How Did Foods Become Last Names? 

What food last names have you come across?

In Spanish I've seen a lot of fruit and plant based last names: «Piña» (pineapple), «Manzano» and «Naranjo» (referring to the apple and orange trees, respectively), «Limón» (lemon), «Mora» and «Morales» (berrie and the berries bush), «Fresa» (strawberry), «Durazno» (apricot), «Rosa» and «Rosales» (rose and roses), «Panero» (derived from bread; I think it's an old usage of baker), «Menta» (mint), and many others that I'll try to remember.

You missed Cake, Coffey, Mandel (German for almond), Kohl (cabbage), Garner (grain), and the various Apple names, Appleby, Appleton, etc. There are a huge number of food names in Chinese and Japanese.

There was a famous baseball player in the 90s named Darryl Strawberry.

In Czech, there are some interesting surnames, for example "Nejezchleb" meaning literally "Don't eat bread" (historically, probably a nickname for someone, who did not like and/or eat bread). Some of our towns and cities have funny names, too - "Kozojedy" and "Konojedy", i.e. "settlement, in which goats are eaten" and "settlement, in which horses are eaten", respectively - probably goats and horses were favourite meats of the residents in the Middle Ages 🙂

interestingly, Pimenta (meaning pepper) is a common surname in Portuguese too. There many others there are fruit-based, like Manga (=mango), Oliva (=olive), Pera (=pear), Lima (=lime), etc

I just assumed that the surname Mayo was somehow linked to the place name and county in Ireland of Mayo?

You forgot Patti Mayonnaise, Doug funny’s live interest in nicktoons series.

In regards to the name "Berry", there is also the region of France called Berry. It was a dukedom in the Renaissance and Baroque eras. I don't know if its still around.

My family name means "fig tree" in Portuguese. Not a food but related nonetheless.

I was slightly worried you were gonna mention Sam Pepper when giving Pepper examples, but i agree, Pamela Pepper is a cool name xD

About changing surnames: I know a few people online who go by surnames they chose. For example, a RU-vidr I follow chose its surname from a video game (it references multiple things, but idk what the others are). I myself chose my surname as Sidereum: Latin for "related to/connected to the stars" in its neuter form (it's related to the word "sidereal"). You can go as crazy as you want to when it comes to surnames. Also it's nifty if you want to distance yourself from your family.

Under Rice, you missed two US cabinet members of different parties (and ethnic origins): Susan Rice in the Obama administration, and the even more famous Condoleeza Rice, Secretary of State under George W. Bush.

I fkn love you and your channel here, seriously I have been a disciple of language and its etymology from a very young age and find your fare absolutely wonderful so many thanks and please keep them coming young man. 👍 👋 🇬🇧

Curious to know if Hamlet derives from Ham, perhaps a small area of marshland?

In Spanish, "cena" means "supper", so every time I see wrestler/actor John Cena I feel hungry... LOL

i remember a kid from my high school batch whose last name is Sauce.

Another fictional Honey, is Frank Honey from LEGO City: Undercover Wiki

Actually, your pronunciation of O'Comhraidhe wasn't half bad. At least you got all the right sounds in the right places. Though depending on where in Ireland you are, it could be pronounced O-cov-ree.

I went to school with a boy named Beer. Our Spanish teacher called him “Sr Cerveza”.

You forgot Darryl Strawberry. He’s actually a famous baseball player.

I always thought it was funny that John Candy’s birthday was Halloween

We must not forget about Darryl Strawberry, the famous baseball player from the 80’s and 90’s!!!

One name that does directly comes from a food is author, futurist and founding CEO of marketing consulting firm BrainReserve: Faith Popcorn. In an interview, she mentioned that when she arrived as an immigrant in the United States of America, people found her birthname unpronounceable so she had it changed to "the most American name" she could think of.

It sounds odd to hear surnames referred to as more or less popular, as though it is common for individuals to explicitly choose their own. Outside of legal name changes, and the odd parent who invents a surname for their child, it doesn't really seem as though popularity is an attribute of surnames. It seems to me that surnames are more or less common, not popular.

I had a substitute teacher with the last name "Sweet"

The names are Jason Orange Mary Berry Neneh Cherry Jasper Carrott Halle Berry Tim Rice Lord Sugar formerly Sir Alan Keith Lemon (real name Leigh Francis)

Wish you had mentioned the name Cheese as it was the original last name of John Cleese’s ancestor (I believe it was his grandfather who changed it as to not be teased about it when he went into the military) As a suggestion if you haven’t already done it, how about body parts as last names, like Foote

My last name is Havelin from avelin or hazelnut in French.

Thanks to this video, you have inspired me to come up with characters that have food surnames.

10:30 Randy Candy has been an inside joke between my friend group since I always forget his name so he becomes “salad stan”, etc

The last name Cookey made me think of the fictional character Simon Nelson "Cookie" Cook.

Rosemary Trout is the best name ever, for me. She's a food scientist and educator.

Speaking of Rice deriving from Rhys, you didn't mention John Rhys-Davies (aka Gimli).

Interesting! Here in italy too we have some surnames derived from foods or vaguely assonaced with food: Di Majo(read deeh-Mah-yo,I know technically derived from the month of may but the assonace with the word mayonaise is strong to my hears,and famous bringer of this surname is the Italian politician Luigi di Majo) Acquaviva( meaning "living water",and derived of the job of the cleaner of aqueduct,and famous owner of this surname was the Risorgimento patriot Teresa d'Acquaviva ) Piras(typically of Sardinia and directly derived by the latin "pira", which means "pear". A famous onwer is the journalist Annalisa Piras) Meloni(means "melons" in italian,and it was born originally as a descriptive nickname for describe a very busty woman,since "meloni" in italian is used also as slang for indicate the...part of the women who they used for feed us when we were babies,for said in a polite way. A famous onwer is the liberalconservative politician Giorgia Meloni) Melis(another typically surname from Sardinia,derived from the latin "melis",meaning "honey",and it's an occupational surname derived from the profession of beekeeper, an famous onwer is the partisan and politician of the non anymore existent Italian Republican party Giovanni Battista Melis and the painter Melchiorre Melis)

Can't say for sure due to my zero skill in Gaelic but your pronunciation of O'Comhraidhe pretty much checked out except that I think it probably would have sounded more like "O'Corrie" rather than "O'Curry"

I'm reminded of the Five Litte Peppers children's book series, by American author Margaret Sidney which was published 1881 to 1916. But outrageous or colorful names are common in fiction.

I got an EE advert featuring Kevin Bacon before watching this video

I will (sort of) offer an alternative for ~ham as a suffix for a place name in England. As far as I have ever known this derives from a homestead or place that people settle, with, for example Nottingham coming down from Snotengaham/Snotingaham (literally, the home of Snot's people). Not saying it couldn't be a wetland, but the evidence I've seen tends to skew towards settlement instead. Nice video though!

"[...] another 'John Hamm,' who is a Canadian politician" * significant pause *

Patrick, you forgot the last name coffee. Also, in the tv show Doug, there is a family with the last name of mayonnaise. The titular character’s good friend and love interest is Patti Mayonnaise.

What about County Mayo in Ireland as a source for the surname?

An important Danish noble was named Peder Hoseøl - "trowsers-ale". But the name probably meant "garter".

Randy Pizza Candy is now my favorite name, especially since "Randy" can mean 𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘺 . . . 😏

When I was a postman I came across the family names of Onions and Hamburger.

Coffey is a fairly common surname in Ireland.

Thank you Mr Tim Apple

So is the surname 'Bacon' related to 'Beck' (meaning a brook) and also 'Bach' in German?

The only Curry that came to mind was John Curry, the legendary Olympic figure skater who won the gold medal in 1976.

WynOatrick Pizza when Patty Cake is already there for the taking! Lol

Back in the 90s Dell Curry and Glen Rice were teammates on the Charlotte Hornets.

Is Mayo as a last name related to Mayo the county in Ireland?

I’ve always associated the O.J. in OJ Simpson with the citrus product

No mention of Patty mayonnaise.. but you got the pickles family..

My grandmother's nickname was honey 🍯 but I've never met anyone with the last name Hamm but I do know a Jay Berry

My name is patronymic as my last name is Jacobson simply meaning son of Jacob.

Nice Video

Delicious Almond is a fictional basketball player I use for NBA2K. He's 7'7", 145lbs. Delicious Almond looks more like a delicious noodle.

I always assumed the name Mayo came from County Mayo in Ireland

See I theorized that maybe "Bacon" came from someone who's job it was to make Bacon... Like a Baconer... Or something

I wonder where the last name pancake came from (at my university there was a professor with that last name). Although I think it might be a transliteration of a forgien name.

There's also Brayden Ham an Aussie Rules Football player spelt with one M

Too bad you forgot to mention a fictional Curry who was infamous for being seen as useless anywhere outside the water.

Shia Labeouf.... Lebeouf means the beef

Natalie Appleton(All saints)

People I personally know with surnames that are food related include those of Lemon, Pepper and Mayo.

Oh my, so Aquaman has irish roots

Pain! (Bread in French)

I like to call myself Ice cream.

I know some folks with the last name Mayo.

Someone was hungry when they were handing out surnames Never do anything hungry

Lol@ the narrator: "laRst"

Quite a few peoples tend to write the name of Vladimir Putin as Poutine... At least in Québec.

I wish you'd included Fitz----.

Another NFL Hamm is former Steeler Jack Hamm.

John Pork

This is fun! could be used to name ocs or drag names

Examples: Chris Brown(colors) Megan Fox(animals) Mr Bean(food)

Philip Bananaton

Hmmm Brian Shroom 🤔

I'd probably go with James Taco.

Mayonnaise is a last name lol. 😂 Patty Mayonnaise. 😌

I knew a guy who's last name was Currie. That was odd.

Cheese Tapioca ? Types of apples Colonel mustard

And Mia Hamm, an American soccer player?

You missed Mia Hamm and Darryl Strawberry.

Patty Mayonnaise though

Changing my name to Wendy Wendy's

I've heard of a person who changed his name to Manchester United

Mr. CHRIS P. BACON

“…the most important of all drinks.” So not water huh? That certainly is a last name, in fact I even dated one, but it was spelled Watter. There’s also Roger Waters from Pink Floyd and I’m pretty sure a tennis player too. I think you just wanted to talk about beer 😉

I’m a Curry!

Milk toast spelled Milquetoast.

TREBOR - ROBERT

Did you know to drop this the same say that the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special dropped or was this a phenomenal coincidence? :)

My lady’s name is pesca “Food”

My Bestie name is Lasagna

You missed Mia in your list of Hamms

Declan RICE

D. Soda