Mothers maiden name as surname.

[coombs]

All my ancestors were working class.  There aren't many instances in my tree, but my great x 3 grandfather Emmets Matthews first name was his gt grandmother's maiden name.

That must have been rewarding to find out the link and where the Emmets name came from.

I have a Margaret Robjent Boosey in my tree, an ancestors sister. Robjent is not a direct family name but Margaret's uncle wed a woman with the surname Robjent.

[SMJ]

In my family in 1868, the son of John Wilkins & Emma Toplis was given the name Toplis Wilkins.

If it helps finding if this is a societal trend, John worked at Ibstock Colliery in Leicestershire as a colliery engine driver, a responsible job controlling the horizontal steam engine that winched the coal and men from the bottom of the pit. He did this job from 1871-1911.

[Jebber]

I have a lot going back in my family, one couple gave their children as middle names, the surnames of each of the people their own siblings had married. It made researching that branch easy.

One of my sons has my own maiden name as a middle name. My father had died six days before he was born, there were no other males in my line to continue the name.

[coombs]

My ancestor Thomas Roberts named one of his children Frederick Goodacre Roberts by his first wife, and Elizabeth Emily Goodacre Roberts by his 2nd wife, and due to his common name, it made finding his maternal family much easier.

[melba_schmelba]

I used to think this was a modern thing. Well, with middle names I think it is, probably starting from the late 18th century. But surnames as a first name went back to the 1600s at least and was probably used to remind people of a connection to another, perhaps more prestigious family than the surnamed family, or made somewhat in the knowledge of a wealthy bachelor uncle, perhaps who was the godfather that the parents hoped their child would inherit from . But sometimes when that did happen, people actually changed their whole surname as a condition of inheriting an estate, especially if that family line or the surname as a whole was dying out.

[ruth52]

I have "Birdsall Beswick" named after his mother, then another (nephew) named after him!  Also common in another branch of the family for the maiden name to be a middle name for several brothers and sisters.