Nine Last Names of Distinction
on the Brink of Extinction
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| Everybody knows them, but who WERE they? |
Is your last name Miracle, Tumbler or Villan? If so, you’re a member of a dying breed. Just be happy you’re not a Bread or a Spinster, or you’d be presumed already extinct.
Unusual names have lingered for centuries, but did you know that they can become extinct? Any last name with under 200 “bearers” is endangered, and we’ve found some which have indeed died out.
Do you have a rare last name on the verge of extinction, or is your last name extremely common? Build a family tree on MyHeritage.com and discover relatives with your last name you never knew existed.
Last names with less than 20 bearers:
Sallow
Fernsby
Villin (Villan)
Miracle
Dankworth
Relish
MacQuoid
Loughty
Birdwhistle
Berrycloth
Tumbler
Endangered last names with under 200 bearers:
Ajax
Edevane
Gastrell
Slora
Last names presumed extinct since 2011:
Bread
MacCaa
Spinster
Pussett, Puscat and Pussmaid
Bythesea and Bytheseashore
So, why are so many names becoming extinct? Names linked to uncommon professions or geographic places are dying out slowly unlike the more popular Smith and Baker. Also, many last names were wiped out during war when young men died in battle taking with them the distinctive last names of their villages and hamlets of origin after which they'd been called.
Many of these were British names which, just like people, have migrated across the shores to America or Australasia, which means the names have moved to a new home. Other last names, like those from Eastern Europe, have become anglicized and are beginning to take over the traditional British names.
Do you have an endangered last name? What would you do to save it from becoming extinct?
See more at: http://articles.myheritage.com/9-last-names-brink-extinction/?lang=EN&utm_source=ppc_Taboola&utm_medium=ppc&tr_brand=1&utm_campaign=US_EN_WEB_ACQ_C&tr_ad_group=A4&tr_device=c&tr_position=All&tr_copy=A4_T1&tr_creative=A4_I1_Family#sthash.jN0c2J4r.dpuf
Frank Leigh Smart said
ReplyDeleteYears ago in Newberry, South Carolina I knew a family of German immigrants whose last name was Schitthaus.
We never could understand why they didn't change it to something less conspicuously foreign and more American sounding like Outhouse -- or better yet Privy.
Dang those are funny names!
ReplyDeleteIma Terra Wryste said
DeleteAin't they though?
Frank Leigh Smart said
ReplyDeleteAnd then there was the famous case of Moishe Lipschitz who, when he emigrated to Britain was so embarrassed by the sound of his name when it was said aloud that he changed it to Martin Lipschitz.
Geraldo on the Riviera said
ReplyDeleteI once met a man named Walter Dingleberry. He wore it proudly. Apparently, he didn't see the humor in it. Poor schnook!
Barbara Bordello said
ReplyDeleteHey! If you're looking for funny names I don't think anybody could ever beat The Reverend A. Bigby Hynde, who ran for Prothonotary where I used to live a few years back. (FYI: He lost.)
Where's the "truth" in a surname anyway? Martin Luther King was the descendant of slaves, not kings. ;)
ReplyDeleteOh truth shmooth. What does it matter as long as you get a chuckle out of it?
DeleteLife is a cabaret, old chum, only a cabaret.
... Lucy Bowels
This is a very amusing topic. Thank you for providing a nice change of pace.
ReplyDelete- Bea Wilders (no relation to Geert, I'm afraid)
That Ruth Spinster was a fine looking woman. Must've been a real beauty in her day. I winder why she stayed a Spinster?
ReplyDeleteRock Enroller
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteHow about Octopussy Van Schunkenhazen?
ReplyDeleteHow about:
ReplyDeleteChris P. Bacon
Anna Negg ;-}
DeleteBarb Dwyer
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteWalter Sickness would have been even worse than the German misspelling
ReplyDeleteHe was a disease upon the nation
DeleteI have no opinion. I've never been any good at such things, at least that is what my French grandfather always told me.
ReplyDeleteVat's so funny?
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't gotten it by now, dear, you never will!
DeleteC'mon over to my place, Miss Galore!
DeleteMaking fun of Asian names not funny! Not funny!
ReplyDeleteI speak also for my clumsy friend, Pau Ding Ow, and my noisy uncle, Bang Gong
You don't know the half of it!
DeleteDon't forget your great grandfather Yu Mei Dai Soon, a one time Red Guard. And then there was your aunt Fun Ho Ka Ching, a great business woman. And also our uncle To Mein, the restaurant owner.
DeleteChu Dung Nao
Don't forget your old girlfriend, Won Phat Ho
Deleteinteresting article
ReplyDeleteI'll have my crack staff look into this and find out what the stink is all about.
Won Hung Lo
ReplyDeleteAncient Chinese Proverb, "Man who go through turnstile sideways going to Bangkok."
DeleteUne Gay Giy
ReplyDeleteKenawe West
ReplyDeleteJimmy Grossweiner
ReplyDeleteKanye Pruvit
DeleteBarrack Obomma
ReplyDeleteOh, how I hated school!
ReplyDeleteTravis T. Runnamuck said
DeleteFrom all reports your sister Yura hated it as much as you. Why do you never mention her?
I. B. A. Coon
ReplyDeleteDick Hertz
ReplyDeleteSeymore Butts
ReplyDeleteDick Holder
ReplyDeleteThat's what they call the Attorney General down at the bus station men's room.
DeleteHugo Dump
ReplyDeleteSeymore Weiner
ReplyDeleteBuster Cherry
ReplyDeleteIneita Hardcock
ReplyDeleteThis thread degenerated in a hurry
ReplyDeleteNot to worry, Mortimer old fellow, a little vulgar humor never hurt anyone, and it lifts morale.
ReplyDeleteBea Head said
DeleteGentlemen, I am sure Mr. FreeThinke intended this to be a much-needed diversion from ISIS, Obama and the travails of the Frozen North, but as ALWAYS, participants completely ignored the point and substance of the article he posted, and went off on a tangent of their own.
No matter what, Vulgarity always seems to hold sway in our culture, doesn't it?
I guess a part of all of us would like to return to our Romper Room days. (SIGH!)
Comments on this thread I dare say fail to rise to the level of romper room conversations.
DeleteOh, I don't now, Gandolf, I thought SOME of the contributions were quite brilliant -- even if they were off topic.
DeleteBack in the day the nuns would refer to all young girls as Miss and all young boys as Master... except for Johnny Bates.
ReplyDelete;-)
DeleteAlas! poor Miss Feier and Miss Deeds were never given that much consideration.
I think you may have hit a new low with this one, FT. Just when we think things couldn't possibly get any worse ...
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I'm a wee bit disgruntled that no one mentioned MY name, even if I have been away for a long time. How could anyone forget it? I've been wishing I could all my life, if you want to know. It often makes me feel as silly as poor Gladly, the Cross-Eyed Bear, remember him?
---------------------> Katharine Heartburn
In my name
ReplyDeleteHear the scream of thousands
Of ancient warriors,
Naked, painted green like the
Forest they fight for,
The crash of crude weapons
Crafted by delicate fingers
Glimmering like water
In the hard, cold sun,
And the shudder of trees
In sudden, silent anguish
As the last elfin warrior
Falls dead among their roots.
- ORLA, "Etymology" (Mar 2, 2013)