Alice[/name], [name]Mary[/name] [name]Elizabeth[/name], etc), [name]Kathryn[/name], [name]August[/name] (nn [name]Peaches[/name])
All that reminds me that I forgot to include my own family in my southern name list.
[name]New[/name] babies in my family:
Emerick Bellum - girl
[name]Emmett[/name] Rockmore - boy
Hight [name]Fielding[/name] - boy
[name]Hayes[/name] [name]Fielding[/name] - boy
We are big on family names.
You have to look up [name]Sallie[/name] [name]Ward[/name]. Being a [name]Sally[/name] I’m rather biased, but she was THE Southern [name]Belle[/name] of the 19th century, aka the [name]Queen[/name] of Kentucky. She had dances named after her, children named after her, shoes named after her, steamboats (!) named after her, hats named after her, etc. If you had the best of anything you had a “real [name]Sallie[/name] [name]Ward[/name].” She was awesome - and real! -and put [name]Scarlett[/name] O’[name]Hara[/name] to shame.
Funny you say that, when I told my husband about my love for the name [name]Rowan[/name] long before she was even an idea, he was like “Oh, like [name]Rowan[/name] Mayfair from the [name]Anne[/name] [name]Rice[/name] book?” I’m not an [name]Anne[/name] [name]Rice[/name] fan, so it’s kind of become an ongoing joke with us.
I love [name]Shiloh[/name], [name]Rue[/name], [name]Garland[/name], and Alafair (how cool is that?) from your suggestions. Definitely what I’m looking for, very unusual surnames that have deep roots and history.