The Top 10: People whose first name begins their surname

From Boutros Boutros-Ghali to William Carlos Williams...

Mo Mowlam, Cabinet minister 1997-2001: BBC

This list was suggested by Andy Hutchcraft, who nominated the first two, as well as Bev Bevan, drummer for The Move and Electric Light Orchestra, of whom I had not heard.

1. Mo Mowlam, Northern Ireland Secretary under Tony Blair.

2. Magnus Magnusson, original presenter of Mastermind. I shouldn’t really have allowed Icelandic names, but I needed 10 names I’d heard of.

3. William Carlos Williams. Well, I’ve heard of him. Studied him for A-level English. Nominated by Pablo Byrne.

4. Kris Kristofferson, singer and actor. Thanks to Laura SR.

5. Jo Johnson, Minister for Universities and Science. Proposed by Nick Reid.

6. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Secretary-General of the United Nations, 1992-96. Controversial and popular nomination then and now. From Peter Metcalfe and many others.

7. Chris Christie, who wants to be Donald Trump’s vice-presidential candidate. “Nominated” by Lee “Budgie” Barnett.

8. Kirk Kerkorian, developer of Las Vegas who died last year. His Armenian first name was Kerkor. Lucky strike by Amalia Illgner.

9. Nev Neville, late father of Gary and Phil. Back of the net by Mark.

10. Rear-Admiral Sir Morgan Morgan-Giles, Conservative MP 1964-79. I hadn’t heard of him, but how could I refuse Mr Memory’s request?

As a strict enforcer of rules, I refused to accept Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards (his first name is really Michael); Jerome K Jerome (his first name is the same as his surname), both of whom were nominated by Allan Holloway; Andre Andre, who plays for FC Porto (who could have got in if he had been called And Andre and I’d heard of him), from Robert Hutton; ‏Rich Ricci, the horse racer and former banker who was once named Ricci Rich by The Daily Telegraph (works phonetically but not in print), nominated by David Christie; and Market House Books pleaded for Jean Genet: “Oh go on.” No.

Finally, an honourable mention for Andy McSmith, who nominated a Politburo member in Stalin’s time named Andrei Andreyevich Andreyev.

Next week: Acronyms you may not have realised were acronyms, such as Aga and flak

Coming soon: Bands that were renamed with the lead singer’s name on top, such as Rod Stewart and the Faces

Your suggestions, and ideas for future Top 10s, in the comments please, or to me on Twitter, or by email to top10@independent.co.uk