Does having an unusual family name get people started in family history?

[Mart 'n' Al]

I notice here and elsewhere that I come across a lot of unusual names, and wondered which comes first, an interest in an unusual or just being inquisitive.  I can't even answer for myself.  I was interested as a ten year old, 50 years ago, to discover that my grandfather's middle name was Sedcole, and his wife's maiden name was Loughborough.  However, I've always been interested in all sorts of stuff.  Eighteen months ago I decided to finally explore both names, and discovered a whole new world (including Rootschat!), including the fact that they were actually my GREAT grandparents, and they had managed to deceive many people by bringing up their daughter's (legitimate) child (eventually my father) as their own child.  I now know more about those two branches of the family than my ancestors ever did !

So, do odd names get people started on genealogy, more than common names do, pro rata in some way?

Martin

[ThrelfallYorky]

With one comparatively unusual surname, all tracing back to one specific, quite small area of the country, and mostly hatched, matched and despatched at the same church, I thought it'd be very easy .... and it was so for about 400 years.
Sadly, all the rest of them were fairly common names, and simply wouldn't stay still, but kept dashing around all over the place, and giving all their offspring only a very few different names.... or, of course, coming from Ireland, which put a complete stop to them.
Not fair.

[WhiskyMac]

No unusual family name(s) for me .......

But, my Mum was in close contact with an adopted 'Cousin' on my Father's side.

This was in the good old days of letter writing (snail mail). He had taken an interest in the family and
through visits to the county record office established a family tree all hand written in a foolscap notebook.

I used to take my Mum to visit him and as time went by with advancing age he said to me 'Please take this,
my daughter is not interested.' From that I felt he wanted me to pursue his endeavours even further if I could.

So here I am having added many branches to that tree........ what a wonderful journey it has been.

Not to mention that it's good to have websites like Rootschat to help or help others on their own personal
quest.

 

[carol8353]

My maiden name was a fairly common name,but my grandad had the middle name Mockridge.
I soon found out that was his mother's maiden name,and that sparked my interest.

Carol

[Liviani]

It was the case for me yes. My own surname is extremely common but going back a couple of generations is where the interesting name started.

My paternal grandmother's maiden name was Sheret. None of the family really knew anything about the name or where it had come from. There were some rumours a few years ago that it was initially French. Have found no evidence of this at all though.

In the 19thC it was only really found in a couple of areas of the UK. NE Scotland and NE England. It has various forms in different records. Some sites state that it's a variant of Sherwood. I'm not sure though.

I've since come across another even more uncommon name through my maternal line; Stronner/Stroner.  It seems extremely rare and uncommon with only a handful of families in Scotland.

[jim1]

Sread. didn't believe it at first & no idea where it originated but it led to a Chelsea Pensioner who was a career soldier & over 6 feet tall which in 1814 is unusual in itself.
Certainly the most unusual name I've ever come across.

[Gillg]

I thought my Fairey family's history would be easy to trace, since in addition to having an unusual name (I've never met any that weren't from my close family) they came from a tiny village in   Huntingdonshire, one of England's smallest counties.

No such luck!  There were also Faireys in the neighbouring counties of Cambs, Beds and even Northants.  I've since "met" quite a few of my newly discovered relatives, four of them actually in person, which was great, because they filled in many gaps for me.  We all stop at the same brick wall - our joint direct ancestor William Fair(e)y, baptised 1776 in Gt. Catworth, Hunts, illegitimate son of Sarah Fairy.  It doesn't seem likely that we shall ever get any further back after years of trying.

[Annette7]

My maiden name was Grist and we were the only family of that name in my hometown which initially sparked my interest plus my paternal grandmother was Scopes so 2 unusual names for me.

Annette

[Redroger]

With 2000 instances of my surname in the world, and around 500 in the UK, so about 1,000 males in total I think I am qualified to answer. I knew the name was uncommon, but I didn't know it was that rare. The relative scarcity was certainly a major factor in my research, plus a story (comfirmed) of a 19th century highway robber who was transported to Australia in 1832. Grandfather's uncle as a matter of fact.