English Last Names

Hyde, of course, is most familiar as a surname -- as in Mr. Hyde, evil alter ego of Dr. Jeckyll. Unless Hyde is a family name or you have some other excellent reason for using it, we think you could do better.

Stylish surname name which can also be spelled Styles, as in One Direction band member Harry.

Not quite as over-the-hill as Herman, but not far behind either.

Corliss, eccentric yet well-established, has an independent and artistic air.

Cute and eminently wearable surname name for girls.

This would be an intriguing choice for an illustrator's child, thanks to Norman Rockwell and Rockwell Kent. But most babies called Rockwell today are named after Porter Rockwell, a companion of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.

This surname name fits in with current favorites like Hudson, but is much less common as a given name. It's widely familiar thanks to the late Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets.

Strong but gentle Irish last-name-first. Could bring to mind long-running rock group Duran Duran.

Kenyon is a very engaging British surname name, the middle y giving it a kind of southwestern canyonesque undertone.

The iconic Gone With the Wind star Clark's surname was brought into the first-name mix when Weeds' Kevin Nealon picked it for his son. Gable makes a strong and unusual possibility, a rhyming cousin to Abel and Mabel.

Like Marvin and Melvin, Sheldon has been perceived as about as far out as you can get, though there are very pretty towns in Devon and Derbyshire that inspired it. Sheldon Lee Cooper is the lead nerd character on the TV hit The Big Bang Theory, giving the name a brainy image. Nickname Shel (as in Shel Silverstein, author of Where the Sidewalk Ends) could, in the modern world of nature name love, be seen as beach evoking.

Eighties spin on megapopular Whitney that currently ranks higher than the original. Whitley fell out of the Top 1000 for several decades but resurfaced in 2018.

An attractive North Carolina unisex place name, Raleigh's soft sound is particularly appropriate for a girl.

Jarvis, one of the original two-syllable nouveau boys' choices, is a saint's name with a certain retro charm and a nice quirky feel. Though Jarvis peaked in the late 1880s, he is beginning to sound fresh again.

With the fashion for adding an S to the end of any surname-name, Reeve becomes Reeves, love child of Reese and Jeeves. It's cool, simple, distinctive.

Somehow more modern and likable than Morris or Doris.

This pleasant single-syllable surname might be especially appealing to someone involved with the internet (and who isn't?)--even if some others might see it as a drawback.

Surname names that might work as a first, though either of its original forms may be even better.

Meaning bard, this is an original choice with poetic and melodic undertones. Bard itself has also come into consideration, both names bringing to mind Shakespeare and other literary lights.

The Scottish surname Baird's most notable bearer was John Logie Baird, the Scottish engineer and inventor of the televisor, the world's first practical television system in 1926, and also the world's first fully electronic color TV tube two years later. Some might also remember puppeteers Bil and Cora Baird.

Stuffy presidential choice: consider Hayes instead.