Oxford dictionary of family names in Britain and Ireland

[Renegade Sewist]

I had a customer who became a semi friend, if she came in before lunch we'd go eat together. She fell in love with a man surname of Schmuck.  Once I knew her better I asked. Yes, she had to think about it. She used his name for personal things but kept her maiden name professionally.

[UttaRetch]

I am jealous of the peeps who have rare family names, even if you have to spell it. 

My first name, whilst not unusual, is now uncommon.  During all my schooling and work life, I only encountered one other person with it.

[WildAtlanticWay]

DH’s surname is Scottish and not very common. There were 61 in 1881 and 373 now, mostly around Lanarkshire with 0 in Ireland. (Apart from DH and DS of course)
My maiden name is slightly more common with just under 2,500 now and around 2,000 in 1881.

I would love to do this for hubby's family, but we don't know their name prior to their coming to the US. We know they were kicked out of Ireland and came from Cork County, but they changed their name to Cork when they arrived, and there is no record of their previous name.

I live in County Cork, (we say it the other way around to the US) and the local heritage centre is an excellent resource for researching family histories.

Skibbereen was the worst town in Ireland to be affected by the Great Irish Potato Famine of the 1840’s. Also known as The Great Hunger and the worst humanitarian disaster of the nineteenth century.
Between 8,000-10,000 people were buried in a mass unmarked grave just outside of Skibbereen town. There are approx. 2,000 people living in Skibbereen today, so that helps to offer some perspective of the scale of the disaster for this area.

Over 1 million people starved to death and 2.5 million people emigrated between 1845-1855 as many had no choice if they wanted to survive.

We usually get a steady influx of tourists during the summer months coming to Skibbereen to research their family tree.

https://skibbheritage.com/

Podcast series about the famine.
https://www.rte.ie/radio1/blighted-nation/programmes/2013/0304/371964-episode-1/

 

[UttaRetch]

There is a less usual pronuciation of my family name that I don't care for, but people would be confused and ask why it's spelt that way.