Author Topic: Germany: Distribution and frequency of surnames  (Read 14474 times)

Offline Berlin-Bob

  • Moderator
  • RootsChat Marquessate
  • ********
  • Posts: 7,443
    • View Profile
Germany: Distribution and frequency of surnames
« on: Sunday 08 March 09 10:59 GMT (UK) »
There are several sites showing distribution and frequency of surnames in Germany.

Most of these are based on the german telphone books, so there is the problem there that
a) only one person per family will be registered
b) some will be ex-directory and won't show up here

But the same applies for all surnames, so these should at least give a relative idea of frequencies and distributions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://nachname.gofeminin.de/w/nachnamen/deutschland.html
Either use the alphabetic register, or enter your name in the search box, top left
Ihren Nachnamen suchen : and click on OK

You may get this message:
Quote
Leider blieb Ihre Suche ohne Ergebnis, denn uns stehen für diesen Namen nicht genug Daten zur Verfügung (Name inexistent oder weniger als 300 Personen).
This means: no results, because not enough data available i.e. name doesn't exist, or there are less than 300 people with this name.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.verwandt.de/karten/
again, either use the alphabetic register or enter your name in
Karte zum Namen and click on Suchen


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://christoph.stoepel.net/geogen/v3/
Enter your name in the box where it say Nachname eingeben and click on Kartieren

Example: Kneller
Results:
Quote
Relative Darstellung für kneller
Wenn man die Bevölkerungsdichte verrechnet, findet man die meisten knellers in/im Landkreis Kaiserslautern (RP), nämlich 108 Anschlüsse pro Million Einwohner. Fast verschwunden ist die Familie aus Landkreis Region Hannover, hier treten pro Million Einwohner die wenigsten auf.

Absolute Karte für kneller
Die meisten knellers findet man in/ im Landkreis Karlsruhe (BW), nämlich genau 20 Telefonanschlüsse. Etwas länger suchen muss man dagegen in/ im Donnersbergkreis, hier wohnen die wenigsten: gerade einmal 1. (Beachten Sie, dass Metropolen diese Lokalisierung verfälschen können)

Statistik sortiert nach Bundesländern
Finden Sie heraus, wie die Einträge über Bundesländer verteilt sind. Über die Diagrammdarstellung können Sie auch Häufungen ermitteln. Die unterschiedliche Größe der Bundesländer wird bei dieser Darstellung nicht berücksichtigt.

Here you get a bit more information. Hopefully, you will recognise the place names and numbers. If you click on the first two links (underlined, above) you will get maps and %-ages, the third link is a table according to Federal States.
Any UK Census Data included in this post is Crown Copyright (see: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk)

Offline griz

  • RootsChat Veteran
  • *****
  • Posts: 576
    • View Profile
Re: Germany: Distribution and frequency of surnames
« Reply #1 on: Friday 13 March 09 05:58 GMT (UK) »
Thanks Berlin Bob, :) that was interesting. On a quick search I found that the  German name I was curious about was quite a rare one, and had  a higher concentration in Ostalbkries,  which was not the area the relative  came from.  I am going to look some more when I have time .
Boyle, Co. Leitrim  Boyle, Co. Tyrone, Shaughnessy, Co. Limerick, and  Manchester, UK.  Pope, Cheshire. Chadwick, Speke, Lancs.  Frankish, Hunmanby, Yorks.  Brindley, Audley, Staffs and  Middlesex.

Offline Ken S

  • RootsChat Senior
  • ****
  • Posts: 330
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: Germany: Distribution and frequency of surnames
« Reply #2 on: Tuesday 28 June 11 23:52 BST (UK) »
 very interesting .. being doing some research for a brother inlaw. Surname Kalbfleisch from Grebenue/ Bieben .. east of Alsfeld in Hessen .. and that is just where the one site shows the name most concentrated.
William Stephenson - born 1814 at Doncaster West Yorkshire - married Mary Scott at Cottingham East Yorkshire (Hull) in 1838. Williams parents I believe were another Wm Stephenson and an Alice Carter - married Cantley Parish W Yorks (Doncaster) in 1811..... Other east riding names are Nicholls (Bridlington, Yorks and Wigan Lancs.) and the surname Withernwick.

Offline Berlin-Bob

  • Moderator
  • RootsChat Marquessate
  • ********
  • Posts: 7,443
    • View Profile
Re: Germany: Distribution and frequency of surnames
« Reply #3 on: Monday 25 February 19 16:06 GMT (UK) »
Adding this here from another topic:

Surnames developed in many countries out of peoples' trades and professions, so these names tend to be very common, either in the original language or the anglicised versions.

So the more we can pin it down with details of places, dates and other information, the better our chances of finding the right ones.

there is a wiki page here, showing the most common names (with english translations !):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_most_common_surnames_in_Germany
If you hover the cursor over a name, you get more details, sometimes with variant spellings.
Any UK Census Data included in this post is Crown Copyright (see: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk)