Harrison

An English surname translating directly to the son of Harry, the medieval spoken form of Henry. Two nineteenth-century American presidencies gave the name occasional regional use on ballots and birth certificates. Its wider modern adoption followed the late-twentieth-century surge in surname-style given names.

Harrison reads as well-pressed and polite. It carries an air of prep-school debate tournaments and clean canvas sneakers. Although the surname sounds established in nineteenth-century portraits, the actual living bearers are overwhelmingly young. It is a name that looks historic on an envelope but usually answers to attendance in a high school homeroom.