the names of England

[duck]

Shortly before the Euro 2020 Football finals, I came across this website https://namesofengland.english-heritage.org.uk/ created by English Heritage.  Briefly, it comprises the flag of St Georg with the surnames of just about everyone living in England in 2021 on the flag. The history and meaning of each name (where known) and where it most commonly occurs can be found by searching.  Enjoy

[Laurna]

Very well, I looked up Haldane;  it means Half-Dane   middle English and old Scotts- most commonly found in Northampton 456 adults
Should we worry about some magic potential in modern times?

[revanne]

I used to live in Northampton but sadly there was little evidence of magical activity.

[Nezz]

Hmmm, looks like my ancestor, Sir Jeffrey Estey/Eastey/Esty, has no family left in England: I guess they all crossed the water a century later and settled in Massachusetts. I would have thought they'd have at least a few left over there...

[Shiral]

Down the rabbit hole I went!
So, I looked up the Ramsay name which is most commonly found in Sunderland, and is a variation of Ramsey, both being Scottish in origin. Naturally, I had to check out Quinnell as well, which is most often found in Maidstone. But I have no idea where Maidstone is. I also checked out the McLain name which is  often found in Newcastle, as is the name Drummond. Morgan, derived from Welsh, is often found in Lancaster. Carmody, as in Declan Carmody,  is also a Sunderland name. Murdochs are to be found in Carlisle, and the name is Scots Gaelic in origin.  O'Flynn as in Sean O'Flynn Earl Derry is a name to be found Watford.

[Shiral]

As a follow up and you want to find out where all these Surnames come from  (But do not live in the UK like Revanne and Demercia) Here is a Gazetteer of English place names so you can place some of the lesser known towns and cities. https://gazetteer.org.uk/

And I discovered that Maidstone is in Kent, roughly between Royal Tunbridge Wells and Canterbury.
Melissa

[Laurna]

I like your Rabbit Hole.
I am happily surprised that Morgan is Welsh  (Morgant in old Welsh.) I had thought in real world it would have had German origins.

So I was thinking of my German ancestry from the last Name of Arthur. and according to this website, Arthur is Latin for Artorius, So that is from the Roman's traipsing across the continent and onto the  British islands.

[Gilreth]

Quite interesting looking up both parts of my maiden name (double-barrelled surname that goes back 5 generations in Dad's family) and my current surname. Definitely northerner - and mainly from the red rose side of the Pennines (other than one name that is most common in Taunton) even though I class myself as a Yorkshire woman

[duck]

Hmmm, looks like my ancestor, Sir Jeffrey Estey/Eastey/Esty, has no family left in England: I guess they all crossed the water a century later and settled in Massachusetts. I would have thought they'd have at least a few left over there...

bear in mind the Flag only contains surnames where there are more than 100 occurences in England (not all of the UK)  So there may still be some of your distant kin flying under the radar (or living in Scotland)

[Jerusha]

After WW2, my dad looked for any relatives in England.  All that were left were two quite old maiden aunts, which explains why my name maiden name didn't turn up when I searched.

[DerynifanK]

I love the rabbit hole also. I searched my maiden name of Hicks and found them in Truro in Cornwall. There seem to be quite a few still there

[DesertRose]

I went WAY down a rabbit hole and had to pull myself out of it and off of ancestry dot com because holy cats.

I looked at my own surname, which is from Essex, my mom's maiden name (from Berkshire), both grandmothers' maiden names one from Shropshire and the other all over the freaking place because super common), and up the family tree got Lancashire, Hampshire, Camborne [which is in Cornwall], Southeast London (I am amused but not surprised that London has to be broken up), another name all over the place but largely northern England and southern Scotland, and Oxford.

And then made myself stop because the laundry, alas, is not going to do itself. 

[Shiral]

There are Holy Cats in England? 
Melissa

[DesertRose]

There are Holy Cats in England? 
Melissa

* DesertRose loads a trebuchet with catfish and aims it at Shiral. 

[DerynifanK]

There are Holy Cats in England? 
Melissa

Of course there are. Haven't you seen the ones that live in cathedrals?