I’ve been seeing a lot of these by way of my daughters recently. My question - do the ponies have last names? It definitely seems like “Pie” and “Cake” are the familiar type of family names, but Twilight Sparkle’s brother is Shining Armor (so are Sparkle and Armor middle names?), and Apple Jack and Apple Bloom have a first name in common (family name first, Oriental-style?).
There’s also the Oranges and the Carrots.(Can’t remember if these are fan characters or show characters) Although I’ve noticed a lot of background ponies with an hourglass cutie mark. Relative of Time Turner/Doctor Hooves? or just a shout out to Doctor Who fans?
The question is who was Pinkie Pie’s and Applejack’s ancestor? Apple Pie?
They don’t seem to have surnames so much as familial themes, sort of an extension of the use-name/talent/cutie mark connection. Sometimes themed names are related to their common occupation, if they have one, but not necessarily. Themed names may or may not contain the same word; even the Apple family has members without the word “apple” in their names. Themes that don’t use a shared word may go unnoticed; for example, Twilight Sparkle’s family has light-themed names: Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor, Twilight Velvet (mother), and Night Light (father).
Even so, the custom of themed names does not appear to be universal.
Hasbro comes up with the names, and the cartoon studio gets stuck with 'em. I think Hasbro’s main motivation in coming up with pony names is “What would sound good on the toy package?”
Do ponies have last names? Not really. Pony naming conventions don’t really make a lot of sense. Remember, My Little Pony has been around long before this current iteration of the show and names were originally given to toys to sell to little girls and not to characters in a coherent fictional worlds. Lots of ponies have names that perfectly describe them. Fluttershy is a perfect name to describe a weak flyer with a timid personality, but why would she have that name as a baby? Lots of ponies have two-word names, but very very few fit into first/last name format. Twilight Sparkle is sometimes just called Twilight, but Shining Armor is never referred to as Shining and Rainbow Dash is never called Rainbow, but sometimes its shortened to Dash. And this doesn’t count the ponies with names that are jokes or puns, such as Mayor Mare (If she stopped being mayor would hers name just be Mare?), Photo Finish, Filthy Rich, or Donut Joe.
That being said, I can think of four families with family names that we’ve seen on MLP:FiM; the Apples, the Cakes, the Riches, and the Pies. I guess the Hooffields and the McColts would count, but they were one-shot characters obviously referring to the Hatfields and the McCoys. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or not, but all these families are earth pony families.
The Apples: Applejack (one word), Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh, Granny Smith, etc. The call themselves the Apple family, but most members either have the word apples somewhere in their name or are named for a type of apple, and Apple is not a surname. Not all Apples fit the naming convention, as Babs Seed, Aunt and Uncle Orange, and Hayseed Turniptruck are all Apples.
The Cakes: Carrot Cake and Cup Cake with the babies Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake. Even though Carrot Cake and Cup Cake are referred to as “Mr. and Mrs. Cake” pretty often, I always had the sense that they were two ponies with cake in their names (and a talent for baking) that got married and continued the theme naming with their babies.
The Riches: Filthy Rich (he dislikes being called Filthy), his wife Spoiled Rich, and their daughter Diamond Tiara. Stinking Rich was Filthy’s grandfather, who founded the family business. Closer to a traditional last name scheme except for D.T.
The Pies: Pinkamena “Pinkie” Pie, Igneous Rock Pie, Cloudy Quartz Pie, Maud Pie, Limestone Pie, Marble Pie. Pie is definitely a family name and is used as we would use a last name. They are not like the Cakes, as none of their given names are linked to Pie.
Other naming tropes:
Most pegasi have names related to weather, flying, speed, or a combination. Examples include: Rainbow Dash, Spitfire, Soarin’, Thunderlane, etc.
Unicorns are more likely to have more ornate two-word names: Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, Lyra Heartsrings, MiAmore Cadenza, Trixie Lulamoon, etc.
Griffons: Have real-world first names, but have to start with G. Gilda, Gustave, etc