Colonial Last Name Generator

Surnames of the thirteen colonies, 1607 to 1783

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Browse 1,000 colonial last names from the thirteen British colonies of North America: New England families like Winthrop and Bradford, Hudson Valley names like Van Cortlandt and Ten Broeck, Pennsylvania names like Rittenhouse and Pennypacker, and everyday trade surnames like Cooper and Wheeler.

About colonial last names

Colonial here means the thirteen British colonies of North America, from Jamestown in 1607 to the peace of 1783. Their surnames were never one stock. New England's town records are full of English Puritan families such as Winthrop, Bradstreet and Saltonstall. New York began as Dutch New Netherland, and its old families are written the American way, with a capital particle: Van Cortlandt, Ten Broeck, De Peyster.

Pennsylvania drew English and Welsh Quakers (Pemberton, Lloyd, Cadwalader) and German-speaking settlers whose names were reshaped in English, which is how Pannebecker became Pennypacker. Huguenot refugees brought French names such as Manigault, Ravenel and Hasbrouck to South Carolina and New York. The Chesapeake planters (Randolph, Carter, Calvert), the Scots-Irish of the backcountry (McDowell, Calhoun, Breckinridge), Welsh families and a small group from New Sweden on the Delaware, such as Rambo and Stille, complete the map.

Most colonists, though, carried plain English trade and place surnames, and the list gives them a large share: Cooper, Wheeler, Atwood, Underhill. Every entry is a single surname with no first name attached, and all the groups are mixed together. A surname is not proof of a faith or an origin: clerks spelled by ear, families changed churches, and the same name could belong to unrelated households in two colonies.

How to choose colonial last names

  • Match the surname to the colony. A Van Rensselaer belongs on the Hudson, a Saltonstall in Massachusetts, a Tilghman in Maryland and a Pinckney in South Carolina, so one well-placed name can set a scene without a word of explanation.
  • Give ordinary people ordinary names. A cast in which every farmer is a Winthrop or a Randolph reads false, while Baker, Fuller, Wheeler and Marsh are the kind of names that fill a muster roll or a tax list.
  • Keep the Dutch particles as the list writes them: Van Wyck, Ten Eyck, De Witt. Closed forms such as Vanderbilt and Vanderveer are in the list too and should stay closed.
  • For a Pennsylvania German family, the list gives the English-looking forms Hoover, Snyder and Stoner. The German spellings behind them (Huber, Schneider, Steiner) make a good detail for a family Bible or a ship's list in your story.
  • Use the list for ideas, not as evidence of descent. Sharing a surname with a colonial family does not connect you to it; only records can do that.

Frequently asked questions

What counts as a colonial last name on this page?

A surname carried in the thirteen British colonies of North America before 1783. The 1,000 entries come from ten groups, among them New England, Dutch New York, Quaker and German Pennsylvania, the Chesapeake, the Huguenots and the Scots-Irish backcountry. The list was drafted from general knowledge and has not been compared with passenger lists, tax rolls or parish registers.

What were common last names in colonial America?

Plain English surnames turned up in every colony, because English settlers were the largest group. Smith, Brown, Clark, White, Walker and Baker are all in this list, next to trade names like Cooper, Turner and Wright. Welsh names such as Jones, Davies and Evans were common too, above all in Pennsylvania.

Does a surname show that a family was Quaker, Puritan or Huguenot?

No. Faith belonged to people, not to names, and families changed churches over the generations. A name such as Lloyd or Roberts was carried by Quakers and by many families who never were, and a French surname in Charleston does not by itself make a household Huguenot. The list shows surnames linked with those communities, nothing more.

Why is it Van Cortlandt and not van Cortlandt?

American usage writes the names of the old New Netherland families with a capital particle: Van Cortlandt, Van Rensselaer, Ten Broeck, De Peyster. In the Netherlands today the particle is lower case when a first name comes before it, which is the form you will find on the Dutch last name page.

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All 1,000 colonial last names

This is the complete list the generator above draws its random batches from, sorted A to Z and grouped by first letter.

Plain text, one name per line.

A: 25 names

  • Ackerman
  • Adams
  • Addison
  • Agee
  • Alden
  • Alexander
  • Allerton
  • Allison
  • Alston
  • Ambler
  • Angevine
  • Anspach
  • Antes
  • Antrim
  • Appleton
  • Armistead
  • Armstrong
  • Arnold
  • Ashe
  • Atkins
  • Atwater
  • Atwood
  • Avery
  • Awbrey
  • Ayrault

B: 102 names

  • Bacon
  • Bacot
  • Bailey
  • Baker
  • Baldwin
  • Ball
  • Balliet
  • Bancroft
  • Banks
  • Bankson
  • Barnwell
  • Barringer
  • Bartram
  • Bassett
  • Batdorf
  • Bayard
  • Baylor
  • Beall
  • Bechtel
  • Beekman
  • Bellingham
  • Benezet
  • Bennett
  • Berkeley
  • Bernon
  • Bertolet
  • Bevan
  • Beverley
  • Bevier
  • Biddle
  • Bigelow
  • Billington
  • Bird
  • Black
  • Blackwell
  • Bladen
  • Blair
  • Bland
  • Blauvelt
  • Bleecker
  • Bliss
  • Blount
  • Boatwright
  • Boehm
  • Bogardus
  • Bogart
  • Bolling
  • Bolzius
  • Bondurant
  • Bonneau
  • Bontecou

B, continued

  • Borden
  • Borton
  • Bouck
  • Boudinot
  • Bourne
  • Boutineau
  • Bowdoin
  • Bowen
  • Bowie
  • Bowman
  • Boyd
  • Bradford
  • Bradley
  • Bradstreet
  • Bradt
  • Brainerd
  • Braxton
  • Breckinridge
  • Brenneman
  • Brent
  • Brenton
  • Brevoort
  • Brewster
  • Brewton
  • Bridges
  • Bridgman
  • Bright
  • Brinckerhoff
  • Brinton
  • Brockenbrough
  • Brockway
  • Brokaw
  • Brooke
  • Brooks
  • Brown
  • Brubaker
  • Bryson
  • Buchanan
  • Buckman
  • Budd
  • Bulkeley
  • Bull
  • Bulloch
  • Bunting
  • Burkholder
  • Burnham
  • Burr
  • Burwell
  • Bush
  • Bushnell
  • Byrd

C: 76 names

  • Cabell
  • Cabot
  • Cadwalader
  • Caldwell
  • Calhoun
  • Calvert
  • Campbell
  • Carothers
  • Carpenter
  • Carrington
  • Carroll
  • Carter
  • Cartwright
  • Carver
  • Cary
  • Cassel
  • Caswell
  • Chamberlain
  • Chandler
  • Chapman
  • Chase
  • Chastain
  • Chauncy
  • Cheeseman
  • Cheever
  • Chester
  • Chew
  • Chichester
  • Chilton
  • Choate
  • Chrisman
  • Church
  • Claggett
  • Claiborne
  • Clark
  • Clymer
  • Coates
  • Cochran

C, continued

  • Coddington
  • Coffin
  • Coffman
  • Coggeshall
  • Cogswell
  • Colesberry
  • Colleton
  • Collins
  • Combs
  • Comly
  • Compton
  • Comstock
  • Conard
  • Conover
  • Conway
  • Cooke
  • Cooper
  • Copley
  • Corbin
  • Cordes
  • Cornish
  • Cortelyou
  • Cotton
  • Coutant
  • Cowperthwaite
  • Craft
  • Craig
  • Crawford
  • Crispell
  • Crockett
  • Crosby
  • Crowninshield
  • Cruger
  • Cunningham
  • Cushing
  • Custis
  • Cutler
  • Cuyler

D: 55 names

  • Daingerfield
  • Dalbo
  • Dale
  • Dana
  • Dandridge
  • Danforth
  • Darlington
  • Davenport
  • Davidson
  • Davies
  • De Groot
  • De Hart
  • De Lancey
  • De Peyster
  • De Witt
  • Dearborn
  • DeLong
  • Demarest
  • Denison
  • Dennis
  • Depew
  • Derby
  • Derrickson
  • DeSaussure
  • Desbrosses
  • Detweiler
  • Deyo
  • Dickinson
  • Digges
  • Dinsmore
  • Disosway
  • Doane
  • Dobbs
  • Dodge
  • Donelson
  • Doolittle
  • Dorsey
  • Doty
  • Douw
  • Drake
  • Drayton
  • Drinker
  • Du Bois
  • Dubose
  • Dudley
  • Dulany
  • Dunlap
  • Dupre
  • Dupuy
  • Durfee
  • Duvall
  • Duyckinck
  • Dwight
  • Dyckman
  • Dyer

E: 21 names

  • Eastman
  • Eby
  • Edwards
  • Eichelberger
  • Elfreth
  • Eliot
  • Ellery
  • Elliott
  • Ellis
  • Ellsworth
  • Elmendorf
  • Emerson
  • Emlen
  • Emmons
  • Endicott
  • Enochson
  • Erb
  • Eshleman
  • Evans
  • Eves
  • Ewing

F: 35 names

  • Fairbanks
  • Fairchild
  • Fairfax
  • Faneuil
  • Farnsworth
  • Faulkner
  • Fauntleroy
  • Fenwick
  • Ferree
  • Field
  • Finch
  • Finley
  • Fisher
  • Fitch
  • Fitzhugh
  • Flandreau
  • Fletcher
  • Flournoy
  • Floyd
  • Folger
  • Folsom
  • Fonda
  • Fontaine
  • Foulke
  • Franklin
  • Frantz
  • Freer
  • Frelinghuysen
  • Freneau
  • Fretz
  • Frey
  • Friend
  • Frothingham
  • Fuller
  • Funk

G: 48 names

  • Gadsden
  • Gaillard
  • Galbraith
  • Galloway
  • Gano
  • Gansevoort
  • Gardiner
  • Gardner
  • Garrett
  • Garrigues
  • Garth
  • Gaskill
  • Gehman
  • Gendron
  • Gerry
  • Gignilliat
  • Gillespie
  • Gilman
  • Gilmore
  • Gilpin
  • Glover
  • Goddard
  • Goelet
  • Goldsborough
  • Goldsmith
  • Goodale
  • Goodrich
  • Goodwin
  • Goodyear
  • Gookin
  • Gorham
  • Gourdin
  • Graham
  • Green
  • Greene
  • Greenleaf
  • Griffin
  • Griffith
  • Griswold
  • Groesbeck
  • Groff
  • Grove
  • Guerard
  • Guerrant
  • Guignard
  • Guion
  • Gwinnett
  • Gwynn

H: 80 names

  • Habersham
  • Haines
  • Hale
  • Hallowell
  • Hamilton
  • Hammond
  • Hampton
  • Hancock
  • Hanson
  • Hardenbergh
  • Harlan
  • Harnett
  • Harnish
  • Harnsberger
  • Harrison
  • Harry
  • Hart
  • Hartman
  • Harwood
  • Hasbrouck
  • Hathaway
  • Hathorne
  • Hawkins
  • Hawley
  • Hayward
  • Hazard
  • Heath
  • Heckewelder
  • Helm
  • Henderson
  • Hendrickson
  • Herkimer
  • Herr
  • Hershey
  • Hess
  • Hesselius
  • Hewes
  • Heyward
  • Hicks
  • Hiester

H, continued

  • Higginson
  • Hill
  • Hillegas
  • Hinckley
  • Hite
  • Hoagland
  • Hobbs
  • Hochstetler
  • Hodges
  • Hoffman
  • Holbrook
  • Hollingshead
  • Holmes
  • Holstein
  • Holyoke
  • Hooper
  • Hoopes
  • Hoover
  • Hopkins
  • Hopkinson
  • Hopman
  • Horry
  • Hostetter
  • Hotchkiss
  • Hottenstein
  • Houston
  • Howard
  • Howell
  • Howland
  • Hubbard
  • Hubley
  • Huger
  • Hughes
  • Humphreys
  • Hunsicker
  • Huntington
  • Hurst
  • Hussey
  • Hutchinson
  • Hyde

I: 5 names

  • Ingersoll
  • Iredell
  • Irvine
  • Ives
  • Izard

J: 13 names

  • Jackson
  • Janney
  • Jarman
  • Jay
  • Jefferson
  • Jenckes
  • Jenifer
  • Jenkins
  • Johnson
  • Johonnot
  • Jones
  • Judd
  • Justis

K: 27 names

  • Kauffman
  • Keen
  • Keim
  • Kellogg
  • Kendall
  • Kendig
  • Kent
  • Kerr
  • Key
  • Kimball
  • Kingsbury
  • Kinsey
  • Kip
  • Kirkbride
  • Kirkpatrick
  • Kline
  • Klock
  • Knauss
  • Knickerbocker
  • Knight
  • Kolb
  • Koontz
  • Kortright
  • Krauss
  • Kuhn
  • Kurtz
  • Kutz

L: 51 names

  • La Tourette
  • Lake
  • Lamb
  • Lambert
  • Lancaster
  • Landis
  • Langdon
  • Lansing
  • Lapp
  • Laurens
  • Le Roy
  • Lea
  • Lee
  • LeFevre
  • Lefferts
  • Leffingwell
  • Legare
  • Lehman
  • Lesesne
  • Levan
  • Leverett
  • Lewis
  • Lightfoot
  • Lincoln
  • Lippincott
  • Lispenard
  • Little
  • Livingston
  • Llewellyn
  • Lloyd
  • Lockhart
  • Logan
  • Lomax
  • Long
  • Longacre
  • Longenecker
  • Loomis
  • Lothrop
  • Lott
  • Loucks
  • Lovejoy
  • Loveland
  • Lowell
  • Lowndes
  • Ludwell
  • Ludwig
  • Lukens
  • Lykins
  • Lyle
  • Lyman
  • Lynch

M: 69 names

  • Maclay
  • Macy
  • Maddox
  • Madison
  • Magruder
  • Makepeace
  • Malbone
  • Manigault
  • Marion
  • Marsh
  • Marshall
  • Marye
  • Mascarene
  • Mason
  • Mast
  • Mather
  • Matlack
  • Mattson
  • Maury
  • Mayhew
  • Mazyck
  • McAfee
  • McClanahan
  • McClellan
  • McClung
  • McClure
  • McCorkle
  • McCormick
  • McCue
  • McCulloch
  • McCutchen
  • McDowell
  • McElroy
  • McGavock

M, continued

  • McHenry
  • McKean
  • McKee
  • McKinley
  • McMillan
  • McNutt
  • McSpadden
  • Mead
  • Mendenhall
  • Mercer
  • Meredith
  • Meriwether
  • Merrill
  • Mersereau
  • Metcalf
  • Michaux
  • Mickley
  • Middleton
  • Mifflin
  • Miller
  • Minot
  • Moffett
  • Monroe
  • Montgomery
  • Moore
  • Morgan
  • Morris
  • Morrison
  • Morton
  • Moseley
  • Motte
  • Moultrie
  • Muhlenberg
  • Mullica
  • Mylin

N: 16 names

  • Neale
  • Neff
  • Nellis
  • Nelson
  • Nesbit
  • Nesmith
  • Neufville
  • Newbold
  • Newcomb
  • Nickerson
  • Nissley
  • Noble
  • Norris
  • Northrop
  • Norton
  • Norwood

O: 10 names

  • Oberholtzer
  • Ogborn
  • Ogle
  • Oglethorpe
  • Onderdonk
  • Opdyke
  • Orr
  • Osgood
  • Otis
  • Owen

P: 61 names

  • Paca
  • Page
  • Paine
  • Painter
  • Parker
  • Parry
  • Partridge
  • Pastorius
  • Patton
  • Paulson
  • Paxson
  • Paxton
  • Peabody
  • Peck
  • Pell
  • Pemberton
  • Pendleton
  • Penn
  • Pennock
  • Pennypacker
  • Pepperrell
  • Perkins
  • Peronneau
  • Perrine
  • Petrie
  • Peyton
  • Phelps
  • Philipse
  • Phillips
  • Phips

P, continued

  • Pickens
  • Pickering
  • Pierpont
  • Pillsbury
  • Pinckney
  • Pintard
  • Pitkin
  • Plank
  • Platt
  • Pleasants
  • Poage
  • Poillon
  • Polk
  • Pollock
  • Pomeroy
  • Pool
  • Porcher
  • Postell
  • Potter
  • Powell
  • Prescott
  • Preston
  • Price
  • Printz
  • Prioleau
  • Pritchard
  • Prosser
  • Provoost
  • Pugh
  • Putnam
  • Pynchon

Q: 2 names

  • Quackenbush
  • Quincy

R: 39 names

  • Rambo
  • Ramsey
  • Randolph
  • Rankin
  • Rapalje
  • Ravenel
  • Rawle
  • Redwood
  • Reed
  • Rees
  • Reeve
  • Reiff
  • Remsen
  • Revere
  • Rhodes
  • Rice
  • Richardson
  • Ridge
  • Ridgely
  • Ridgway
  • Ringgold
  • Rittenhouse
  • Roberts
  • Robertson
  • Robinson
  • Rogers
  • Rolfe
  • Romeyn
  • Roosevelt
  • Rowe
  • Rowland
  • Rudman
  • Ruffner
  • Ruggles
  • Rush
  • Rutgers
  • Rutherford
  • Rutledge
  • Ryerson

S: 88 names

  • Sadler
  • Saltonstall
  • Sands
  • Satterthwaite
  • Schaeffer
  • Schenck
  • Schermerhorn
  • Schley
  • Schoonmaker
  • Schultz
  • Schuyler
  • Scudder
  • Sears
  • Seguine
  • Sewall
  • Seymour
  • Sharpless
  • Shattuck
  • Shelby
  • Shenk
  • Shepherd
  • Sherman
  • Shinn
  • Shipman
  • Shippen
  • Shirk
  • Shoemaker
  • Shreve
  • Sigourney
  • Sinnickson
  • Skinner
  • Skipwith
  • Slagle
  • Slocum
  • Smith
  • Snavely
  • Snell
  • Snowden
  • Snyder
  • Soule
  • Southwick
  • Southworth
  • Sower
  • Spangenberg

S, continued

  • Sparhawk
  • Sparrow
  • Spotswood
  • Sprigg
  • Springer
  • Sproul
  • St. Julien
  • Staats
  • Stackhouse
  • Stacy
  • Stalcop
  • Standish
  • Stanton
  • Starbuck
  • Stauffer
  • Stebbins
  • Steele
  • Steelman
  • Sterrett
  • Stidham
  • Stiegel
  • Stiles
  • Stille
  • Stoddard
  • Stoddert
  • Stokes
  • Stone
  • Stoner
  • Stoughton
  • Stoutenburgh
  • Strickler
  • Strong
  • Stryker
  • Stuart
  • Sturgis
  • Stuyvesant
  • Sublett
  • Suydam
  • Swann
  • Swanson
  • Swartwout
  • Swift
  • Swope
  • Symonds

T: 42 names

  • Talcott
  • Taliaferro
  • Tasker
  • Tattnall
  • Tayloe
  • Taylor
  • Tazewell
  • Telfair
  • Ten Broeck
  • Ten Eyck
  • Tennent
  • Thacher
  • Thayer
  • Thomas
  • Thompson
  • Thornton
  • Thoroughgood
  • Tilghman
  • Tillinghast
  • Tompkins
  • Tourtellot
  • Townsend
  • Toy
  • Trabue
  • Treat
  • Treutlen
  • Trexler
  • Trezevant
  • Trimble
  • Trowbridge
  • Troyer
  • Trumbull
  • Tucker
  • Tudor
  • Tufts
  • Turberville
  • Turner
  • Tussey
  • Tuttle
  • Twining
  • Tyler
  • Tyson

U: 4 names

  • Underhill
  • Updegraff
  • Updike
  • Urian

V: 49 names

  • Van Alen
  • Van Antwerp
  • Van Arsdale
  • Van Bergen
  • Van Blarcom
  • Van Brunt
  • Van Buren
  • Van Buskirk
  • Van Cleef
  • Van Cortlandt
  • Van Culin
  • Van Dam
  • Van Deusen
  • Van Duyn
  • Van Dyck
  • Van Etten
  • Van Horne
  • Van Houten
  • Van Ness
  • Van Nostrand
  • Van Nuys
  • Van Pelt
  • Van Rensselaer
  • Van Riper
  • Van Schaick
  • Van Slyck
  • Van Tassel
  • Van Valkenburgh
  • Van Vechten
  • Van Vorst
  • Van Vranken
  • Van Wagenen
  • Van Winkle
  • Van Wyck
  • Van Zandt
  • Vanderbilt
  • Vanderpoel
  • Vanderveer
  • Vandever
  • Varick
  • Varnum
  • Vassall
  • Vaughan
  • Venable
  • Verplanck
  • Visscher
  • Voorhees
  • Vreeland
  • Vrooman

W: 65 names

  • Wadsworth
  • Wainwright
  • Walker
  • Wallace
  • Waller
  • Walraven
  • Walton
  • Warfield
  • Warwick
  • Washington
  • Waterman
  • Watkins
  • Watson
  • Watts
  • Webster
  • Weiser
  • Welles
  • Wendell
  • Wentworth
  • Westcott
  • Westervelt
  • Wetherill
  • Wetzel
  • Wharton
  • Wheeler
  • Wheelock
  • Whipple
  • White
  • Whiteside
  • Whitfield
  • Whitney
  • Wiggin

W, continued

  • Wigglesworth
  • Wilcox
  • Wilkins
  • Willard
  • Williams
  • Willing
  • Willis
  • Wilson
  • Wingate
  • Winship
  • Winslow
  • Winthrop
  • Wise
  • Wismer
  • Wister
  • Witherspoon
  • Wolcott
  • Wolfe
  • Wood
  • Woodbury
  • Woodson
  • Woodward
  • Woolman
  • Wormeley
  • Worthington
  • Wren
  • Wright
  • Wyatt
  • Wyckoff
  • Wyllys
  • Wynkoop
  • Wynne
  • Wythe

Y: 9 names

  • Yale
  • Yardley
  • Yarnall
  • Yeakel
  • Yeardley
  • Yeates
  • Yocum
  • Yoder
  • York

Z: 8 names

  • Zabriskie
  • Zane
  • Zeisberger
  • Zenger
  • Ziegler
  • Zimmerman
  • Zook
  • Zubly