For only the second time in my life....

[Bretrick]

I saw my surname roll by in the credits of a television show.
Being of Irish descent, most ended up in the US of A.
The spelling of my surname is rated at 164,554 most common in the world.
There are 2,333 people with this name in the US.
147 in England
75 in Australia
50 in Canada

 

[OldOld]

Biden?

 

[Rakaia]

I share a surname with a certain ex POTUS, my brother in Minneapolis got death threats on the phone.

 

[fuzzybuddy]

Here, in the US, I have a rare surname. But in Canada, and especially around Montreal, it's a common name. There are statues and towns named after people with my surname, as well as biker gang bosses.

 

[hollydolly]

I've had my name on TV credits quite often, and my husband thousands of times, and still a few times a week now, because he 's still making tv shows..


I share a surname with a very famous literary Character

 

[Nathan]

My surname is in the top most common, but my mother's maiden name is unique, with virtually every person in the world with it being some sort of relative.

 

[Rae]

I thought my surname was not that common but now I see it everywhere, even some famous people.

 

[Marcy Sheiner]

I've had my name on TV credits quite often, and my husband thousands of times, and still a few times a week now, because he 's still making tv shows..


I share a surname with a very famous literary Character

@hollydolly I asked you in another thread some time ago if you'd worked in television. Now I gather you did. Can you provide details? I'm just curious.

 

[Della]

My maiden name is 7th place in the United States at 1,166,120 people.

My married name is in 11343 place at only 2,781 in the U. S.

 

[MoBeans]

I never see mine roll by....
2,661,929'th most common surname in the world
Approximately 53 people in the world bear this surname
Add in my unusual first and middle name and I am most likely unique (although it doesn't sound like it would be)

My only claim to fame was in the early 2000's if you put my first name into Google search my picture came up first. Then they added a few hundred million images and I completely disappeared

 

[Naturally]

My last name isn't uncommon ... I don't think. My ancestors with the name were said to have emigrated from England.
SOooo when I've visited England, I asked some Brits if they knew anyone with that last name.
Nope, they knew of no one with that name. One said, maybe in Wales.
... guess we all left

 

[Teacher Terry]

I’ve had 4 surnames and one was uncommon and one so rare less than 20 people have it in the USA. I have went back to the most common one.

 

[hollydolly]

@hollydolly I asked you in another thread some time ago if you'd worked in television. Now I gather you did. Can you provide details? I'm just curious.

what kind of details?... I was a researcher in TV production...my husband is head of studio at the BBC...

 

[hollydolly]

I’ve had 4 surnames and one was uncommon and one so rare less than 20 people have it in the USA. I have went back to the most common one.

Did you have to constantly spell it ?

 

[hollydolly]

My last name isn't uncommon ... I don't think. My ancestors with the name were said to have emigrated from England.
SOooo when I've visited England, I asked some Brits if they knew anyone with that last name.
Nope, they knew of no one with that name. One said, maybe in Wales.
... guess we all left

now you've got me curious....

 

[hollydolly]

My maiden name is a typical Scottish surname, originated in Scotland as well, and is very common now throughout the western world... ..and it's not Mac anything...

 

[Flarbalard]

Twice is pretty good, most people never hear their sir name mentioned in that sort of context, ever in their lifetime.

 

[Timewise 60+]

My last name is Scottish also. Does your surname start with a C ?

 

[Teacher Terry]

Did you have to constantly spell it ?

I had to always spell 2 of them and no one could pronounce it correctly. I was happy to go back to the easy name.

 

[hollydolly]

My last name is Scottish also. Does your surname start with a C ?

who me ?.... no... are you thinking of Campbell or Cameron ?.. nope.. but my mums name was campbell

 

[Timewise 60+]

who me ?.... no... are you thinking of Campbell or Cameron ?.. nope.. but my mums name was campbell

I was thinking of Campbell...I just checked and it is on the list of the most common Scottish names...
The list my PC gave me was...
Most Common Scottish Surnames

Smith
Brown
Wilson
Campbell
Thomson
Robertson

 

[hollydolly]

I was thinking of Campbell...I just checked and it is on the list of the most common Scottish names...
The list my PC gave me was...
Most Common Scottish Surnames

Smith
Brown
Wilson
Campbell
Thomson
Robertson

yes apparently so now....traditional names seem to be dying out at least in Scotland... maybe people marrying out of their name and or emigrating, and the incomers not Scottish born.


This the recent list from the National Records of Scotland

Rank	Surname	Occurrences in 2024
1	Smith	1,832
2	Brown	1,289
3	Wilson	1,179
4	Robertson	1,054
5	Stewart	1,052
6	Campbell	1,017
7	Thomson	988
8	Anderson	925
9	Murray	748
10	Scott	737
11	Reid	730
12	Taylor	724
13	Macdonald	702
14	Clark	611
15	Young	588
16	Mitchell	568
17	Walker	567
18	Ross	551
19	Morrison	539
20	Watson	539

 

[hollydolly]

Despite the top names keeping their high ranks over the years, they have all decreased in occurrences since 1975. The top three names have decreased by 887 occurrences for Smith, 681 occurrences for Brown, and 707 occurrences for Wilson between 1975 and 2024. Similarly, the decrease in occurrences since 2000 has been 372, 178, and 259 for the top 3 names respectively.


The names which have risen most since 1975 and 2000 reflect Scotland’s growing diversity. Khan was the fastest rising name from 1975 to 2024, going from 17 occurrences in 1975 to 160 in 2024. The name was also fastest rising from 2000-2024, with occurrences rising from 61 in 2000.


Ali was the joint 900th most common name in birth, marriage and death registers in 1975, but rose to 112th most common in 2024.


Other names that rose by 50 or more occurrences between 1975 and 2024 were Ahmed, Singh, Kaur, Jones, Davies, Hussain, and Ahmad.

 

[oscash]

On checking the lineage of our family tree, we were all Kelly on my father's side but someone in the family said is should have been O'Kelly. Even my Christian name was spelt 2 different ways on my birth certificate, and passport. I think going back all those years people didn't check spellings. Where I live now the most popular surname was Smith, now within 10 years it's Patel.

 

[Marcy Sheiner]

what kind of details?... I was a researcher in TV production...my husband is head of studio at the BBC...

That is pretty much what I meant. Thanks for responding.
My mother worked in the NYC office of BBC for about 8 years. She loved the people and they loved her--after my father died she left to move to Florida, and they threw her a she-bang of a party, even issued a press release saying how much they'd miss her.