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My Last Name

2003 single by Dierks Bentley

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ6945804 ↗
Source-derived summary

"My Last Name" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Dierks Bentley. It was released in October 2003 as the second single from his self-titled debut album. The song peaked at number 17 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, becoming Bentley's first single to miss the Top 10 and his only one until 2010's "Up on the Ridge", which peaked at number 21. Bentley wrote this song with Harley Allen.

Content

The narrator describes the origins and the experiences of his last name, such as when he beat up a bully who made fun of his name and when his grandpa "took it off to Europe to fight the Germans in the war". In the final verse, the narrator then says that he wants to marry his lover — to give her his last name because he does not have much.

Music video

The music video was directed by Peter Zavadil, who directed the video for his previous single "What Was I Thinkin'". At the beginning, it shows Dierks Bentley's name spelled wrong on a marquee, but at the end of the video, it has been corrected.

Critical reception

Samantha H., reviewing the song for Country Music Online.net, wrote that the song "My Last Name" "is a great story song. All about getting teased because of his last name and still being proud of it.

Editorial summary

“My Last Name” enters the record as 2003 single by Dierks Bentley. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Last, Name and single can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2003, 2010—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2003-10-20. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Last, Name and single.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“My Last Name” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Last, Name and single provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6945804. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2003 and 2010.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “My Last Name”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow My Last Name primary sources, My Last Name archive and Last research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “My Last Name” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.