most uncommon surnames in your tree

[Mart 'n' Al]

One of my research names is Loughborough, and I have over 30 different spellings of it. The main problem with the name is that anything I search for seems to find places related to the town. My 2 most unusual variants are Loveburrow and Lickbarrow.

They do conjuror vivid images.

Martin

[bevj]

Sallybank/Sallabank
Sheepwash
Johncock
Goodgroom
Wildgoose

I also have a distant female cousin who emigrated to Utah and married a man with the surname Hickenlooper.

Bev

[coombs]

Often the rare surnames seem to have many variants.

I have a Teagoe in my tree and it has a number of variants.

[Treetotal]

Noseworthy

Carol, I have a Noseworthy (Canadian) although not direct line.

Annie

Mine are St. John's Nfld. Also not a direct line. 

Carol

[pinefamily]

Martin, if you think you have problems searching Loughborough, you should try Pine in a search engine. When searching the historical directories site, I would get every parish that had pine pews in their churches, and anything else made of pine. 
I agree that sometimes the rarer surnames have the more extreme variants. I'm not sure if that's due to uncertainty over spelling.
And as for surnames, you should try Swedish research; the surname changes with every generation with their patronymic surnames.
Dowdeswell, Sando,  and Kempster are three rarer names in my direct lines.

[lmfamilyresearch]

I have Dumper (England, though not a direct line) and Tosheosh (Scotland)

[andrewalston]

Wildgoose

I have Wildgoose on the fringes of my tree. There's a website dedicated to the name:

 http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~willgooseweb/genealogy/

[barryd]

FREAK and variants. Free BMD starts the name off in Bethnal Green, London in September 1837. It gets into Weardale County Durham in 1845 with an Ann Freak and it stays in County Durham and links up with me there.

[Rosinish]

Noseworthy

Carol, I have a Noseworthy (Canadian) although not direct line.

Mine are St. John's Nfld. Also not a direct line. 

Small world indeed!

My 2nd cousin (still alive) born Scarborough, Toronto & his father b c1911 Newfoundland but died Scarborough i.e. if you think there may be a connection feel free to PM me for details.
Noseworthy is the 'marry-in' in my family hence only having the father who married my fathers' 1st cousin & their son with no descendants I know of.

Annie