I expect some of you have already heard of the following website but for those who haven't, it's quite interesting. You can put in any family name you're interested in and the map will show you where the name was most popular in the UK in 1998 and 1881. It also gives the name of the most popular state/province in the US, Australia and New Zealand for the name.

You can either go to

http://www.surnameprofiler.org/ or to

www.spatial-literacy.org/index.php

At times it is a bit busy, but it's worth perservering if you don't get through first time.

Have fun!

Brian