Until
now it's been hard to know what a surname says about someone.
But a website has been launched that maps more than
25,000 surnames across Britain, highlighting areas of concentration.
Anyone can tap in their name and with the click of a mouse
glimpse a profile of how others who share their name are
distributed around the country.
So, for example, while it's no secret that there's a small
cluster of Blairs residing at a prestigious address in central
London, the surname is most concentrated on the west coast
of Scotland, particularly Argyllshire and Ayrshire.
The site is the result of a year-long study aimed at understanding
patterns of regional economic development, population movement
and cultural identity, says Professor Paul Longley, who led
the project. It maps the distribution of surnames from the
1998 electoral register and does the same against the 1881
census, making it possible to see how surnames moved around
the country during the last century.
Between the 13th Century, when surnames originated in Britain,
and the end of the 19th Century "not a lot happened" says
Prof Longley. People tended to stay rooted in the part of
the country where they were born. Prof Longley hopes the
surname site, which has been funded by the Economic and Social
Research Council, will tap into the current trend for examining
family histories.
So for all you amateur genealogists or curious individuals
such as my self check out www.spatial-literacy.org
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