Monday, September 18, 2006

Wanna know if your surname is local to your area?

Well you can find out at the Surname Profiler project. UCL has been investigating the distribution of surnames in Great Britain - both current and historic, "in order to understand patterns of regional economic development, population movement and cultural identity'. So you can search for your name and find out the geography of your family name from 1998 and 1881 and see where it's most popular. There is also some demographic matching using Mosaic.

I searched for my name and back in 1881 the most popular location for Keegan was Liverpool (no big surprise there with the Irish influx) and in 1998 it was Wigan which is where my Dad is originally from. We're also most prevalant in Rhode Island in the US. Again no big surprise there with all the Irish immigrants heading that way back in the day. It also tells me that the name is most common amongst the 'sharing a staircase' Mosaic group which is way down the pecking order. I'm happy to say, that I don't share a staircase with anyone and nor am I dependent on state benefits!

Try it for yourself here.

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