# Rare Surnames **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 22, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352 "2011-04-22T13:50:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352/61 "2011-04-25T13:04:10Z")
The White Pages lookup found twelve listings for my surname in the United States, including, for some reason, three listings for the same person. The most distantly related is the wife of my first cousin. There are also two people who would be on there if maiden names were included, but they changed their names when they married. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352/62 "2011-04-25T22:34:07Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Another fun place to investigate surname distribution and frequency is [VueScan Scanner Software for macOS, Windows, and Linux](http://www.hamrick.com/names/) where colored maps can show how the name has moved across the USA. This site is rubbish. The readout directly contradicts what I already know from my Grandfather’s geneology studies on our family. I would suggest that you do not download the “free trial” program. Something’s fishy. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352/63 "2011-04-25T23:31:00Z")
Dude, that census data file is really cool!!! My family surname is way down the list, but there’s more than I thought there were. Really interesting to see which names break down into which ethnicities, too. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352/64 "2011-04-26T00:25:37Z")
More fun facts from the 2000 census! Whitest names in America: HEIMERL (99.85% white, under 1000 total) NEWSWANGER (99.81% white, over 1000 total) Blackest names in America: SICKLE (99.82% black, 564 total) WAGLER (99.62% black, 2647 total) Asian-Pacific Islander-est names in America: ZHUO (99.39%, 330 total) XIAO (98.55%, 2768 total) Hispanic-est names in America: GOMEZGARCIA\* (99.66%, 294 total) \*Is this a real name missing a hyphen…? TLATENCHI (99.46%, 373 total) LUCATERO (98.42%, 1267 total) Last name most frequently self-described as having two or more races: DEPINA (60.82%, 1899 total) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352/65 "2011-04-26T00:36:09Z")
At whitepages, I only found a few hundred with my surname, but it was missing me and a couple other of my relatives. What’s weird, though, is I had to do a doubletake when I saw the _first_ name of one of my cousins listed along with my **different** _last_ name, and this person is located in the same city as my cousin! I wonder if she ever met my cousin and if so if she’d do a doubletake, as my mom’s last name isn’t exactly Johnson, either. ---
**Author:** ![Marc\_Xenos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Marc\_Xenos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marc_Xenos)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352/66 "2011-04-26T20:27:35Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > On the other hand, when wandering through those “background check” websites, I found myself listed in towns where other relatives have lived but I never have. Makes you doubt their authenticity. MOST definitely! Those sites that you pay for a “background check” use a disclaimer (naturally in the small print) that the information is not guaranteed to be accurate. In fact, even your credit report (from any of the three agencies) is chock full of inaccuracies. They don’t get all their information from JUST creditors. They constantly check out other public records, courtroom documents, liens and judgments not entered into any credit database, etc, and include them in their reports. That’s why tradelines drop off after 10 years, but excellent credit requires 15, 20 years or more of good information. And you can’t get rid of the bad ones because you never get to see them. You can only dispute them if you discover them, and they MAY be removed. But at least you’ll have something documented to offset their negative effects. ---
**Author:** ![Marc\_Xenos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Marc\_Xenos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marc_Xenos)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352/67 "2011-04-26T20:30:13Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I looked up my last name on [whitepages.com](http://whitepages.com), and got 39 results back. Here’s what’s funny - my mom is in the list, my brother, his wife, and my wife… but not me! White Pages only lists people with publicly published phone numbers. Cell phones normally won’t show up. ---
**Author:** ![janineangus-leppan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f19dbf/32.png) [@janineangus-leppan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janineangus-leppan)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352/68 "2012-04-22T15:31:01Z")
my surname is Angus-Leppan and everyone who has that name is my family there are only 3 males left. in total there are only 9 Angus-Leppan’s left in the whole world. It is indeed a very rare surname. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352/69 "2012-04-22T17:41:06Z")
Along my patrilineal line, the name has been changed FOUR times since the early 1800’s, and there is a rumor that there was another change before that but my family has been unable to substantiate that with records. Yes, the existing records are a bit of a mess because not one, but several of us have records under two last names, which is less expected of men in general. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352/70 "2012-04-22T17:43:49Z")
[quote=“Giles, post:15, topic:579352”] My surname is in the top 20, so there’s no risk of us dying out. One spreadsheet gives the top 1,000 with data on race by surname. The top white surnames, by percentage, are Yoder (98% white) …QUOTE] At least in the US, Yoder is _the_ stereotypical Amish last name that you can use e.g. if you want to make a joke about a random Amish person. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352/71 "2012-04-22T17:52:49Z")
I am the only person who has ever lived with my first name and last name. There was one guy, now deceased, with a different spelling of my first name and same last name. My last name doesn’t appear on any of those list sites. I’d guess there are 30 or so of us in the world, all in the US. There are only four in California: me, ex-wife, dad, step-mom. ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352/72 "2012-04-22T18:01:19Z")
My surname is in the ranked about 82,000th. I have yet find anyone born with the name in North Ameirica who isn’t my 4th cousin or closer. Two pockets of families I have corresponded with in Europe both came from the same town as my family did. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352/73 "2012-04-22T18:04:32Z")
Mine family name is not rare at all; it’s in the top 300 for the U.S.A. And that does not include all the variations, which happens even within the people I know I’m related to. ---
**Author:** ![DearestDane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@DearestDane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DearestDane)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352/74 "2012-04-22T19:36:47Z")
My surname is the second most common surname in Denmark. It counts 4.8 % of the Danish population. Denmark is one of those countries where surname statistics are very “top heavy”. The huge majority of us have surnames which are patronymics of the most common boy’s names from the second half of the 19th century. There are a couple of semi-rare family names that it would be easy for me to get legal permission to use. One of them exists in an alternative spelling that counts 22 individuals. A Swedish-Finnish Internet friend has a surname which is a very rare (less than 5 individuals) alternative spelling of a fairly common Swedish name. ---
**Author:** ![DearestDane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@DearestDane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DearestDane)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352/75 "2012-04-22T19:40:07Z")
My surname is the second most common surname in Denmark. It counts 4.8 % of the Danish population. Denmark is one of those countries where surname statistics are very “top heavy”. The huge majority of us have surnames which are patronymics of the most common boy’s names from the second half of the 19th century. There are a couple of semi-rare family names that it would be easy for me to get legal permission to use. One of them exists in an alternative spelling that counts 22 individuals. A Swedish-Finnish Internet friend has a surname which is a very rare (less than 5 individuals) alternative spelling of a fairly common Swedish name. I believe that this is the most rare surname of someone that I personally know. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352/76 "2012-04-22T21:46:42Z")
My surname is rare enough that it doesn’t show up at all in the ranked names from the census bureau. A variation is ranked at 101,654, with an estimated 164 people in the US with the name. That variation is more common in Canada, but it’s still not a common name. ---
**Author:** ![DadWagonDriver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@DadWagonDriver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DadWagonDriver)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352/77 "2012-04-22T22:09:44Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Mine. There are about 30 living people with my surname, in three (apparently unrelated) families in the US. It’s a variant of a name originally from Switzerland which seems not to occur there any more, although there are several hundred people there with the common spelling of the name. We don’t know whether our spelling originated in Switzerland and disappearred there, or whether it was a misspelling acquired when our ancestors emigrated in the 1800s. > > My great-great-grandfather seems to have emigrated to the US without relatives, and we don’t know of any brothers. My great-grandfather, grandfather, and father were the only males in their families who reached adulthood. But I have four brothers, and between them they have six sons (and two grandsons so far) to carry on the name. So right now there are 13 males with the surname in our family, where for many decades there were never more than two. This is very similar to the story of my surname. Of the three males with it in my generation, my brother is the only one to have a son so far, and he got clipped after having one kid. My cousin has two girls, and I have one girl with another due in about 7 weeks. My wife says I get one more shot at a boy (if we decide we want a third child); if I can’t produce some Y sperm, it’s possible that the name will die out within a generation. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352/78 "2012-04-22T23:37:24Z")
My last name according to the census data is the ~41,000 most common; there are just over 500 of us. I’m directly related to about 20 that I know of and a number more that I don’t know of but know at least a few exist. My fiance’s name doesn’t show up on the census data. I searched the White Pages, and I have met all but one of the handful that were found on that list; they’re all directly related. And yet, in certain circles, it’s a well-known name; a few are listed in various articles on Wikipedia. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352/79 "2012-04-23T01:48:30Z")
My married name shows almost 1000, which is surprising to me. My mother’s maiden name doesn’t even shop up; a national White Pages search comes up with 39 instances. My grandfather was an only child, and his two sons have produced no sons to carry on the name. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352/80 "2012-04-23T03:12:23Z")
Piaf of Edith Piaf fame… I’m not coming up with any hits whatsoever. How about Imbruglia? Anybody ever met one? Any takers on Sinise, of Gary Sinise fame? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-surnames/579352.md?page=5)