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No, because it's Saxon not anglo-saxon and Saxon by itself mainly makes me think of Saxony and Lower Saxony which are regions of Germany and therefore it is a geographical term to me. But I live in Germany so I hear Lower Saxony three times per day on the news and it doesn't raise any eyebrows. Also, the German word for "Saxony" is "Sachsen" which sounds a lot like "Saxon" so all I think is "region where people speak an interesting dialect and where they have the best Christmas markets in Germany" I also think of "saxophone".

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Now I know that some white supremacists have used the word anglo-saxon for themselves and that there is a debate as to whether it should still be used, but Saxon to me is way more associated with geography (Lower Saxony, Saxony) than the term anglo-saxon.

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If I met someone named Saxon I would simply assume that the parents liked trendy names (Saxon sounds a lot like Jackson, Jax, Max etc. so it fits right in).

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I think it's ugly but I wouldn't immediately think the parents were white supremacists.

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Here in Germany most white supremacists use Scandinavian names and names from Norse mythology so there have been discussions in Germany whether it's still a good idea to name a daughter Freya because apparently it's one of the most popular names among Neo-Nazis and sibsets like Odin and Freya or Freya and Brunhild are popular among them and will lead to people second guessing what the parents' motives were when they were naming their kids.

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I personally find it rather silly to judge someone by their name or to judge their parents for it. Could the parents of Freya and Odin be white supremacists? Definitely. Could they just be interested in Norse Mythology? Totally. People shouldn't be so quick to judge. I find the probability that a Saxon had trendy surname-name parents way more likely than the probability that the parents are white supremacists.

This message was edited 5/13/2021, 10:39 AM

I knew a girl named Saxon but for her family it was a family name. Moms maiden name was Saxon. I’m not calling it an “iffy” name but it’s not a name I’d use for girls or boys.

Besides the Anglo-Saxon thing, I keep thinking of the "Harold Saxon" alias that The Master used in the revival of Doctor Who (when he became Prime Minister of the U.K.). So that's another bad association!

I'm assuming you mean, like it's a ... "white supremacist dog whistle"? lol

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No. I wouldn't assume anyone who named a kid Saxon was doing that. I'd think that someone who named a kid Saxon, probably just thought it sounded cool, and that's it.

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I might assume someone named Saxon was white, just because the term "Anglo-Saxon" might put not-white people off it, even if they did think it sounded cool. But I wouldn't be astonished if Saxon turned out to be another race, or mixed race. It's mainly just a surname name that sounds like Jackson.

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Elon Musk has sons named Griffin, Xavier, Damian, Saxon, and Kai.
Alex O'Loughlin (Australian actor) has sons Saxon and Lion.
Jessica Ellis (British actress) has a son Saxon.

This message was edited 5/12/2021, 5:36 PM

Yeah it just sounds weird. For some reason this always sounded like a dog name.

Not at all. It was just a name given to a group of people from the location of Saxony. (It was on my list for a boy when I first joined over 17 years ago and I still like it, but I like other names more now).

Yes. Which is a pity. My old university - UCT, where the library was largely destroyed by fire last month - started out in the 19th century as the South African College, which in turn developed from a boys' school called the South African College School. And one of its nicknames is SACS; still, I think, cheerily bellowed around sports fields. And for a while the students were known as Saxons, though the more usual nickname is Ikeys, very politically incorrect nowadays but at the beginning of the 20th century it pleased some people to claim that UCT students were largely Jewish. And I'm proud to be an Ikey from SACS, though neither meaning is relevant to me.

I feel like tribe names are a let down...even names like Dorian, Wendell, Sabine, Saskia, that I want to like, I can only feel lukewarm about at best.

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Saxon definitely leaves me with an impression. I think of animal skins and tattoos and that Hans Zimmer song, "Do You Think I'm a Saxon?" - ominous percussion and grunting. Because of that my initial reaction is that it's hokey but not in a way that is immediately much different than Odin (who is popular with white supremacists).

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If I give it any thought at all beyond that, it sure does sound like a white supremacist dogwhistle in the US. But so many people are blissfully clueless about history and politics and tuned into pop culture instead that I'd need more context (they show up in movies as warriors, which I can see people liking).

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There's also the female Jack London character.

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And it seems a lot like Jaxon / Jackson to me, tbh. I feel like lots of people like that because of Stonewall Jackson and Andrew Jackson, but obviously not all of the people who use it do so because of those associations.

This message was edited 5/12/2021, 4:22 PM

I think it's iffy in general. I don't know the associations with Saxon.

Yeeeah, it is iffy. If I found out a person was named Saxon I'd probably be a bit....wary. Like, this person could just come from a quirky history-loving family or they could be a white supremacist, or neither of those things. It does come with connotations.

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I'd probably say "Like the dog from Hot Fuzz!" if I met a Saxon.

Yes, yes I do. Fortunately it’s not a name I like anyway, regardless of implication.

It strikes me as a little silly rather than iffy. It would be like having the first name Roman or Scott or French or Spaniard or Nord. It might work better on a pet. I have met someone with a form of Saxon as their last name, so I can see it being used to honor the child's mother's maiden name. It isn't awful since I've met people named Scott, but it seems random to be named after a people group.

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Adding: Frank technically could be used to refer to a people group, but more likely it is used to refer to Franklin.
A white person using the name of people group that they were in no way a part of like Kenyan or Nigerian would strike me as far more iffy than Saxon.

This message was edited 5/12/2021, 12:06 PM

I see Saxon as more of a dog's name, due to the dog in Hot Fuzz.

Definitely iffy

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I actually know someone named Saxon and the name fits him to a t..

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I’ve always wondered if he choose the name himself or if his parents named him Saxon - it seems rude to ask..

Yup...