Unusual Surnames Unusual Surnames Surnames as given names used to be unusual. Nowadays, though, the world is bursting with little boys and girls named Jackson, Carson, Harrison and Riley. People who want to use family names now choose Nelson after Grandpa Nelson, instead of naming the baby Walter or Francis.
Many babies have their mother's or grandmother's maiden name as a first or middle name.
And people are also choosing surnames as first names just because they like the sound of the name. T.V. shows have made surname-names even more popular, by either having a popular character called by his last name, or having a popular character's given name be a surname. Because of this trend, some of the most popular given names are surnames. In the 1999 top 100 names for boys we see Austin, Mason, Chase, Jackson, Blake, Dalton, Tanner, and Spencer. In the top 100 list for girls we see Madison, Taylor, Morgan, Brooke, Jordan, Mackenzie, Bailey, Kelsey, Kelly, and Cassidy.