Anyway, I got a note about this from Kelso's Corner, which referenced a BBC America Article published August 30. The article:
Website maps surnames worldwide
There are more Beckhams in the United States than BritainA website which maps global surnames has been launched to help people find the origins of their name and how far it may have spread.The Public Profiler site plots eight million last names using data from electoral rolls and phone directories.
The site covers 300 million people in 26 countries, showing the origins of names and where families have moved to.
David Beckham, for example, has an English name, but there are more Beckhams in the US than Britain.
But the region of the world with the highest concentration of people called Beckham was even further from the footballer's east London origins - in the New Zealand province of Northland.
The site - www.publicprofiler.org/worldnames - also reveals which of the five million forenames are most closely associated with different surnames and lists the top regions and cities for each surname.
It was developed by a team of geographers from University College London.
A name is now not just a statement of who you are but where you are
Professor Paul Longley
Professor Paul Longley, one of the researchers, said: "The information is not just historical but geographical.
"We can link names to places - a name is now not just a statement of who you are but where you are."
Most surnames originated in specific places in the world and remain most frequent in those areas, but have often spread to other countries because of migration, the research showed.
Searches for Britain's three multi-gold medallists at the recent Olympics and the leaders of the three main political parties revealed some mixed results.
• Swimmer Rebecca Adlington's surname is most prevalent in New Zealand
• Cyclist Chris Hoy's surname is Irish but more common in Denmark
• Cyclist Bradley Wiggins's surname is most popular in the US
• Prime Minister Gordon Brown's surname tops the list in Australia
• Conservative leader David Cameron's surname is most prevalent in New Zealand
• Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg's surname is still most common in Britain
Prof Longley said that the site was currently struggling to cope with demand.
"We are being deluged with requests and we ask people to be patient. There is obviously a lot of interest in family names and family history globally," he said.
I thought, "oh how fun!" and popped over to http://www.publicprofiler.org/worldnames/. I started by typing in "Bryan" my maiden name. I found that the surname is most widely found in the UK, then in the US. I drilled down to Missouri in the US and found that Ray, Livingston, Mercer, Cooper, and Howell counties has the most Bryans. And the top forenames are Susan, Margaret, Sarah, Carol, and Patrick.
Next up, "Everson" my mother's surname. It is most prevalent in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the UK, then the US. Who'da thunk it? It is also more prevalent in Kansas than in Missouri (Mom moved away and adopted a married surname, hmmm).
I rounded my little test out with entering "Horgan" as my final surname. Lo and behold! It is most popular (by a landslide, by George) in Ireland? Here's the breakdown:
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The distribution across Massachusetts is mainly in the central and eastern areas, with Michael as the second most popular forename.
What do your family origins look like?
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