View Full Version : Where is your surname most common?
My surname is most common in Yorkshire which was a surprise when I thought it was Welsh.
http://www.spatial-literacy.org/UCLnames/default.aspx
Mine is most common in Caithness and Orkney, according to your link, with a healthy spattering in Australia and Canada too.
My birth surname is most common in the Outer Hebrides, though also to be found on Skye, throughout the Highland mainland, and on Orkney.:)
Invisible south of the Highlands.....:eek:
cuddlepop
06-Feb-08, 19:59
In Great Britain its Dorchester but there's far more of us in Canada.
That why I'm desperate to go over:) its the pull of the Big Country.
NickInTheNorth
06-Feb-08, 20:01
Mine is commonest (http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk/Map.aspx?name=NOBLE&year=1998&altyear=1881&country=GB&type=name) in the North of Scotland, with the exception of Caithness, the borders, and a tiny bit in I think Lancashire.
Just Caithness and Orkney, a few in Shetland. 5 of us per Million.
most common in Harris and outer Hebrides
There are only a handful of us with my surname. It turns out its most common in Caithness. I thought it would have been Ireland as thats where it originates from. Very surprised about that.
Tighsonas4
06-Feb-08, 20:45
my name seems to have blotted the map of caithness [lol] [lol]
Maiden name is mostly Caithness.....married name is mostly England....where it should have stayed ;) [lol] x
My Surname stretches from Perth to Bettyhill, all on the west, then seeps over at the next level to the whole of Caithness.
Ty Rheg for that link.
northener
06-Feb-08, 20:51
Very suprising, more of us around the Welsh Border areas!
mines purple in sutherland where im from and red in caithness. by 19 hundreds we are all over the country but still purple here. Im a murray!
Highland Laddie
06-Feb-08, 22:06
Mostly Caithness Orkney and Shetland, 486 per million
then large concentrations in New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Northern Ireland and USA.
mine is most common in Edinburgh which is were i am from and with a few in caithness
Cedric Farthsbottom III
06-Feb-08, 22:16
Mine said turn left at the big tree,then right at the wee tree then head into the forest and there ye will be found.So I'm a magic mushroom,sounds good to me.:lol::lol:
Well tried the site out and my maiden name is mostly Caithness, but married name is from the Midlands, which neither it a surprise!!
My surname virtually only exists in Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, yet its French! Strange! :eek:
well at least we know that we are not all Mackays...or the whole site would be upwest ;) [lol] x
Yoda the flump
06-Feb-08, 22:41
Purple all over South Wales and quite a few in Mid Wales, North Wales, some in the west country and an enclave in the Argyll area (?).
Odd that seeing as I am from err........South Wales
caithness orkney & shetland..........1 per 5 million
top area dundee ......:lol:and yup im a dirty dundonian
Mine is mainly North Wales, a celtic name, so as I am living in Scotland it seems to be correct.
DeHaviLand
06-Feb-08, 23:25
As I expected, Argyll and the Islands, but, surprisingly, just as common in the Highlands
helenwyler
06-Feb-08, 23:27
Maiden name Perth and Lerwick (didn't know about Lerwick at all, thanks Rheghead:)).........married name doesn't figure at all (less than 100 of us) because it's a Swiss name.
George Brims
06-Feb-08, 23:34
Completely unsurprisingly, mine is most common in Caithness and Orkney, with a small representation in Lothians and Borders. I know there used to be a wee Brims enclave around Meadowbank as a college classmate of my wife was in a drama group there and when we went to see her in a play, half the cast and crew were called Brims!
There's also a big construction company in the NE of England called Brims. Back in the 70s there were 3 people with our surname listed in the Newcastle phone book, but I never did go and introduce myself.
Married name..........Grampian
Maiden name. .........Inverness-shire
Sapphire2803
07-Feb-08, 00:12
Maiden name - Durham - 2929 per million
Married name - Sunderland - 4 per million
We're from Hampshire and I'd traced my maiden nam back as far as Bedfordshire and got stuck.
Margaret M.
07-Feb-08, 01:06
Maiden name -- Caithness, Orkney, and Shetland
Married name -- Southwest Scotland
Maiden name Cornwall / west Devon so that was right.
Married name Bristol highest concentration with Sussex a close second and various enclaves in East Anglia and further north but thet were using two spellings so might be some what distorted.
My surname is most common in caithness & orkney..more precisely around the area of the queens hotel/francis street club/Backer/wetherspoons & Camps!!haha
Not a very good website, says mine is 98% in britain and 2% in france. A little surprising for a french surname....
Interesting to see where 'one' might come from, sometimes if a lot of people live in one area, it's usually the source - have a look at the site below, it' not complete, but click on a name and it gives a map and surname distribution..
http://members.lycos.co.uk/ancestors/surnamedistribution.html (http://members.lycos.co.uk/ancestors/surnamedistribution.html)
And this one to give name variants (my own tree goes back to 1529 - no, not 3.29pm - and there are a number of variants in this: )
http://www.namethesaurus.com/Thesaurus/Search.aspx (http://www.namethesaurus.com/Thesaurus/Search.aspx)
But this one is I think the best: http://www.ancestry.com/facts/-family-history-uk.ashx?fn=&yr=1920 (http://www.ancestry.com/facts/-family-history-uk.ashx?fn=&yr=1920) although it's 1891, interesting!
Phoenix200416
07-Feb-08, 14:16
Purple in the Cornwall/Devon area. Quite suprised about that. Also Red in Lincolnshire where I am from and yellow all over south england and east anglia.
Great site Rheghead. Both maiden and married names are most common in Caithness and Orkney as well as the next generation back. It's weird to see how the surnames have spread south over the last hundred years.
ciderally
07-Feb-08, 14:49
mine is caithness and orkney
ciderally
07-Feb-08, 14:52
My surname is most common in caithness & orkney..more precisely around the area of the queens hotel/francis street club/Backer/wetherspoons & Camps!!haha
tee hee .....like it
I see Nickinthenorth's link is being pretty well used! : "WE ARE CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING VERY LARGE VOLUMES OF TRAFFIC SO IF YOU ARE HAVING PROBLEMS PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER."
Wonder if it's the Org that's done that?
married name the strongest being Aberdeenshire and Caithness but only know another family in the area with the same name.......:confused
maiden name caithness and Orkney
mothers maiden name the same!!
:Razz
cuddlepop
07-Feb-08, 16:59
Not a very good website, says mine is 98% in britain and 2% in france. A little surprising for a french surname....
My surname originated in France and according to this web sight there is none of us left there,we've all emigrated to Canada.:confused
porshiepoo
07-Feb-08, 17:20
My married surname doesn't show up. It says there had to be a minimum of 100 names on the electoral role. Obviously there wasn't - for either dates.
My maiden name is most prominent around Nottinghamshire which is what I thought anyway.
However my maiden name if I use my fathers birth surname (the one I initially used was his adopted name) then it shows Aberdeenshire. Now that I didn't know!
My married surname doesn't show up. It says there had to be a minimum of 100 names on the electoral role. Obviously there wasn't - for either dates.
My maiden name is most prominent around Nottinghamshire which is what I thought anyway.
However my maiden name if I use my fathers birth surname (the one I initially used was his adopted name) then it shows Aberdeenshire. Now that I didn't know!
I'm the exact opposite from you porshiepoo, my maiden name doesn't show up but my married name does, around Melrose mainly. I kind of thought that as, when researching clans some time ago i found my surname was changed by a king of Scotland for a heroic action taken by my OH's anscestor.
Not a very good website, says mine is 98% in britain and 2% in france. A little surprising for a french surname....
Perhaps an explanation may be the name is French but the spelling has changed slightly to reflect some form of anglicisation or failing that as an explanation, when they upgrade to the global version soon there will be better statistics on your name.
My maiden name does not show up because less than 100 people in the uk on the electoral role have it. A few years ago there were 56 people listed with it and were pretty much spread out with quite a few in Glasgow and Kent.
My married surname is most common in Avon, Somerset, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Shropshire. Interesting stuff.
Perhaps an explanation may be the name is French but the spelling has changed slightly to reflect some form of anglicisation or failing that as an explanation, when they upgrade to the global version soon there will be better statistics on your name.
Nope, its pure french spelling and there are alot of people in france with that surname if you check the french phone book! [lol]
Penelope Pitstop
07-Feb-08, 20:52
Maiden name only found Caithness and Orkney. Married name Caithness and Sutherland, bit less common Aberdeenshire and borders.
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