Statistics and distribution of surnames in Great Britain

Something I blogged about way back in Feb of 2006, but which has become more relevant of late!

Thanks to a University College London project, you’re able to search census databases to see the distribution of surnames in GB.

From the National Trust Names website:

Do you know where your surname comes from, or how many people you share it with? To find out more about your history, click on ‘Search for a Surname’.

Welcome to the National Trust Names. website which presents the findings of a project based at University College London (UCL) that is investigating the distribution of surnames in Great Britain, both current and historic. It allows users to search the databases that we have created, and to trace the geography and history of their family names. On each page of the website, you will find a Help link on the top-right corner which We hope will answer any questions you might have.

So for instance, I can see that the surname Knight is related to Knightley, Knighton and Knights; and is based primarily in the South East of England, in Taunton…

Pretty interesting stuff since my family originally moved from England to South Africa…

surnames, distribution, names, family, ancestry, lineage, descendant

Posted by Gareth in Culture, Family, Family trees, Genealogy, Research, Statistics | Trackback |