Middle Names, Surnames, and Nicknames
By Pamela Redmond · Updated September 2026
Across 10 pages
of 10
English
"place in the thorns"
Despite Thornton Wilder, playwright of the perennial Our Town, only a handful of baby boys receive this name each year..
German occupational name
"wagon maker"
Whether pronounced like the wag of a tail or as the correct German VAHG-ner, this might be something a devoted opera buff could consider as a middle name.
English, Welsh "alert; son of Howell"
"alert; son of Howell"
Powerful surname choice with many distinguished bearers, fresher sounding than Parker.
French
"page, attendant"
Sleek and sophisticated single-syllable choice that has NEVER been in the Top 1000, though sister name Paige has ranked since the mid 1950s. Though off her peak, Paige is still in the Top 200. Along…
English occupational name
"worker at the hall"
A simple, self-possessed, somewhat serious surname, which might work better as a middle.
Spanish from Hebrew
"to blossom"
The newest surname names move beyond the Waspy, and this is an excellent example, associated these days with gossip blogger Perez (born Mario) Hilton.
Sanchez is primarily a Spanish surname derived from the given name Sancho, which comes from Latin 'sanctius' meaning 'consecrated'. Though traditionally a family name throughout the Spanish-speaking…
English and Scottish surname
"strong arms"
Last name occasionally used as a first, can be seen as a Lance Armstrong athlete-hero name.
"someone who lives by a hill"
Simple and down-to-earth, but would probably work best as a middle name.
Scottish
"from the land by the sea"
An old-man name that sounds cute when used for a little girl, and is starting to seem cool again for boys too. For girls, it might be associated with Mina Murray (later, Mina Harker) from Bram…
"son of Peter"
Patterson is an upscale name worth considering if you're looking to continue a line of Peters, but soundalike Paterson is a downscale city in New Jersey.
English surname derived from Simon
"the listener"
Sims is a medieval English surname, also found in Ireland and Scotland, that has many variations all deriving from the Hebrew Biblical name Simon. Sims is a simple, straightforward, yet…
"foreigner, stranger"
More famously spelled Wallis as a feminine name: the woman for whom the King of England abdicated the throne.
Color name
Middle name possibility for a nature-loving family -- Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke used it for their son's middle name.
Spanish from Latin
"days"
Perfect example of a surname that would work well as a first.
German surname
"weaver"
"son of Simon"
Try Simon. Or Homer.
Walsh originated as an Irish and English surname derived from the Old English word 'wælisc,' meaning 'foreigner' or specifically 'Welshman.' It historically identified people of Welsh or Celtic…
Basque surname
"cold mountain"
Mendoza has great potential to move from a surname to a first name for either sex. It is derived from the Basque words mendi , meaning "mountain," and hotz , "cold."
Roberts functions primarily as a surname derived from the personal name Robert, meaning 'bright fame' from Germanic elements 'hrod' (fame) and 'beraht' (bright). As a masculine first name, Roberts…
