Is your surname common or rare

AllForIt

It occurred to me today, for some unknown random reason, I've never met a person with the same surname as me. Either though work, socially or just about anywhere. Either here in Ireland or abroad.

Is that rare or common enough?

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058262299/is-your-surname-common-or-rare

So your entire family tree disappeared at birth?

In the village where I grew up there was three of us with the same first and last name. I lived closest to the post office and in accordance with their rules all mail that was not obviously for the older guy came to me! As I got older it became less obvious so we agreed - the old guy kept the name, I added a middle letter and the mother of the kid decided on using his Irish name.

Where I live now, I’m the only one in the country with my first and last name and everyone else with the family name are my relatives.

AllForIt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119582499#Comment_119582499

So your entire family tree disappeared at birth?

I didn't think I needed to state 'outside of family relations/tree' because that's just obvious in what I was getting at. Obviously my parents have the same surname as I do.

Thanks for your further input though, interesting.

Vic_08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058262299/is-your-surname-common-or-rare

So when you applied for a gmail account was your firstnamesurname@g... taken?

Lewis_Benson

Not many of us about these parts.

Metalpanic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058262299/is-your-surname-common-or-rare

Funny seeing this. I have an unusual surname too and have been digging into the family tree and where it might have come from. It is interesting reading. Very often the unusual ones are forced anglicisation of old Irish names or spelling errors in translation.

anplaya27

Only family with my surname in Ireland. So rare enough.

frash

Mine is Cash

There's a fair few of us about

Common enough; we nearly all took the soup it seems.

Irish Stones

My surname is quite rare in my country, and apart from family, I only met another person with my surname in my entire life.

Nonetheless, my surname-name has a few accounts on FB, and this upsets me.

On the other side, I would like to see the face of my HR's if and when they browse such accounts to see if I'm a viable employee and see that none of them is me.

mojesius

Mine in rare enough. Anyone in Ireland with my surname would be all direct descendants of a couple who moved here from UK in 1850s and there aren't that many of us.

My surname is of Norman origin but was anglicised at some point.

corner of hells

Five of us with the surname in the country , my wife , kids and some bloke I've never met. There could be more but can't find any.

My wives maiden name is an unusual one too.

Ray Palmer

Rare surname here with pretty much anybody I meet in Ireland with the surname turns out to be a relative. It is also like another unusual name but people are used to that name as it is spelt and pronounced like a familiar word. Always have to spell my name and correct people on how to pronounce it.

It gives one a different prospective on people about how people aren't paying attention. You tell somebody your name, spell it out and they then proceed to write something else down. You correct them and they start getting confused as if you told them 2 different names.

My first name is Irish and known here yet people also get that wrong and replace it with a female name with the same letters. Used to be able to cash cheques made out to another name because so many companies misspell it and the bank got used to it.

Pretty annoying to have to correct anybody several times on your name and also your gender. Once a company in the USA that I was ordering something off didn't show shipping costs to Ireland so I sent an email. About 5 emails from them with them confusing my name, gender and country by them being confused that Ireland was not in the UK. I very gently corrected them on the first response but by the 5th I was really annoyed that they didn't read the emails. The boss came on and was very apologetic and proceeded to get my name wrong again but sent me the item for free. Arrived with the wrong name but different from all others 😪

Gregor Samsa

Mine is very common. 100% of the people in my house have it.

mohawk

Surname is rare enough. In big multinational at work there are a couple of us with same surname. This multinational is based in same county as where surname originated. When I was in Dublin there was never anyone with same surname as me no matter how big company I worked for was.

stooge

I have never met anyone with my surname socially or professionally. There is one political leader abroad with the same name though.

Definitely, in our county the name is unique but not in ireland.

Lisha

My maiden name is one of the most popular in Ireland. My married name is very unusual in Ireland. Slightly more common in UK and Australia.

mcmoustache

Mine's very common along the Connemara coast between Bearna and Cárna but very rare otherwise. I had a look at the surname distribution map (https://www.barrygriffin.com/surname-maps/irish/) based on 1901/1911 census data and it confirms it. It's like they bred like rabbits but never moved anywhere.

Grayson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058262299/is-your-surname-common-or-rare

The only people in Ireland that have my name are related to me. And even worldwide, it's not that common. I do a search for my first name / last name combo on google and there's two of us.

Someday soon there will be one. 😡

miamee

Surname is fairly common here and in the UK, I used to think my first name was unusual until I went to secondary school and there were 2 other girls with the same first name in my class lol. I have a google alert set up for my name as i work online, it pops up occasionally but there are also some younger wans with the same first and last name now and I get their notifications for their matches, fashion design, science projects...feckin overachievers, lol.

freshpopcorn

My surname is common enough in my area. There is also a rugby player with it. However people I met else where tell me it's uncommon.

Nigel Fairservice

Mine would be pretty common, especially in Munster. I like the way a name can nearly tie someone to a place in Ireland. If I heard the surnames Codd or Colfer I'd immediately think of Wexford. That kind of thing.

Common as muck. There are Anglo-Norman and Irish origins for it too ... impossible to tell which one.

Sephiroth_dude

Very common surname, especially in West Cork/Kerry.

AgnesCalhoun1

The forebears.io/surnames website is useful for seeing distribution of a surname per country

corner of hells

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119583109#Comment_119583109

It's Putin , isn't it .

NiceFella

Yep mine quite uncommon.

I've a Funny thought on this. Maybe uncommon surnames have a genetic disposition toward having female offspring?

This would be true of my entire family tree with my surname. In a relatively big family of cousins only two boys. 😆

Would this be true of others?

kingtut

Mine is very rare, we are not aware of anyone else in Ireland with the same surname (there are some people in the UK and Australia with it though)

lawred2

Relatively rare

completedit

It's not common on an Irish wide but there's quite a few with my surname but I never encountered any just randomly, just come across the surname on work systems and stuff. It used to feel rarer when I was younger but when I saw some guy with the exact same name as me in the UCD exam hall I was like okay there must be parts of the country where its more prevalent.

cj maxx

My surname is the most common in my area over several counties

Pherekydes

Extremely common. There's literally billions of us. Most are insects, though. 🦗 🤣

Dial Hard

Mine is relatively uncommon. There was never anyone else in my school (apart from my siblings) with it and I never worked anywhere where there was another of us either, until last year when I was seconded to a client where someone literally had the exact same first and last name as me, which was a bit bizarre.

I also have an Irish first name that isn't super common, without being one of those unpronounceable, archaic ones. For Irish people, anyway. I work in an industry where I deal with a lot of international clients and they really struggle with it. I have to do a bit of a Saoirse-rhymes-with-inertia on it. Not saying what it rhymes with though or everyone will know what it is straightaway!

Graces7

I have changed mine; twice, for very different reasons. The first time in the Uk there were serious legalities involved; the second time here very simple. And I never thought about others with the same surname.

fineso.mom

My maiden name is not particularly common but my married name is very uncommon here. It's common enough in England. Have never met anyone with the same surname here. When my children started in a Gaelscoil the principal made up an Irish version of the name,which meant they were alphabetically at the start of name lists, whereas in English they would be down at the bottom.

As with many rural areas though, since I live in the same place I was born my neighbours still refer to me by my maiden name. I still get some letters in my maiden name thirty years after marrying.

Rare. Confined mostly to one corner of rural Ireland. Although because of it being rural Ireland, good few of emigrant stock have it in the US, Britain and Australia. When Facebook was new, I'd get friend requests from people abroad with the name. Remember when Facebook was used as kind of a family tree thing.

Galwayguy35

Ye all must have very unusual surnames, no Burkes, Murphys or O Connors on this thread it seems.

Mine is common over this side of the country anyway.

laoisgem

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119583488#Comment_119583488

There were only 4 people in Ireland with my surname in 1901, compared to 11 in 1911. I've never met anyone not related to me with my surname.

Purple Mountain

My surname is pretty uncommon, anyone around this part of the county would probably be a relative.

We haven't really moved beyond Munster.

Once I was in a bar near London and got chatting to a guy who told me his dad was Irish.

I asked him what their surname was, it was same as mine! He wouldn't believe me until I showed him my passport.

He got emotional because the dad was dead and was actually originally from a town in my county. He had never met anyone in England with his surname before.

We exchanged emails and chatted for a while after.

Mam of 4

@Purple Mountain, that's lovely.

Mine I assume is very common. My maiden name probably common enough too . Just like myself 🙂

Leg End Reject

Nothing exotic about either my first or second name, I feel very mundane now seeing some of you with your fancy names.

AllForIt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119582692#Comment_119582692

No it was not, my gmail, my primary email, is firstnamesurname@gmail , No dashes/underscores/numbers. Although I did get my gmail earlier than most, via a link from a friend who sent me an invite to open a gmail account. Little did I know it would become my primary mail account for so long since.

Dial Hard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119586358#Comment_119586358

W that became a Bh?

AllForIt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119582966#Comment_119582966

My first name is Irish and known here yet people also get that wrong and replace it with a female name with the same letters. Used to be able to cash cheques made out to another name because so many companies misspell it and the bank got used to it.

Ha! I get that as well. I got peeded of getting letters addressed to Ms/Mrs when I moved abroad that I deiced to go by my second name instead, which I much prefer anyway

AllForIt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119585887#Comment_119585887

UCD exam halls are so massive the chances someone with the same name as you being present must be high :D

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119582858#Comment_119582858

We may have the same surname.

Can you spell it two different ways?

gary550

Weird surname that most people can't pronounce correctly. Can be spelt multiple ways with also does not help.

Dealing with business over the phone can be interesting, I can't recall anyone ever getting it right without me having spelt it first.

Funnily enough I got a clatter of follow requests on instagram years ago from a few young-ones who live the other side of the country that also share the same surname as me, they were all related to each other so I'd assume they got a bit of amusement at finding other people who also share the same odd surname.

retalivity

Mine is pretty uncommon, im from a rural gaeltacht but the name came from England in the 1700s apparently, however it doesnt appear to be especially popular over there either. Never met anyone else with the same name except close family members. That said, there are a few famous american athletes with the same surname, I'll claim them as cousins

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119587693#Comment_119587693

very similar to my story, minus the Gaeltacht and the American cousins...

mojesius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119587652#Comment_119587652

Yes but the other spelling is less of a surname. More like a well-known term

padd b1975

Rare.