# Why is "West" such a common surname compared to "East," "North," or "South"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 16, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-west-such-a-common-surname-compared-to-east-north-or-south/737717 "2015-11-16T18:01:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [November 20, 2015, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-west-such-a-common-surname-compared-to-east-north-or-south/737717/41 "2015-11-20T12:52:34Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Tangent: > > Are the surnames Norton, Sutton, Easton, and Weston essentially just the compass points plus _-town/-ton_? Also note the English counties of Wessex (West Saxons), Sussex (South Saxons), Essex (East Saxons), and Middlesex (Middle Saxons), relating to ancient Saxon settlements. Why is there no Nossex? Some say that there once was a Nossex, but they died off under mysterious circumstances… In any event, there is a Nor_folk_, i.e. “North Folk” or, more loosely, “North People” or “People of the North”. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-west-such-a-common-surname-compared-to-east-north-or-south/737717/42 "2015-11-20T15:15:04Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > The suggestion is in a previous post - the prosperous and more populated areas of south east of England would have less reasons to give anyone the name North, East or South… But lots of reasons to give someone the name “West”. The hypothesis that the modern frequencies of names has developed randomly is in the nature of a “null hypothesis” in science. In order to reject the null hypothesis, you need to make a fairly convincing case that some definite factor was involved. What you’re proposing is essentially untestable and IMO not very convincing. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-west-such-a-common-surname-compared-to-east-north-or-south/737717/43 "2015-11-20T15:41:29Z")
It’s not really untestable. We just need figures on the frequencies of these names in the 13th-14th centuries. **Lazy** gave us 1881 numbers in post 17. Similar numbers should be available going further back; I just don’t know where to find them. ---
**Author:** ![Lazy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc29f/32.png) [@Lazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazy)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-west-such-a-common-surname-compared-to-east-north-or-south/737717/44 "2015-11-20T22:26:09Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > It’s not really untestable. We just need figures on the frequencies of these names in the 13th-14th centuries. **Lazy** gave us 1881 numbers in post 17. Similar numbers should be available going further back; I just don’t know where to find them. It looks like the most authoritative resource won’t be available for another year or two: > **[Family Names of the United Kingdom (FaNUK) - Research | UWE Bristol](https://www.uwe.ac.uk/research/centres-and-groups/bcl/research/family-names)** > > The Family Names of the United Kingdom (FaNUK) research project at the Bristol Centre for Linguistics. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-west-such-a-common-surname-compared-to-east-north-or-south/737717/45 "2015-11-20T22:43:27Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > It’s not really untestable. We just need figures on the frequencies of these names in the 13th-14th centuries. You could test whether or not frequencies of names have changed over time. However, if the frequencies were different at the start, it would be very difficult to test whether there were “more reasons” to give the name West than others, which is the part of **Isilder’s** proposal I meant was untestable. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-west-such-a-common-surname-compared-to-east-north-or-south/737717/46 "2015-11-21T01:37:22Z")
Also, when people change their names for whatever reason, “West” has positive, hopeful and badass connotations that other directional names kind of don’t. Kind of related: Was Clint Eastwood’s family originally named Oswald? ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-west-such-a-common-surname-compared-to-east-north-or-south/737717/47 "2015-11-21T02:51:36Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I think I once heard of some dude called Williamof? Wikipedia has a [list of people called pink](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_(surname))- but apparently it originally meant small. Rabbi [Lionel Blue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Blue) is quite well known in Britain. After that there’s [this old thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=14987). ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-west-such-a-common-surname-compared-to-east-north-or-south/737717/48 "2015-11-21T03:56:09Z")
[aside] [Southern blotting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_blot) is/was (i’m outa that game so not sure if it’s used anymore) a technique for detecting DNA that was invented by a guy whose last name is Southern. Other techniques using similar principles to detect different things were subsequently invented and given related directional names, e.g. northern blotting, western blotting, as deliberate riffs on the original eponym. Such is the whimsical nature of molecular biologists.[/aside] ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-west-such-a-common-surname-compared-to-east-north-or-south/737717/49 "2015-11-21T04:12:34Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I think I once heard of some dude called Williamof? Not a surname. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-west-such-a-common-surname-compared-to-east-north-or-south/737717.md?page=2)