Does anyone know of a database (preferably free and on the web) of surnames and their nationality? I’m one of those people who hasn’t the first clue where my ancestors came from (although judging from my hair color and skin tone, it was somewhere far north where the sun doesn’t shine much). I’d love to be able to plug a couple of family names into a search engine and have it say “most common in Iceland” or something.
Thanks in advance.
Apologies for the misspelling in the title. If a mod feels like lending me an “i” and an “n”, I’d be eternally grateful.
Most of the lists of which I am aware are in printed texts and a Google search for “names ethnic origin” or similar phrases will turn up a lot of ads for books.
This site does have a few browsable name lists by country.
Getting to Iceland, particularly, may be rather difficult since the languages of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway are hardly distinguishable, now, and the names are rather easily echanged. Iceland has continued its connection to Scandinavia and its names may also not have separated much from the originals.
Also try searching with the word “onomastics” you will get some stuff that way.
However, figuring out the ethnic origins of last names by looking at them can sometimes be a daunting task.
Genealogy websites are helpful also
http://www.cyndislist.com
lists sources for surname research.
Well, I did some research and consistent with what BobT and tomndebb said, I didn’t find much. I did find one site that purports to do what I wanted, but I’m skeptical of it because the main goal of that site is to sell the user a $20 plaque about the origin of his name.
Purely for the purpose of full disclosure, I appear to be a mix of English, Welsh, and a little bit of French.
Thanks.
What is your surname, if you don’t mind me asking? It might be helpful of people knew what it was. On the other hand, maybe you wish to remain anonymous.
Speaking of names, I knew someone with the last name of Black. You’d think that was a good old English name, but you’d be wrong. According to her, the name her ancestor came to this country with was Blanco (meaning ‘white’ in Spanish) but they changed their name to Black because it sounded more American.
I also met a guy with the last name of Toronto. Again, you’d think that they got it from the city in Canada, but this wasn’t the case. In fact his grandfather (or great-grandfather, I don’t remember) came from the Italian city of Taranto, whose name is pronounced pretty much like that of the Canadian city. The immigration officials put his name down as ‘Toronto’ because that’s what they were familiar with.
No, I don’t mind. I’m an Evans.
I always understood that Evans was of Welsh origin.
From this site:
EVANS
Origin: Welsh. Derived from the first name Ifan, a cognate of John (gracious gift of Jehovah).