Ever wondered how popular your surname is, or where in the world it's most prevalent?
Well, a very cool website called Forebears has collated data from various sources including news reports, genealogical sites and other historical references on the web to see where certain names are mentioned most in the world. It's not scientific, but it gives a pretty good summation.
If you take a name like Murphy, for example - a good, strong Irish name - you might expect that it is most prevalent in Ireland. In fact, Forebears has Ireland third in the pecking order, with the name most prevalent in the United States and then England - although it has the highest density in Ireland. That's emigration for ya.
A common name like Smith - which is the 117th most common name in the world, apparently - is also most prevalent in the US, followed by England, then South Africa, then Australia.
Check out the popularity of your own surname here.
