The Origin of your Surname

[Loyalist]

From what group does your surname originate? How common is the name in your land of origin? Please feel free to share the meaning as well, if you wish to do so.

My surname is Scottish, although it is a typically (and common) English name. Most sources indicate it was introduced to the Lowlands by Anglo-Saxon settlers, although I've also seen explanations for Norman and Gaelic origins, the latter stating it is an Anglicization of a habitational surname from a village in Fife. In any case, it means maker of barrels.

Here is its present distribution in the United Kingdom:

[Birka]

My surname is very uncommon. I think there is only 1 other family with the name in the US using google and various search sites.

It was slightly changed here when my grandfather came from Lithuania in 1912, only 1 letter dropped off the end, but that changed the pronunciation. Just realized that in 3 years, my family will have been here for 100 years.

[SwordoftheVistula]

Germanic, originally from northern Germany.

[Psychonaut]

My surname is French, but due to its origin is very rare. It was originally a Spanish surname that my paternal ancestor from the Canary Islands brought to Louisiana in the early 1700s. To integrate into French society he altered the surname to its current French form.

The French form is found in France and the US at very low levels (18 and 12 FPM), while the original Spanish form is exceedingly rare and only occurs in Spain at 0.1 FPM.

[Æmeric]

My surname is Welsh. This is it's frequency in Britain in 1881:

The frequency of my mother's maiden name in Germany at the present:

[Heimmacht]

Germanic, It is a very common Dutch name, according to the world name profiler it is German. My last name means the same as my nickname here on TA.

[Gooding]

My surname, Gooding, is Old English.It's most common in the Southwest, especially in Somerset.I tagged my mother's maiden name, McDonald, onto my own recently.It was originally McDonnell, of Gaelic Irish origin.It's common in Ulster and the southwestern Highlands of Scotland.

[Loki]

Oh yes, my mother's maiden name is of Danish origin, from the south near the German border.

[Ulf]

All the names I've found in my family tree have German/ic origins, I've yet to find one that isn't, but that doesn't mean there aren't any of other origin...

[Jägerstaffel]

My surname's origin is Anglo Saxon.

My mother's surname was Scottish/Gaelic primarily from Northern Scotland.

Most of the other surnames in my family are either Nordic or Germanic, from different sources.