Map of Surnames in Europe • Hacker News Board

Re: Map of Surnames in Europe

#51

Post by gpvos » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 1:29 PM UTC

Someone wrote: post #37

gpvos wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even for very common Dutch surnames like Jansen, Smit and De Vries you see interesting differences.

For the Netherlands, https://www.cbgfamilienamen.nl/nfb/index.php?taal=eng/ is a better source. It has an (IMO) better visualization and can compensate for population density. Invalshoek expect it to have better data. (And for first names, there’s https://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nvb/english )

Ah yes, I wanted to link to the Meertens Familienamenbank too, which apparently has been taken over by the CBG several years ago.

Re: Map of Surnames in Europe

#52

Post by gpvos » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 1:33 PM UTC

vanderZwan wrote: post #40

I don't know which dataset you're using for the Netherlands, but it's way off: https://www.surnamemap.eu/netherlands/index.php?sur=van+der+... https://www.cbgfamilienamen.nl/nfb/detail_naam.php?gba_lcnaa... EDIT: actually, it works if I use "vd Zwan", which is fine by itself, but that contradicts the instructions on top of the page: https://www.surnamemap.eu/netherlands/nl/index.php?sur=vd+zw...

Yes, the handling of prefixes is really bad.

Re: Map of Surnames in Europe

#53

Post by elcapitan » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 1:33 PM UTC

Someone wrote: post #9

wiz21c wrote: post #5

How did they geolocate the surnames ? Mine is pretty unique in my country and it's located in the town where I live. Where did they got this information from ?

They say it’s from old phone books ( https://www.surnamemap.eu/belgium/info.php . Seems to be the same for other countries)

Interesting, for Germany they don't quote any sources. My guess is that it's from the old D-Info CD-ROMS which used to be quite popular for a while. Obviously they wouldn't mention scraping that data.

Re: Map of Surnames in Europe

#54

Post by skrebbel » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 1:37 PM UTC

vanderZwan wrote: post #40

I don't know which dataset you're using for the Netherlands, but it's way off: https://www.surnamemap.eu/netherlands/index.php?sur=van+der+... https://www.cbgfamilienamen.nl/nfb/detail_naam.php?gba_lcnaa... EDIT: actually, it works if I use "vd Zwan", which is fine by itself, but that contradicts the instructions on top of the page: https://www.surnamemap.eu/netherlands/nl/index.php?sur=vd+zw...

maybe your entire extended family went to the efteling when they sampled that data

Re: Map of Surnames in Europe

#55

Post by melenaboija » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 1:37 PM UTC

It is sad that most, if not all, of the databases don’t take into account accents and other phonetic signs. My last name is completely different with and without and accent. Actually in my case different languages, without accent is a Spanish last name and with the accent is Catalan.

That means that people like me have to keep record of our real names.

Also curious that databases have been one step backwards, in Spain Catholic churches kept record of all the babies born in their towns with correct spelling and that is lost now with modern technologies.

Re: Map of Surnames in Europe

#56

Post by ulzeraj » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 1:38 PM UTC

Where is this data coming from? I have a rare Italian surname and this finder puts a very small circle (1-5) on the very region my grand grand father departed to America in 1895.

Re: Map of Surnames in Europe

#57

Post by Normal_gaussian » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 1:38 PM UTC

runxel wrote: post #41

It works quite well, but bear in mind that the dataset must be already quite old. Based on my ancestors extremely rare name (only family in Germany) I would say at least 15 years old – but accurate for that matter!

It have some much more up to date info in the UK - it definitely has data from the last 5 years as I can see:

* my last 3 houses * my sisters uni locations (quite distinctive due to the campus location) * my family home * my dads home (post-divorce)

Our surname is uncommon and I know for a fact I'm the only one in my county, my dad in his, and my sister was the only one ever at her uni. Of course there could be others I don't know in these towns, but when we are talking <30 locations total and I know people at each of them and my immediate family accounts for nearly a third of locations...

Re: Map of Surnames in Europe

#58

Post by liveoneggs » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 1:43 PM UTC

this website is an ad-riddles mess

Re: Map of Surnames in Europe

#59

Post by zepolen » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 1:43 PM UTC

neonnoodle wrote: post #18

This map is ""fun"" if your family/ancestry was affected by the Holocaust. I am of German ancestry, with one branch being Catholic and another branch Jewish. The Catholic surname is still abundant right in the region of origin, the Jewish surname(s) are, well, let's just say they're not there.

Neither is Hitler.

Re: Map of Surnames in Europe

#60

Post by wazoox » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 1:45 PM UTC

Vaguely related amusing bit of trivia: the word for smith or blacksmith is one of the most common names about everywhere: Smith (England), Schmidt (Germany), Smit/Smet (Belgium, Netherlands), Fabre/Favre/Lefèvre/Lefèbvre (France), Ferrari/Fabri (Italy), Ferrero/Herrero (Spain), Ferreiro (Portugal), Kowalski (Poland), Haddad (Morocco), Demirci (Turkey), Demirdjian (Armenia), Gof/Goff/Le Goff (Brittany, Wales), Gowan/Gowen/Gow/Gough (Scotland), Kuznitz/Kuznetz/Kuznetzov (Russia), etc.