Animal surnames

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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For some reason I was thinking about this today. There are, in English at least (don’t know about other languages), certain animal-related surnames that are common, and others that just don’t seem to exist at all.

The most obvious: Fox, Wolf, and Bird. Those were the first three that I could think of off the top of my head. Thinking about it some more, I have known people with the last name Badger and Beaver. I’ve also known someone with the last name Deer. I’ve known at least one person with the last name Pigg, though have never seen anyone with just “Pig.” I’ve seen the name Bull, and I’ve seen the name Lyon, but not Lion. (This might be derived from the city of Lyon in France, as some English surnames have French origin, and not have any relation to the animal.)

I have never known, or even heard of, anyone with the last name Dog, Cat, Cow, Horse, Donkey, Squirrel, Mouse, Rat, Bear, Snake (or any sub-variety of snake), or actually any reptile or amphibian at all.

There are, on the other hand, a lot of surnames related to fish. Fish itself is a surname, but also Salmon, Trout, Pike, Bass, and there are probably others I’m not thinking of. I have actually read about people with all of those types of fish as surnames.

Again, I am only talking about the English language here as I am sure there are many animal surnames names in other languages as well, but I’ll leave that to others.

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Hogg, Hawks, Crabbs, Collie, Swan

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Shepherd, Doe, Crow

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I know a family whose last name is Bear.There are also quite a few Cranes. And Horsefall is a legit surname.

Then there are famous people like these:

Walter Pigeon.

Jonathan Swift

Eddie Rabbit

John Jay

Joe Buck

Are you including animal names from other languages? I know you said names in English, but plenty of people whose last names are Adler seem English.

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Well, there was that chap Monty Python :).

Other examples: Hare, Pheasant, Partridge, Cox, Stallion, Eagle, Dove, Drake, Batt, Herring, Lamb, Bullock.

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My maternal grandmother’s family name means “falcon” in Lithuanian.

Trivia: Martin Crane, from “Frasier” has bird names for both first and last.

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I can think of a Hart, Bear, Tits, Fisher, Mouse (nickname only), Catt, …

For snakes there is (del) Naja

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There was also Nate Dogg, another nickname of course.

Charles Mole

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I know a “Lion.” I can’t say it wasn’t ever spelled differently and changed, though.

The director of the Universal films Frankenstein &* The Bride of Frankenstein* was James Whale.

“Caleb” is sometimes a last name, and in Hebrew, this means “dog,” but I don’t know if there is some other derivation for Caleb as a last name.

Caleb in the Torah was in fact named “Dog,” but it wasn’t an insult; dogs were tough, loyal, perseverant, and strong. Definitely the qualities you wanted in a companion in a mission. Anyway, there’s no question that when a person’s first name is Caleb, after the spy in the Torah, the name is Dog.

“Cat” may not be a last name, but Katt absolutely is. And so is Katz. Jewish people named Katz are usually cohanim, and the name means not just “cohen,” but “cohen hagadol,” in otherwords, Katz denotes not just a Jewish priest, but the High Priest. I have no idea whether Katt is a vatiant of Katz, though.

I’ve never seen just “Duck” as a last name, but “Duckworth” is very common in Indiana. And, of course, Hoosiers gave the country J. Danforth Quayle.

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Samuel Colt

Nicola Sturgeon

j

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I had Italian coworkers named Gatti (Cats) and Topi (Mice). You could see how hard people were working at NOT making the obvious jokes.

In Spanish I don’t know either but I know Ratón (Mouse) and there’s a model and TV host called Mazagatos (whether it means “bunch of cats” or “clubs cats”, or is a merger of two names, I don’t know).

The “Spanish” lastname Lobo is a favorite of non-Spanish speaking writers for their Hispanic baddies. 'cept it’s not Spanish: it’s from Portugal. The Spanish version is Lope or Lopez, which don’t happen to match the name of the animal but are derived from its Latin name.

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I have a friend whose last name is Finch.

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Cowe and Cowes and Bull. John Bull is/was the Uncle Sam of England.

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Wait a minute…has everyone missed the fact that **DPRK **knows someone named “Tits”?
mmm

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I went to school with a girl named Nancy Hogg. She married James Butt.
After that she was Nancy Hogg-Butt. Unfortunate.

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My friends had a pet quail named Anthony.

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He’s Belgian, though, so I never claimed his name literally has to do with birds.

There is a skateboarder named Anthony Hawk.

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The “First Lady of Texas” was Ima Hogg.

Apart from animal surnames, this is as good a time as any to bring up the Animal Name Baseball All-Stars, who include “Goose” Gossage, “Turkey” Stearnes and “Rabbit” Maranville.

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There’s also the famous John Doe, who seems to pop up just about everywhere. :smiley:

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Time-out duplicate.