# Occupational Surnames **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 27, 2023, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695 "2023-07-27T18:47:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695/21 "2023-07-28T01:35:36Z")
Hooker never goes out of style. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695/22 "2023-07-28T02:39:22Z")
My local PBS station sometimes shows a half-hour program about this groundbreaking musician. It includes some nice music too. > **[Ann Hobson Pilot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Hobson_Pilot)** > > Ann Hobson Pilot (born November 6, 1943) is an American musician and the former principal harpist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops. She has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony, and as a soloist with many orchestras in the United States. She was one of four African American musicians who were the first to play in United States symphony orchestras during the 1960s. > Ann Hobson was born on November 6, 1943, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in an ... ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695/23 "2023-07-28T02:51:33Z")
Little Johnny Stripper got teased at school about what his mother did for a living. But his classmates were wrong. It was his grandmother who worked at the Kit Kat Club. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695/24 "2023-07-28T12:15:58Z")
I’ve said this before, but we had a pilot whose last name was “Pilot”. He’s retired now. I also knew a Major Major back when I was in USAF. Of course he’d started out as Lieutenant Major, then Captain Major. We transferred to separate stations so I never found out whether he later became Colonel Major, but it seemed likely he would have. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695/25 "2023-07-28T12:32:50Z")
Chuck Influencer. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695/26 "2023-07-28T12:42:52Z")
This thread reminds me of an old Doctor Who serial, The Face of Evil: > **[The Face of Evil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Face_of_Evil)** > > The Face of Evil is the fourth serial of the 14th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 1 to 22 January 1977. This serial marked the debut of Louise Jameson as companion Leela. It was also the first of three stories written for the series by Chris Boucher and the first of five directed by Pennant Roberts. > In the serial, the powerful split-personality computer Xoanon (played by Tom Baker, Rob Edwards, Pame... The doctor encounters two tribes of people, the Tesh and the Sevateem, who turn out to be descendants of a long-ago interplanetary expedition composed of technicians (the Tesh) and the survey team (Sevateem). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695/27 "2023-07-28T13:23:52Z")
Veeger! ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695/28 "2023-07-28T14:48:51Z")
I like it! Maybe people will be known by their platforms, like previously people were known by the land they came from. Janice D’Youtube Harry MacInsta James Von TikTok ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695/29 "2023-07-28T16:03:01Z")
In _Jennifer Government_ people pretty much go straight corpo, e.g. “Julia Nike-McDonald’s”, “Kate Mattel” ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695/30 "2023-07-28T18:40:48Z")
Well now, would that be the County Meath O’Metas or the County Westmeath O’Metas. 😊 ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695/31 "2023-07-28T18:56:39Z")
Gah! Logged out and back to work when I realized O’Meta is patronymic🤦‍♂️ Eh, still kinda funny to my ears ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695/32 "2023-07-28T18:59:14Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Fred Ex 👏 > [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’ve said this before, but we had a pilot whose last name was “Pilot”. I’ve said elsewhere that I sometimes appear in front of Judge Justice. … My contribution: Karl T. Cubefarmer. Or, for Friends fans: Terry Transponster ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695/33 "2023-07-28T19:06:42Z")
Rupert Onlyfans. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695/34 "2023-07-28T19:06:49Z")
> [@DorkVader](#): > > Gah! Logged out and back to work when I realized O’Meta is patronymic🤦‍♂️ > > Eh, still kinda funny to my ears It’s ok, so is Mac. Still funny 🙂 Jessica O’NlyFans ETA: Jinx! @Wolf333 ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695/35 "2023-07-28T20:43:36Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Terry Transponster Could I _BE_ any more amused? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695/36 "2023-07-28T21:04:51Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > In _Jennifer Government_ people pretty much go straight corpo, e.g. “Julia Nike-McDonald’s”, “Kate Mattel” Subway is currently running a contest where a person who agrees to legally change their name to Subway will win a lifetime supply of subs. It’s a contest because they’re only offering this to one person and they expect a number of people to accept the offer. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695/37 "2023-07-28T21:12:10Z")
**burpo\_the\_Subway\_mutt**? Sign me up! ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695/38 "2023-07-28T21:58:01Z")
_I also knew a Major Major back when I was in USAF_ A Sgt. Major transferred to our battalion. Ordinarily, an E5 doesn’t have a car waiting for him up at the airport by the battalion commander and straphangers. Something obviously got lost in the translation along the way. Only semi-related to the OP, the anagram of Mother In Law is Woman Hitler. Hm… ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695/39 "2023-07-28T22:46:41Z")
The writer John McPhee spent a year or so on his ancestral island of Colonsay, in the Scottish Hebrides, writing a book called _The Crofter and the Laird_. About 90% of the islanders were surnamed either MacNeill, Macdonald, or MacPhee, resulting in an onomastic matrix akin to modern Iceland or early medieval Europe; nicknames, occupations, and patronymics were used in place of surnames. (His landlord and host, for example, was Donald MacNeill, son of Gilbert and grandson of Donald. He was known on the island as “Donald Gibbie”, as his father had been known as “Gilbert Donald”. This is exactly the way his ancestors would be named: _Dòmhnall mac Gilbeirt mhic Dhomhnaill_) The island’s one mailman was universally known as “Angus the Post”. McPhee himself, if memory serves, was “John the American” or “John the Writer”. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2023, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695/40 "2023-07-29T06:11:55Z")
Yllaria Trafficone? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupational-surnames/987695.md?page=3)