Animal, Vegetable, Mineral

I awoke with an old radio show from the forties and fifties on my mind. Every week on 20 Questions a panel of experts had to determine an undisclosed subject by asking no more than 20 questions of their own. One of the first questions asked was often “Is it Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral?” which set me to thinking about people whose surnames are animal, vegetable, or mineral. Hence, this post.

Subsequent questions on the radio show were of the human or non-human, male or female, living or dead variety. Such questions are irrelevant for purposes of today’s post.

The only prerequisites for inclusion in the lists below are that the name is a real one (as opposed to a stage name or a fictional character) and that the person is semi-recognizable by others. This excludes Kid Rock (a stage name), Freddie Mercury (a stage name), Adam Ant (a stage name), Jim Parsley (a personal friend), Marsha Lamb (another personal friend), Violet Roach (my mother's childhood friend in Philadelphia), and Miss Edith Wildegoose (my first-grade teacher in Pawtucket, Rhode Island).

ANIMAL (avian):
David Canary (American actor)
Travis Stork (American physician)
Christopher Wren (English architect)
Lynn Swann (American football player)
Richard Byrd (American naval officer and explorer)
Stephen Sparrow (British business executive and founder of Snow Leopard Trust)
Jerome Robbins (American choreographer)
Florence Nightingale (British nurse and social reformer)
Hart Crane (American poet)
Claudia Cardinale (Italian film actress)

ANIMAL (mammalian):
Charles Lamb (English essayist)
Thomas Wolfe (American writer)
Virginia Woolf (English writer)
George Fox (English dissenter, founder of the Society of Friends)

ANIMAL (aquarian):
Hamilton Fish (American politician, governor of New York)
Sam Bass (American Old West train robber and outlaw)

VEGETABLE:
Wendell Berry (American poet, novelist, environmentalist)
Darryl Strawberry (American baseball player)
Yma Sumac (Peruvian soprano with four-and-a-half octave range)
George Herbert Walker Bush (American President)
...also George W. Bush, Jeb Bush, Laura Bush, Barbara Bush)
Marietta Tree (American socialite and political appointee)
Sterling Moss (British Formula One racing driver)
Marla Maples (American actress, former Mrs. Donald Trump)

MINERAL:
Neil Diamond (American singer-songwriter)
Sharon Stone (American actress)

I'm sure there must be others that have escaped me for the moment. If you think of some, tell me in the comments!

(Note to Graham Edwards in the Outer Hebrides: This is the post that was accidentally published prematurely for a nanosecond.)

Perhaps we will explore surnames that are geographical features next.