My wife and I are preparing for our second child, who will be born in [name_u]November[/name_u]. At this point, we don’t know the gender. We have several possibilities for a girl that we love, but we’re having a much harder time coming up with boy names. I’m well-versed in the US top 1000 and beyond, and there are only a few names we really like, but we still don’t have a name that feels like the one yet. So, we came up with the idea of considering surnames, maybe ones that haven’t traditionally been used as first names but could still work.
My question, then, is what surnames can you think of that might make for a good boy name? Again, we’re aware of popular names that began as surnames. And I’ve spent numerous hours on Nameberry since our son was born two years ago. So we’re really just trying to get a fresh perspective and see some name possibilities we might not have laid eyes on or considered yet. I know it’s a tall order, but we believe in you! Thanks in advance.
This was all I was planning to post, but someone beat me to it!
I also like [name_m]Marshall[/name_m] and [name_u]Owen[/name_u] (from [name_m]Owens[/name_m], which is a family surname), but they are pretty mainstream first names at this point. And a lot of other surnamey names, but I’m sure you’ve heard most of the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
I would second what southern.maple has suggested. Perhaps you can do some investigation into both family trees to see if there is an unusual surname. I always think it’s more meaningful to choose family surnames so that there is some emotional connection. Continuing a family name is so much more significant than just picking a rare surname out of a hat. I would also advise you to use the internet. There are great websites for surnames.
I highly recommend researching the child’s family tree for surnames you like–that’s rather the point of surnames as first names, to keep a family name alive. Some faves from my family tree: [name_m]Boyer[/name_m], Levicy, Gemme (for a girl), [name_m]Graham[/name_m], [name_u]Reed[/name_u], [name_u]Spencer[/name_u], [name_m]Albrecht[/name_m], Trudeau, Lawless, [name_m]Jerome[/name_m].
Thanks everyone for the suggestions! You gave us a lot to think about. We like some of the names mentioned, like Hawkins, [name_m]Hawthorne[/name_m], [name_m]Locke[/name_m], [name_m]Rhodes[/name_m], [name_m]Rockwell[/name_m], [name_u]Sullivan[/name_u], [name_m]Teague[/name_m], [name_m]Whitman[/name_m], and [name_m]Wilder[/name_m]. We know there are some surname databases online, but they’re so overwhelming it’s difficult to parse through all the names to find the good ones. So this has been helpful.
Several of you mentioned using surnames from our family trees. That’s where we started, but unfortunately there aren’t many family last names that could work as a first name. The one last name with a family connection we love we already used as our first son’s middle name. But thanks for the input and suggestion!