Is Shakespeare still a surname in England?
Posted by 1Snuggles@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 206 comments
If so, is it common enough that no one would think anything of it, or does it get a reaction?
navagon@reddit
There are still approx 3875 Shakespeares in the UK.
Queen_of_London@reddit
Does !answer still work here? Or did it ever in this sub?
Anyway yeah, it's not common at all, and so famous that you do notice when it comes up. But it happens now and then.
navagon@reddit
All it took was putting the exact same question OP asked into Google. Funny that.
Queen_of_London@reddit
Oh. Was that an AI result then? I can't find anything that has that number or similar, but that could just be me not searching well.
Doesn't matter that much, I guess - it's a name you see now and then and probably always notice. Rare, but not unknown.
And the OP was asking for more than what a search result would answer.
Familiar_Swan_662@reddit
https://britishsurnames.uk/surname/shakespeare
Scroll down to below where it shows you braille and morse code
All it took was searching up 'how many people with the surname Shakespeare in the uk'
Queen_of_London@reddit
I'm on a laptop, so it's on the side for me, not under the Braille and Morse code. I scrolled for ages wondering what I wasn't seeing! But thanks.
I googled how many people called Shakespeare uk 2025, and also tried named instead of called, and with and without the date, and a couple of other different terms. That's very similar to what you searched for, and I didn't get the site you got, and I went three pages down in the results. I mostly got historical results, presumably due to my algorithms knowing that I research historical sources sometimes.
Not all search results will be the same despite using similar terms.
Familiar_Swan_662@reddit
Do you use google? Their notorious for not giving you what youre actually looking for. That website was the first result when I searched that sentence on firefox/duckduckgo
Queen_of_London@reddit
I was that time, but so was the other person. Duckduckgo is definitely better - that's what I use on my phone and that's where I usually search for things, partly because it doesn't force AI on you.
LittleSadRufus@reddit
"Named" and "called" should result in the same treatment by Google as it does fuzzy matching in all languages, but you won't necessarily get the same results as another person doing the same search as results are contextual (what you've shown interest in before, what it knows about your age and gender etc, what's relevant to your geographical location, what advertisers are trying to sell to you ... Probably that last one is highest priority). Two consecutive searches can even result in different outcomes.
Google is a terrible search engine for proper research tbh.
navagon@reddit
No. There was a statistics website. I'd never trust an AI answer.
HomeworkInevitable99@reddit
I searched freebmd and there's about 50 a year being born. Most frequent area is Birmingham followed by Wolverhampton and Coventry.
coyets@reddit
I asked the question in Ecosia, and the answer was 3568. I don't trust either answers though. Just because something is written somewhere on the Internet, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's true. Nevertheless, Wikipedia has articles on Nicholas Shakespeare, born 1957, Stephan Shakespeare, also born 1957, and Tom Shakespeare, born 1966, so there are even some notable people with this surname.
Amazing-Roof-7827@reddit
Imagine being in english class at school lol
QwenRed@reddit
Its exceedingly rare and would certainty get a reaction.
jamesdownwell@reddit
It’s not. I’ve worked with and been to school with people with the name. There’s even well known people with the name, like Craig Shakespeare, the football coach who sadly passed away a couple of years ago.
QwenRed@reddit
There's a few thousand people with the name in the UK, that makes it exceedingly rare across England, a single example doesn't change that.
jamesdownwell@reddit
Stephan Shakespeare, founder of YouGov.
Nicholas Shakespeare the writer.
Sir Geoffrey Shakespeare, MP.
Bill Shakespeare, first man to receive COVID vaccine in the UK.
It’s uncommon but it’s absolutely not “exceedingly rare.”
QwenRed@reddit
Maybe our definitions of exceedingly rare differ, maybe one of us are blinded by our own biases. Personally I'd probably go with the figures of the name being well within 4 figures in terms of population with the surname, resulting in a sub 0.001 percentile of popularity of UK surnames, joined by being ranked as the bottom tier of surnames in the UK on the handful of surname databases available in the UK. But sure if you want to use a couple of guys you went to school with along with a German, and 2 people from the same family as evidence on your list of 4 names that it somehow isn't exceedingly rare then you do just that. Have an exceedingly great day James.
jamesdownwell@reddit
Ok.
Shitelark@reddit
Not many Hitlers around since war hero Billy Hitler emigrated.
robojod@reddit
I had two people called Shakespeare in my school - they were unrelated to one another. But we are all from the midlands, so not far from Stratford, and therefore you might expect to see it locally.
markusparkus75@reddit
Farm near me known as ‘Shakespeare’s Farm’ run by a Shakespeare family. So it still exists. Just not very common though.
QuantitySharp2662@reddit
I knew Shakespeare sister.
Kept whinging at me to stay...
jamesdownwell@reddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/s/0PiOZa1WkY
QuantitySharp2662@reddit
Bastard. Newer and better lol
ForwardAd5837@reddit
Yes! There’s a few knocking around, perhaps most famously is former Leicester City Football Club manager Craig Shakespeare.
Significant-Fan7218@reddit
One of my oldest friends is a Shakespear. He's got 3 kids, so I know at least 4.
ChattyBear@reddit
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55233021
11Kram@reddit
There’s a bookstore in Paris run by someone of that name.
grazerline@reddit
My English Lit teacher in high school, their surname was Shakespeare-Smith I shit you not.
Successful_Buy3825@reddit
Went to university with a Shakespeare, also worked with one.
Letter_Effective@reddit
The first man (and second person) to get the COVID vaccine in the UK when it was rolled out was named... William "Bill" Shakespeare:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-57234741
Gluebagger@reddit
yeah and matt hancock could barely contain his ~~laughter~~ tears. For SoMe sTRaNgE rEasON
mr_iwi@reddit
I for one had know idea the vaccine had been around for several centuries
JimmyHaggis@reddit
Back in Shakespeare's day Covid was probably called something like Bat-munchers ruin.
TawnyTeaTowel@reddit
Back in Shakespeare’s day, it was literally Bubonic Plague…
JimmyHaggis@reddit
It was literally a joke. No historical inaccuracy intended.
ricky251294@reddit
It was literally the plague... His son died from it
Electronic-War1077@reddit
They had "sweating sickness" and bubonic plague.
Ok-Explanation1990@reddit
Ye bog-roll buyers blight
Reddit____user___@reddit
Or Pangolin surprise
Or Pangolin’s revenge 🤔
NegKDRatio@reddit
And everyone that took it then is now dead. Makes you think…
PiesPiesAndPies@reddit
Everyone who confuses correlation with causation ends up dead 👍
greg225@reddit
And in Warwickshire of all places, too
londond109@reddit
I thought it was a bit suspicious, old bloke called william shakespeare, was surprisingly eloquent and poetic, when asked how it felt to be the first person vaccinated, his 10 minute soliloquy certainly gave it away for me.
EldritchSanta@reddit
It wasn't the soliloquy that sealed it for me, but the fart joke that followed.
andyofredditch@reddit
I went to school with a Shakespeare. So, yes.
Statement-Acceptable@reddit
I know that not many people are called Lance anymore, back in the day people were called Lance a lot.
DaveBinM@reddit
Not quite the UK, but there is at least once Lance I know of Stroll-ing around the world, and is often in the UK 😄
mdmeaux@reddit
littlebitfunny21@reddit
It went over my head, too. I'm not good at interpreting written puns.
DaveBinM@reddit
It didn’t go over my head, I was attempting to add to the Lance-related puns. But perhaps I should stuck with the Arthurian theme than F1.
ArcticWolf_Primaris@reddit
Fun fact; Lancalot is literally a self-insert by some French guy
Lady-Deirdre-Skye@reddit
Most of the Arthurian stuff people think of today is from French fan fiction.
Diplomatic_Gunboats@reddit
Sir Gawain (in his Welsh form) was in the earliest ones, also apparently one of the three most well endowed men in Britain.
Lady-Deirdre-Skye@reddit
Haha, of course that's a thing in the Triads.
Diplomatic_Gunboats@reddit
Yes, despite being in Wales, I can never remember how to spell his name. So he sits in the head as Welsh Gawain.
(For others, 'endowed' here almost certainly means in the financial sense, rather than the much more common understanding we have today.)
Lady-Deirdre-Skye@reddit
Okay, slightly disappointing. Nevertheless, I'll see if there's a mention on the Triads of 'the Three Great Cocks of Britain'.
Diplomatic_Gunboats@reddit
Try the village of Three Cocks in Wales, near Hay-on-Wye.....
garyh62483@reddit
Fackin Fr*nch and their self insertions. Makes you sick. An on St George's Birthday an all!
Lady-Deirdre-Skye@reddit
Yeah, but St. George is the patron saint of England. The people who created England (the Saxons) were Arthur's mortal enemies.
ArcticWolf_Primaris@reddit
Amusingly enough, St George was a Greek (Macedonian?) who never visited England
Lady-Deirdre-Skye@reddit
He was from Cappadocia if I recall correctly, which is now in Eastern Turkey. He's particularly associated with the sort of Palestine region as well, which is how he got popular with crusaders who then made him popular in Europe.
But yeah, he was an ethnically Greek Roman soldier.
Fit_Search_4751@reddit
😂😂
GarageOwn6548@reddit
I have met a couple of Shakespeares over the years they just go by it like any other name
LazyMuff@reddit
God dam he's dunnit
Neither-Albatross866@reddit
r/jokes
I laughed-a-lot.
MrPizza2112@reddit
In the USA, it is also an active surname
A-Llama-Snackbar@reddit
I work with 4 of them 🤷♂️
sneakylithops@reddit
according to the Oxford dictionary of family names in Britain and Ireland (2016), there are:
Shakespeare: 2695
Shakespear: 103
Shakespere: 10
Shakspeare: 29
Final_Anybody_3862@reddit
Ol' Willy did like a penis joke.
Immediate-Escalator@reddit
Yes and I know of at least two William Shakespeares living near me.
yajtraus@reddit
Didn’t Leicester have a manager called Shakespeare not long ago? I want to say Craig Shakespeare.
FluffyBunnyFlipFlops@reddit
The guy who fitted my kitchen has Shakespeare as a surname. I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere.
Appropriate-Divide64@reddit
I've met a couple of them and my first question is always "any relation?". And they both were (distantly).
Kinggrunio@reddit
It exists, but is pretty rare. I did once work with a Charles Dickens. And as a teacher, I have taught a few “celebrities”.
Foundation_Wrong@reddit
There are Shakespeares at least one was a famous doctor in the 1970s. However they aren’t related to William Shakespeare the writer as his line died out.
WildGooseCarolinian@reddit
Have a friend whose surname is Shakespeare, but it’s just the one, to be fair. It’s around, but not super common.
behemuffin@reddit
There are approximately 3,875 people named Shakespeare in the UK. That makes it roughly the 2,409th most common surname in Britain. Around 60 in a million people in Britain are named Shakespeare.
Source: https://britishsurnames.uk/surname/shakespeare
CPD1960@reddit
Over in Dublin, the Chief Executive of the City Council is a Richard Shakespeare.
Extreme-Composer8452@reddit
"Ol' Dicky Shakespeare, as I live and breath"
thebyrned@reddit
Yes, I know a Shakespeare
BillyJoeDubuluw@reddit
Yes, it is still a surname but it is uncommon enough to attract an inevitable comment or two about William…
Loose_Loquat9584@reddit
Yes, the late Leicester City FC assistant manager (and briefly interim manager) was Craig Shakespeare. I do t think it’s very common though.
kylehyde84@reddit
Also played at Scunthorpe United 💪
EngineersAnon@reddit
Maybe they skipped mentioning it because of the problem?
kylehyde84@reddit
Ahh the Scunthorpe problem
StaticUsernamesSuck@reddit
Watch your language
AmeliaOfAnsalon@reddit
(The real problem is scunthorpe itself)
PiesPiesAndPies@reddit
My mate is from Scunny. He agrees with you.
kylehyde84@reddit
I won't disagree
jjgill27@reddit
He was at Villa too.
TheKingMonkey@reddit
He was a local lad and by all accounts a bloody good bloke too. RIP.
VictorAnichebend@reddit
Sure he had the manager’s job permanently for a little while
BroodLord1962@reddit
You do know how surnames work don't you? Do you think every males Shakespeare died without having kids?
sheepandlambs@reddit
I went to school with one, so yes.
Ill_Independence3057@reddit
It definitely exists, as shown by the famous vaccine recipient, but I’d wager it’s rare enough that most people would do a double-take when they hear it. Probably not “laugh out loud” rare, but more of a “wait, for real?” kind of moment. It’s one of those names that’s technically just a surname, but the cultural weight makes it unavoidable.
Guccy-Wang@reddit
Secondary English teacher here in Liverpool. We actually have a student with the surname Shakespeare in Year 10 this year - poor kid gets asked "any relation?" every single term. He's learned to just smile and say no, but you can tell it gets old. Interestingly, I also teach a lot of Shakespeare's works, so we always have a laugh when we get to Macbeth. The class never lets him forget it!
Prior-Explanation389@reddit
Yes, we had an English teach at school called Mrs Sherlock. You can imagine how difficult her job was made.
smokingbeagle@reddit
Yes, I know a few Shakespeare's
Much-Beyond2@reddit
The first person in the UK to get the Covid vaccination was called William Shakespeare
dlrace@reddit
There are still 'Lancelots' knocking about. Maybe some of them are knighted too.
Aggressive_Menu7271@reddit
Yes but no direct descendants of The Bard.
_Daftest_@reddit
Yes I knew someone of that name ten years ago
Howtothinkofaname@reddit
There was a Billy Shakespeare a couple of years below me at school.
Its_me_Dan@reddit
We have a guy who comes into work who's last nake is Shakespeare, he is the one and only thy I have ever met though!
satisfactory20@reddit
There was a guy at a place I worked a long time ago called Winston Shakespeare. I always like the idea of Mr and Mrs Shakespeare picking Winston for their new baby son
snapper1971@reddit
Dr Tom Shakespeare is well respected: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Shakespeare
Historical_Project86@reddit
Yes, we had a science teacher in school called Shakespeare, or Shaky for short. He was hard of hearing, and we used to make long buzzing noises to make him think there was something wrong with his hearing aid.
boatsandballs@reddit
I work with a Shakespeare
nineteenthly@reddit
Yes. I went to school with someone called Shakespeare. She was illiterate. It was also claimed that they were related but that may have been playground chatter.
KibboKift@reddit
Yeah I know on. We worked on a Shakespeare job together with Ken Branagh who always called him by his full name
BaBaFiCo@reddit
Uncommon but not unheard of. The Leicester City manager was Craig Shakespeare 8-9 years ago.
-aLonelyImpulse@reddit
Think it's been mostly modernised to Waggledagger now.
mhoulden@reddit
Or Wagstaff.
Vast_Cycle6990@reddit
Or Falstaff 🧐
Few_House_5201@reddit
Yep. But none are descendants of the Bard as two of his kids died childless and the other had one child who also died childless.
joshii87@reddit
Shakespeare was raw doggin’ all over the place. Trust me, he has living descendants!
Queen_of_London@reddit
There are quite a few descendants via his sister Joan though. None of them were Shakespeares by surname at birth, of course.
kernowgringo@reddit
Craig Sheakspeare was a football coach and manager of Leicester for a short while
MercuryJellyfish@reddit
It's uncommon enough that people would definitely say "any relation?"
Oghamstoner@reddit
“I’ve got a mother.”
Gingy2210@reddit
My husband's real surname should be Shakespeare. But his father was adopted by his step father and so the family name is a rather boring one. Interestingly family research has found my husband is a descendent of Henry Shakespeare, William Shakespeare's uncle.
Viking-Bastard-XIV@reddit
I have a friend called Shakespeare, his nickname is Will. Obviously.
nibor@reddit
Was at a peach the other week with a young man with the Surname of Shakespeare who was also in the arts.
C_Ux2@reddit
There's a small number descended through William Shakespeare's grandfather.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Shakespeare
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Shakespeare
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Shakespeare
Thenedslittlegirl@reddit
Point of pedantry but you can only be descended if you come from the direct line, so in order to be a descendant, Shakespeare would have to be their great x many grandfather.
The people you’ve mentioned would be distantly related, but not descended.
C_Ux2@reddit
Would the people I mentioned not be descendants of William Shakespeare's grandfather, sorry?
slade364@reddit
Yes, they would. Pedantry unsuccessful.
SixCardRoulette@reddit
They specified descent from Shakespeare's grandfather, not Shakespeare himself.
fuji44a@reddit
I went to school with a girl called Emma Shakespeare, I felt sorry for her, our English teacher would not let it go, every poor mark she got he'd make some attempted joke about it. But then his name was John Homes, he must have suffered a little with that one.
Webbo_man@reddit
This is my barometer.. not many im guessing
Dyalikedagz@reddit
Its a decent barometer to be honest. But having said that, like many others in this thread, I also know a Shakespeare personally.
Maybe they're all just shit at football.
Imaginary-Slide8738@reddit
There was a teacher in my high-school (North Wales) with that surname, ironically they taught music
wombatking888@reddit
Yes, at my secondary school in the Miidlands in the 90s there were a couple of Shakepeares in attendance.
0s3ll4@reddit
I’ve met a Shakeshaft ( really )
brushfuse@reddit
Ironically, Shakespeare never spelled his own name that way in all of his signatures. Not that there are a huge amount remaining. It appears it was pronounced very differently as well.
AnyOlUsername@reddit
I’ve only ever met one person with the surname. I’m assuming her family have it, also.
ExultentPisces@reddit
If a guy named Lance has Parkinson’s, does that count?
ThePanther1999@reddit
There was a girl at my primary school whose surname was Shakespeare.
Psychology_Guy@reddit
Same
Ok_Industry_2395@reddit
Worked with a woman named Gwen Shakespeare years ago, don't know how common it is though.
RadulphusDuck@reddit
Yes, and I've also encountered the spelling 'Shakespear.' It's horrible to look at somehow.
VariousClassroom8056@reddit
I once knew a pair of sisters with that name. Really clingy though, kept asking me to stay with them. One was pretty nice, the other quite devilish.
AlunWH@reddit
You’d better hope and pray that you don’t run into them again.
VariousClassroom8056@reddit
Only time will tell
thesaharadesert@reddit
If you can break the spell
LordBrixton@reddit
One of the greatest bass-players of all time had the same name and, now you mention it, I don't recall anyone ever mentioning the connection.
xpltvdeleted@reddit
Craig Shakespeare is a fairly well known lower league football manager. Took over from Ranieri after he left Leicester
jamesdownwell@reddit
Was, unfortunately.
craftyorca135@reddit
There's a show called Shakespeare and Hathaway. Fictional I know, but still...
Accomplished_Tap581@reddit
Yes , I had a class mate with that surname .
Surnames, rarely die out afaik unless they’re extremely rare .
Reddit____user___@reddit
I’ve not met yet one and I’ve been around for a number of weeks.
Sweet_Confusion9180@reddit
It never was a real surname.
Its a psuedonym - and I seem to remeber one of my old English Lit professors saying at the time was a funny joke think of someone today being called "Billy Wagglecock"
magpiesarepricks@reddit
What do you mean? There's been plenty of people with the last name shakespeare?
Sweet_Confusion9180@reddit
I learnt it was a psuedonym and never the authors real name.
Idk, blame my A lever English teacher 🤨
Adam_the_Penguin@reddit
Sounds like your teacher believed the conspiracy theory about someone else writing Shakespeare's plays.
Sweet_Confusion9180@reddit
Probably true!!!
Haha that false knowledge has stuck in my head all these years!
magpiesarepricks@reddit
Aaa ok, so it could have been a psuedonym for the shakespeare while being a real surname for others.
Queen_of_London@reddit
That's really not true. It wasn't a pseudonym, and although it does have a potentially funny meaning, so do lots of other real English names. I mean, we have real people called Smallbone, Littlecock and Mycox.
hdhxuxufxufufiffif@reddit
When I worked in Salford I met someone called Cobbledick and she claimed it was the "most Salford" name, citing Coronation Street. I said that I didn't remember a Cobbledick on Corrie and her well-rehearsed punchline was "it's set on the cobbles, and they're all dicks". A great way to deflect from her unusual name tbh.
caniuserealname@reddit
Your English lit professor is an idiot then.
UK parish churches kept records of baptisms, marriage and deaths since the early 1500s. We know with no uncertainty that William Shakespeare was the name he was baptised under, that he married under, and that he died under. That his parents went by Shakespeare, and that his siblings and children all went by Shakespeare.
hdhxuxufxufufiffif@reddit
It was a real name, and there are contemporary records of Shakespeare, his father and other relatives.
Sweet_Confusion9180@reddit
Hmm interesting. 🤷♂️
All this time I thought it was a funny pen name.
tmr89@reddit
It is and was a real name
Thats_my_nirnroot@reddit
Can't say I've ever met someone with that surname.
I have done a check on my own surname, which was able to provide a count of people that are alive today with the same surname..
I'm sure you could do the same for Shakespeare, to find out..
New_Line4049@reddit
I mean, it will always still be a surname. Its not a common surname, but even if not currently in use by any living person its still a surname. Its definitely not common enough to go unnoticed though, its going to raise an eyebrow or two.
carbsandchaos@reddit
Yes, I went to school with a girl whose surname was Shakespeare. I am early 30s.
jimmykimnel@reddit
football mananger Craig Shakspeare
momghoti@reddit
There's a TV detective show BBC called 'Shakespeare and Hathaway'
Former-Fig-9686@reddit
It’s a surname in the United States.
friedman72@reddit
Yes. Among the first people to get the COVID vaccine was a Warwickshire resident called Bill Shakespeare https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55233021
CoffeeIgnoramus@reddit
I wouldn't say it's common but I also wouldn't say it's impossible to find. I knew a family of Shakespeares.
InternalBumblebee7@reddit
Yes. Went to school with a lad who's suname was Shakespeare. He still gets called Shakey 30 years after leaving school.
audigex@reddit
There's an auld fella in my nan's old folk's home with the surname White who still gets his "chalky" nickname, including from the carers
It started in school when he was about 8, so he's had the nickname for 85+ years at this point. The staff and his doctor both call him Chalky, as did every colleague and boss and friend or (almost) family member he's ever had
Apparently the only people who didn't were his parents, his wife, and his kids. Even his grandkids call him Grandad Chalky, despite half of them having the same surname and none sharing the nickname
Simple_Rock6602@reddit
Yeah, one of my instagram mutuals is a Shakespeare
APithyComment@reddit
Yes - alas…
kodiakfilm@reddit
I used to occasionally come across one person with Shakespeare as a surname at my last job. It's definitely not common and it definitely did get a reaction out of me every time she emailed me.
Charming-Objective14@reddit
I know his hairstyle is popular amongst middle aged men.
Internet-Dick-Joke@reddit
Yes, still a surname.
No, not that common. I knew someone with that surname who hated it because it always got commented on (I might have met one or teo others with the surname but not known them well enough to remember).
But also not quite so rare that reasonable people would assume you must be related to everybody else with that surname.
Vindaloovians@reddit
The first man the get the COVID vaccine was called William Shakespeare!
fun_bobcat22@reddit
Yes it still exists.
I work in a job where I see long lists of names and I’ve come across it enough times that I don’t think anything of it when I see it at work.
It is uncommon enough that if I actually met someone called Shakespeare in real life I would spend a few moments thinking how it’s a funny name.
AdThat328@reddit
We're bingo numbers and our names are obsolete...🎶
Brexit-Broke-Britain@reddit
I taught a David Shakespeare. Some time ago now and I have moved schools and county. Maybe he married and had children.
Fantastic-Ad-6781@reddit
Someone already mentioned it, but look up the first ever person to get a Covid jab.
Bluffwatcher@reddit
And his name? Albert Einstein
magnakai@reddit
Yes, I work with one actually.
DonkeyOT65@reddit
Very rare. I've not met one in 60 years, but they definitely do exist.
msma46@reddit
I went to school with one. Hi Shaks!
SeeThemFly2@reddit
Yeah, I went to school with someone with the surname. Nobody ever really commented on it.
Estrellathestarfish@reddit
There was someone in my uni with that surname. Unfortunately not on my English lit course though.
celtiquant@reddit
Shakespeare
celtiquant@reddit
Shakespear
Icantspellforship@reddit
When I was in school in the 90's, our librarian's surname was Shakespeare which always made me chuckle. I have met two Shakespeare's since, most recently last year.
fidelio_the_knight@reddit
My friends school has an english teacher called mrs shakespeare
Friendly_Mud_4030@reddit
When Craig Shakespeare managed Leicester I remember wondering if he was related to the famous one. It isn’t a common surname and probably gets a couple of reactions.
Mediocre_Common6235@reddit
Yes, I know someone with that surname!
Zeviex@reddit
My mum works with a Shakespeare.
BillWilberforce@reddit
One issue is that there are about 20-25 copies of William Shakespeare's signature but he never signed his name as William Shakespeare. He used several spelling variants of Shakespeare for a start. With Shakespeare being accepted as the only correct spelling in the Victorian period.
fuck_peeps_not_sheep@reddit
My husband and his dads side of the family are all Shakespeare
Infamous_Telephone55@reddit
Tom Shakespeare, whoI think is a descendant of Wiliam.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Shakespeare
Ill_Ad_791@reddit
I’ve never met anyone with it. I would certainly notice and probably make a comment
Tapps74@reddit
I worked with a William Shakespeare 20 years ago.
It’s not a common surname but still in use, approx 4,000 in UK currently.
No_Release2180@reddit
Yep, my friend has the surname Shakespeare. Definitely not common enough to avoid every single person commenting on it whenever she says her surname. So it can't be that common.
Truewit_@reddit
I've met more than one person with that surname. It's just a name really. It's not common but no-one notices either. I certainly didn't think anything of it when I met my first one in primary school.
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