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'Ow Fucking Posh is yer Surname, pal?

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I'll be back when I understand the results!

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 5 June 2006 12:41 (nineteen years ago)

My Surname:

English or unknown 98.44
Irish 0.23
Scottish 0.47
Welsh 0.16
Jewish 0.08
German or Dutch 0.08
Greek or Greek Cypriot 0.08
Hispanic 0.31
North African 0.16
Other Muslim 0.16


Still don't.

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 5 June 2006 12:43 (nineteen years ago)

"Service Unavailable"

― tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Monday, 5 June 2006 15:03 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, that's what I get. Then again I don't know anyone with my surname (and wouldn't wish it on anyone) so I can assume it's pretty unique.

― JTS (JTS), Monday, 5 June 2006 15:12 (nineteen years ago)

I had to try the link a couple of times, eventually you get past their equivalent of "poxyfule"

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 5 June 2006 15:14 (nineteen years ago)

WE ARE CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING VERY LARGE VOLUMES OF TRAFFIC SO IF YOU ARE HAVING PROBLEMS PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER.

― Courtney Gidts (ex machina), Monday, 5 June 2006 15:18 (nineteen years ago)

Anything to do with genealogy in Britain is VERY hot right now; friend researching TV programmes in this area is in quite a bit of demand by producers etc.

― suzy (suzy), Monday, 5 June 2006 15:22 (nineteen years ago)

Well, it's all "Who do you think you are" on BBC4 at the moment.

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 5 June 2006 15:24 (nineteen years ago)

In fact it's wall to wall WDYTYA. That's the programme she was working on as the researcher for M33r4 5y41 (apparently there were other reasons to ask ms. 5y41 that question in the course of work).

― suzy (suzy), Monday, 5 June 2006 15:28 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, but if I was getting sexed by Sanjeev Bhaskar I'd be pretty cocky as well.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 5 June 2006 15:33 (nineteen years ago)

Or just full of cock. Friend in question found that in order to get on with Ms. 5y41 if you were female, it helped not to be pretty. So she specced up in nerd drag every day she had to work with her.

― suzy (suzy), Monday, 5 June 2006 16:32 (nineteen years ago)

How much "investigation" is actually done by Ms. 5y41 (and the others) then? I always felt suspicious every time one of those celebrities magically turned into an expert in genealogy within weeks.....

I suppose they can only do rich celebrites with prosperous backgrounds...In the 1891 census one half of my family are almost untracable due to everyone in Wales working away from home (and they all had the same name), the other side are indicative of grinding Midlands poverty, all living in one house with only one source of income.... That's about as diverse as my bloodline gets.... :(

― JTS (JTS), Monday, 5 June 2006 16:51 (nineteen years ago)

I mean, what are the odds of them approaching Frank Skinner and Kathy Burke...

― JTS (JTS), Monday, 5 June 2006 16:53 (nineteen years ago)

As a subject of a programme, 5y41 would have a researcher whose job it would be to follow her geneaology trail, in this case as the researcher was also British Punjabi so knew where there were likely to be written records or whether they'd be oral - in some villages births are recorded very unspecifically or the birth is only recorded within the family, whether posh or not. Jeremy Paxman's ancestors were starvelings mainly, if yopu remember that, and he cried when he found out.

― suzy (suzy), Monday, 5 June 2006 17:14 (nineteen years ago)

"There were no results found for your selection. There needed to be at least 100 people with the name on the Electoral Register in 1998 to be in the database. We are hoping to add these missing names at a later date."

― tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 01:37 (nineteen years ago)

P0well is supposedly Welsh, from Howell, and these people say it's Celtic/Welsh, but:

British or unknown 99.17
---English or unknown 96.9
---Irish 0.41
---Scottish 0.15
---Welsh 1.71

So were we all so posh we made it the hell out of Wales?

― milo z (mlp), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 01:42 (nineteen years ago)

What does it all mean?

The Horrocks prog was quite convincing...

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 07:43 (nineteen years ago)

Frequency: 170, Rank: 18,176

Top Area: East Anglia

Ethnic make up: English 97.9%, Italian 1.5%, Black African 0.5%.

― Teh HoBBercraft (the pirate king), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 07:59 (nineteen years ago)

I think the ethnic thing refers to FORENAMES associated with the surname which is why everyone is getting "English or unknown 97.9%" - I don't know how they define an "English name" tho

― Who Are You... The Nerve... I Wanna Get Out, I Wanna Get Out (Dada), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 08:15 (nineteen years ago)

No suprises here:

Name Classification: Celtic; Irish; Unclassified

Main Geographical Area: West of Scotland

Ethnicity of forenames:
English or unknown 91.83
Irish 6.91
Scottish 0.35
Welsh 0.15
Jewish 0.03
Balkan 0.01
French 0.06
German or Dutch 0.02
Greek or Greek Cypriot 0.01
Hispanic 0.10
Hungarian 0.01
Italian 0.11
Nordic 0.04
Polish or Czech 0.02
Russian 0.02
Black African 0.17
North African 0.02
Turkish or Turkish Cypriot 0.01
Other Muslim 0.06
Hindi 0.04
Sikh 0.01

― Who Are You... The Nerve... I Wanna Get Out, I Wanna Get Out (Dada), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 08:22 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I don't get the percentages thing either. Using my maiden name, which is about Scottish as it gets, the map is pretty much concentrated on the Highlands, it's defined as "Celtic, Scottish", but the breakdown is still

British or unknown 99.15
English or unknown 96.09
Irish 0.49
Scottish 2.40
Welsh 0.17
Jewish 0.07
Balkan 0.02
French 0.04
German or Dutch 0.08
Greek or Greek Cypriot 0.03
Hispanic 0.07
Hungarian 0.00
Italian 0.08
Nordic 0.03
Polish or Czech 0.03
Russian 0.01
Black African 0.11
North African 0.02
Turkish or Turkish Cypriot 0.01
Other Muslim 0.12
Indian 0.06
Hindi 0.07
Sikh 0.01
Other South Asian 0.00
East Asian 0.05

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 08:34 (nineteen years ago)

Ailsa is probably defined as an English name!

― Who Are You... The Nerve... I Wanna Get Out, I Wanna Get Out (Dada), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 08:40 (nineteen years ago)

I've read in different places that it's Norse, German or Scottish in derivation.

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 08:51 (nineteen years ago)

If it isn't Scottish I would assume it to be Norse

― Who Are You... The Nerve... I Wanna Get Out, I Wanna Get Out (Dada), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 08:54 (nineteen years ago)

(it's not English anyway)

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 08:55 (nineteen years ago)

By the way, this being ILX, why has no-one commented on the classist assumptions in the thread title?

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 08:55 (nineteen years ago)

Well, that's how it was reported on the BBC website.

Not word for word, granted.

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 08:56 (nineteen years ago)

The interweb tells me that "Ailsa is of Old Norse origin, and its meaning is "island of Alfsigr"".

The thing is, because it's not actually Celtic, it'll probably be defined as "British", which on this site appears to be the same as English

― Who Are You... The Nerve... I Wanna Get Out, I Wanna Get Out (Dada), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 08:59 (nineteen years ago)

"island of Alfsigr"

Hoho *awaits trotting out of Alf and Ailsa jokes*

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 09:04 (nineteen years ago)

From the frequency map of 1881, it would appear that most of the English Whites were from a southwestern area around Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Sussex extending toward the center to Berkshire, Herts and Buckinghamshire. My ancestor, Robert Henry White left Scarborough in the mid-1880's for the U.S. Since he was a Baptist, I am assuming he was most probably not Scots, though I cannot be sure, and considering the low density of Whites in North Yorks both in 1881 and 1998, I might conceivably easily find any relatives there, if I gave a fuck.

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 13:37 (nineteen years ago)

I didn't expect to turn out quite nearly so scottish.

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 13:42 (nineteen years ago)

McTOMBOT

― Who Are You... The Nerve... I Wanna Get Out, I Wanna Get Out (Dada), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 13:45 (nineteen years ago)

Your surname is one of several Scots surnames with -ar. Like...Deuchar!

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 13:48 (nineteen years ago)

Don't tell me you thought you were Irish, like Americans always do

― Who Are You... The Nerve... I Wanna Get Out, I Wanna Get Out (Dada), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 13:50 (nineteen years ago)

Dada, it's confusing for a lot of us because if you're Southern or Canadian there's bound to be some Scots in your Irish and the reverse, but otherwise ALLES KLAR when you look at where the bourbon and whisky is made.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 13:56 (nineteen years ago)

Scoti is the Latin for Gael. Both ethnic Scots (as opposed to the Picts) and Irish are Gaels.

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 14:02 (nineteen years ago)

Let's not get started on the Picts again, no-one's quite sure what they were and I'm not sure exactly what an "ethnic Pict" would be

― Who Are You... The Nerve... I Wanna Get Out, I Wanna Get Out (Dada), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 14:07 (nineteen years ago)

because if you're Southern or Canadian there's bound to be some Scots in your Irish and the reverse

If you're Southern you're probably from Ulster and your ancestor would certainly not have called themselves "Irish"

― Who Are You... The Nerve... I Wanna Get Out, I Wanna Get Out (Dada), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 14:09 (nineteen years ago)

I seriously doubt any of my ancestry would have taken these Irish accusations sitting down

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 14:12 (nineteen years ago)

My surname's too posh to show up!

surnames in my mother's family: one doesn't show up (wierdly), one very scottish (consistently concentrated in glasgow), one very Yorkshire.
surnames in my father's family: two entirely scots (belong to the Northern Irish protestant side of the family), one entirely the south of England.

― permanent revolution (cis), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 14:25 (nineteen years ago)

The fact that it doesn't have Northern Ireland (not to mention all of Ireland) is annoying

― Who Are You... The Nerve... I Wanna Get Out, I Wanna Get Out (Dada), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 14:28 (nineteen years ago)

They wouldn't have called themselves Irish if they were from Ulster. Like my grandfather, they would have said Scots-Irish eg. some of your lot pitstopped in Ulster after Highland clearances on way to Southern colonies (or in later cases, states).

In my case there is no getting around my surname existing in Fermanagh since they began keeping track of these things, but half of the people who have it are not Catholics (in relevant branch of family this applied since 18C at the latest).

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 15:08 (nineteen years ago)

My Mum's maiden name is unclassified and rare, currently 9 occurrences per million. The 1881 geographical spread is really interesting because there's a small number in north London, where her Dad's side of the family is from, there are a few in Sussex but the biggest concentration is in Wiltshire, which we had no idea about.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 15:40 (nineteen years ago)

Frequency 1136 (1881) 2198 (1998) +1062
Rank Order 3534 (1881) 2656 (1998) +878
Occurrences per million names 42 59 +17

British or unknown 99.43

Mainly located in the North West of England.

― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 16:54 (nineteen years ago)

They wouldn't have called themselves Irish if they were from Ulster. Like my grandfather, they would have said Scots-Irish eg. some of your lot pitstopped in Ulster after Highland clearances on way to Southern colonies

"Ulster Scots" was (is) the preferred term - i.e. no mention of being Irish at all. Also they wouldn't have been there as a result of the Highland clearances as they would be Lowland Presbyterian Scots (who'd have probably been in favour of the clearances). They'd be there as Protestant settlers and farmers - exactly as they were in America

― Who Are You... The Nerve... I Wanna Get Out, I Wanna Get Out (Dada), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 17:01 (nineteen years ago)

Well, that's true in Ulster but my grandfather's people went to Canada before coming to America; the Scots-Irish description was what he actually used.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 17:05 (nineteen years ago)

I'm thinking a bit further back yr grandad suzy!

― Who Are You... The Nerve... I Wanna Get Out, I Wanna Get Out (Dada), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 17:09 (nineteen years ago)

My grandfather was born around 1905 but his family on both sides were in North America from the 18th Century. I'm pretty sure they left Fermanagh as Protestants then. His grandfather was a doctor on the Minnesota/Canada border (I have ZERO idea about the women).

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 17:25 (nineteen years ago)


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