Your surname: 3 non-specific questions (maybe more)

[Q.N.Jones]

[QUOTE=Zeldar]
1) I’m not asking you to reveal your surname – but if you know its origin, as in which foreign country it first appeared in, can you identify that country?

Sweden.

2) If you know, or can make a reasonable guess, how many generations of ancestors with your surname have lived in your present country?

I am the fourth generation–my father’s father’s father came over from Sweden in the late 1800s.

3) Roughly where does your surname appear on a Surname Frequency list? (such as THIS ONE).

Between 4400-4600.

[kushiel]

1. Ukraine.
2. I’m the 4th that I know of, but I don’t think my line was the first here.
3. Doesn’t show up on any of the US lists, but a quick Google search comes up with a lot of people from Saskatchewan and Alberta, which is to be expected - there are a lot of Eastern European immigrants here.

Amusingly enough, when I google my father’s name, the only results are for a professor in the Ukraine.

[Miss_Purl_McKnittington]

@Zeldar

1. I’m not asking you to reveal your surname – but if you know its origin, as in which foreign country it first appeared in, can you identify that country (or countries)? (If you’re certain that the name originated in the country where you live now, please make that distinction.)

It’s English and apparently derives from Old Norse. It’s origins are somewhere in the vastness of Yorkshire, but my family is from Cornwall. Apparently we had wandering feet at some point prior to the time my ancestors ditched lead mining for dairy farming.

2. If you know, or can make a reasonable guess, how many generations of ancestors with your surname have lived in your present country?

Well, the farm was bought by my ancestors sometime in the 1840s, so presumably six or seven. I’m not sure when they arrived in America, but there were definitely people with the same last name or a variation thereof before the 1840s. There are four or five variations, too, so who knows what bloodlines have comingled.

3. Roughly where does your surname appear on a Surname Frequency list? (such as THIS ONE).

In the high 37,000s. Not surprising, really. Most of the people I know of with my name are either related to me, related-but-don’t-tell-anyone, or in England and found via Google.

[Fern_Forest]

Most likely English. We came over in the 17th or 16th century so anywhere from 6 to 12 generations.

We’re #2

[Colibri]

1. My surname is of Swiss origin, but as far as I know nobody in Switzerland has it. It is a misspelling (we dropped a letter off the end) and the surname only exists in the US (at least now).

2. My surname has been in the US for 5 generations, since at least 1865, when my great-great-grandfather enlisted in the Union cavalry.

3. As far as I know, there are only 3 unrelated families, and probably fewer than 30 individuals (16 of them in my family), with my surname in the world.

[Ms_Macphisto]

1. Irish in origin, but my father’s family has been in Scotland for as far back as anyone is aware of

2. Three generations have lived in Canada, I’m in the first generation born here

3. Around 1000

[Hilarity_N.Suze]

Married name: French, 7 generations, in the 9000s on that list.

Maiden name: English/9 generations/We’re Number One!

[Wile_E]

@mkl12

1. German

2. I’m still in Germany so the name has been here for many generations.

3. It’s in the top 500 in your list and in the top 20 in Germany.

I think we may have the same last name.

1 & 3 above also apply to me.

2. I live in the USA and my ancestor came over here in the 1600’s, before it was even the USA, so several generations (don’t make me count).

[meenie7]

1. It’s British…my particular ancestors came to the U.S. from Cranbrook in Kent.

2. My surname has been in the U.S. since at least 1645 or so, when my ancestors came over and settled in Massachusetts.

3. It’s in the 10,000s some place on that list.

[Mississippienne]

I was born out of wedlock, so this is sort of a tricky question. Do I go with my legal last name, which has naught to do with my ancestry? My mother’s maiden name? My biological father’s name?

Mother’s Maiden Surname

1. Scots-Irish
2. Furthest recorded ancestor with this surname died in Virginia in 1804. He may have been an emigrant, or the child of emigrants. There are lots of unrelated families with this name, even in my home state.
3. Appears around the mid-2700s.

Bio Father’s Surname

1. Scots-Irish
2. Furthest recorded ancestor was born in 1770 South Carolina. Most people with this surname are related to me, however there appear to be a couple of independent families.
3. Appears around 50500.

[jimbeam]

Scots/Irish of Gaelic origin

in this country since mid 1700’s (8 or 9 generations)

low 800’s

[ouryL]

1] My name is Okinawan(southern Japanese) meaning a citizen from a city in Okinawa.

2] Two, not counting mine.

3] Not in the list.

[js_africanus]

@Zeldar

1. I’m not asking you to reveal your surname – but if you know its origin, as in which foreign country it first appeared in, can you identify that country (or countries)? (If you’re certain that the name originated in the country where you live now, please make that distinction.)

2. If you know, or can make a reasonable guess, how many generations of ancestors with your surname have lived in your present country?

3. Roughly where does your surname appear on a Surname Frequency list? (such as THIS ONE).

As an example, mine is either English, Irish or German; there have been at least 7 generations in the USA with my surname; and it ranks in the top 1500 on the linked list.

If you have additional questions about surnames, feel free to add to this thread’s questions.

1. It’s a city in England.

2. Late 19th C.

3. Between 650 & 750. I have the same name, first name & surname, as a former Mayor of Dublin, Ireland.

[Crotalus]

1. German. The name is widespread in Germany, my ancestors came from Alsace.
2. Seven generations.
3. Between 10,500 and 11,000 on that list.

[An_Arky]

1. French

2. 11th generation in the US.

3. Between 3500-4000 on the list linked.

[An_Arky]

@An Arky

2. 11th generation in the US.

:smack: I’m the 10th generation born in the US, 11th only if you count the guy who emigrated here in 1700. Plus, it wasn’t the US until about 5 generations in, so… duh! [/nitpick]

[Clothahump]

@Zeldar

1. I’m not asking you to reveal your surname – but if you know its origin, as in which foreign country it first appeared in, can you identify that country (or countries)? (If you’re certain that the name originated in the country where you live now, please make that distinction.)

2. If you know, or can make a reasonable guess, how many generations of ancestors with your surname have lived in your present country?

3. Roughly where does your surname appear on a Surname Frequency list? (such as THIS ONE).

As an example, mine is either English, Irish or German; there have been at least 7 generations in the USA with my surname; and it ranks in the top 1500 on the linked list.

If you have additional questions about surnames, feel free to add to this thread’s questions.

Our family geneology shows our first ancestor in the US arriving approximately 1632 or so. He came over from England and first shows up on the tax roles of Plymouth Colony in 1633. My understanding is that current geneological work is still going on, and it appears that we may have come to England from Holland, but that is not confirmed yet.

I am the tenth generation and will be the last in my branch, as I have no children.

The surname shows on your frequency list in the 751-1000 range.

[Sattua]

My surname originated in Liechtenstein, but the spelling was Dutchified a couple of hundred years ago.

I am the fourth generation with my surname to live in this country.

Your frequency list crashed my browser, but my name is extremely rare. The only people who have it in this country are the descendants of my own ancestor and a couple of his cousins.

[Pandora]

@Zeldar

1. I’m not asking you to reveal your surname – but if you know its origin, as in which foreign country it first appeared in, can you identify that country (or countries)? (If you’re certain that the name originated in the country where you live now, please make that distinction.).

It’s germanic… probably from the southren Rhine valley, although exactly where it originated, and what country that particular region is in now, may be open for debate

@Zeldar

2. If you know, or can make a reasonable guess, how many generations of ancestors with your surname have lived in your present country?

For my direct line, it dates to the late 18th century here in the US (my patrilinear ancestor who came with the name, was a Hessian prisioner of war who apparently chose to stay after the revolution ended). I don’t know off the top of my head how many generations it’s been, but a fair number

@Zeldar

3. Roughly where does your surname appear on a Surname Frequency list?

Ranks round about 12000 here in the US… I have no idea what the ranking might be in other countries.

[Dinsdale]

1. Polish.
2. A long time. The most recent ancestors were Irish potato famine escapees back in the 1870s or so. The polacks were here far before that.
3. 45,000 and change. Not all that uncommon as far as Polish names go. Couple of pages in the Warsaw phone book.