Classy Old Money Last Names
You can't go wrong with these timeless old money names. Aristocratic names are inherently classic and timeless—but these names in particular evoke the old money aesthetic. Just hearing them makes us think of yachts and big brown sacks of cash with dollar signs printed on them: Augustus Bamford Barclay Bloomberg Bulgari Branson Busch Carnegie Forbes Ford Frick Goldman Habsburg Hargreaves Hearst Hilton Koch Lincoln Livingstone Mellon Rockefeller Romanov Roosevelt Rothschild Sonnenberg Soros Tiffany Tudor Van Cleef Van Damme Vanderbilt Whitney Windsor Winfrey
Luxurious Old Money Last Names
Choose a surname that emits a wealthy and luxe aura. These names are off-the-charts old money. Just hearing them stirs up images of being draped in a mink coat while a servant brings you an old fashioned: Balenciaga Burberry Byron Caesar Cartier Cash Chanel Chopard Devereux Dior Dulce Du Pont Fendi Ferragamo Ferrari Ferrero Givenchy Grimaldi Grosvenor Gucci Hadid Hermès Jenner Kardashian King Lacoste Lauder Laurent LeCoultre Medici Newhouse Orleans Ortega Pinault Porsche Prada Presley Reichmann Swarovski Versace Vuitton Wertheimer Wilsdorf
Fancy Old Money Last Names
Opt for a delicately elegant surname. These arresting and fanciful names don't scream "money"—they whisper it, confident you'll do the work of leaning closer if you can't hear them: Arison Ashbury Ashcroft Ashworth Beaumont Blackwood Blanchet Chastain Clifford Coates Cox Dassault Dubois Duval Ellsworth Fairfax Ferdinand Fontaine Ford Gallo Getty Girard Goldman Hargrave Harrington Hawthorne Kingsley Le Clerc Montague Montclair Moreau Pembroke Pendleton Preston Ratcliffe Rousseau Rutherford St. John Thornton Whittaker Worthington
Understated Old Money Last Names
The surnames on this list are unassuming, but they're no less classy. In fact, their simplicity and everydayness add a sort of dignified subtlety to them: they're less in-your-face than a Carnegie or a Rockefeller, but they know they own multiple private islands, and that's all that matters. Cabot Cargill Dell Donnelley Dyson Ecclestone Hayes Hoffman Jackson Johnson Klein Lange Lehman Lee Lloyd Lowell Lucas Lynch McGregor Morgan Reuben Reynolds Rich Simmons Smith Spielberg Taylor Thompson Walton Wayne Welch Weston
Unique Old Money Last Names
You probably haven't heard some of these old money surnames. For some, it's because they're pretty rare. For others, it's because they're more common in non-English-speaking countries: Cheng De Mevius Fridman Graff Hartono Hayek Heineken Henkel Herlin Hilti Kadoorie Kamprad Kwok Margiela Marinho Mars McKinsey Merck Morovingian Miele Mountbatten Mulliez Ofer Otto Persson Peugeot Pritzker Quandt Rausing Schaeffler Schermerhorn Shin Sy Van Der Vorm Van Rensselaer Yurman
European Old Money Last Names
Go with an elite French, Spanish, Italian, Scottish, or German surname. Most of what we think of as old money names have European roots. So even if you (or your fictional character) are American, if you have European heritage, consider opting for a surname that reflects their lineage. French Astor Bass Bernadotte Boss Boucheron Bourbon Chevalier Dufresne Dumas Fournier Lauren Marchand Montreux German Adler Albrecht Arnoult Baldwin Bettencourt Berg Drakenberg Falkenberg Holstein Kassel Lichtenstein Schindler Schroder Seinfeld Siemens Sternberg Von Adler Von Bismarck Von Braun Von Essen Von Hohenzollern Von Kleist Von Schleicher Von Stein Italian Agnelli Armani Bellini Bertarelli Buccellati Buccellati Bianchi Borghese Colonna Conti D'Angelo De Luca Esposito Farnese Ferrara Lombardi Mancini Marchetti Medici Moretti Orsini Ricci Rinaldi Romano Santoro Scottish Buchanan Campbell Douglas Fraser MacAllister MacBride MacFarlane MacGregor MacKenzie MacLean MacLeod MacNair MacPherson MacQuarrie MacRae MacTavish Ramsay Sinclair Stewart Spanish Alvarez Cervantes De la Vega De Leon Del Castillo Delgado Escobar Fuentes Herrera Guzman Mendoza Morales Navarro Paredes Rojas Santiago Torres Valdez Vega
Funny Old Money Last Names
These names are so funny, they make you wonder if the money is, too… These names are so over-the-top aristocratic, they can't help but make you want to roll your eyes or burst into laughter—or both. Try these real and made-up names for a humorous old money character you want to poke a little fun at: Clearwater Humperdinck Fezziwig Livingston Mayweather Moneybags Oppenheimer Pennyfeather Picklebottom Pulitzer Schnickelfritz Von Wittelsbach Westwood Wigglesworth Windsor Woolworth
What makes a name “old money”?
Heritage and lineage Names we think of as "old money" typically have deep, deep historical roots. They're tethered to famous (or infamous) families who have been passing along their wealth for generations. An old money name isn't just one person's name—it's the name of a family whose legacy, traditions, and pockets go back centuries. For instance, when you hear the name "Rockefeller," you likely don't think of an individual person, but a whole timeless lineage of wealthy, influential people.
Timelessness Old money names have a classic feel to them—and that's because they've been around for so long! They're dignified and respectable, but without putting too much effort in. Old money first names, too, don't bow to trends, nor do they really feel "outdated." Instead, old money families tend to stick to classic names that never go out of style.
European aristocratic influence Even if you've got an American old money family in mind, odds are, they came from somewhere in Europe. The well-known industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, for instance, is Scottish-American, and his name reflects his Scottish roots. Old money first names also often have royal or aristocratic connections to augment their fancy and prestigious vibe.
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