Site shows surname origins

A website set up by researchers at University College London (UCL) allows surfers to find the origins of their surname and see how common it is throughout the world.

If you've ever wondered where in the world all the other people with your surname are then this remarkable new website, called the Public Profiler, will be able to answer this question.

Currently the site has a database of 300 million names of people in 26 countries, covering most of Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and India.

"The information is not just historical but geographical," said professor Paul Longley, one of the researchers at UCL.

"We can link names to places, a name is now not just a statement of who you are but where you are," he added.

A quick search on the easy-to-use website reveals some interesting finds. For instance, PM Gordon Brown might be interested to know that his surname is more common in Australia than it is in Britain.

England footballer David Beckham's surname is more common in the US, even though it originated in England, which might explain why he made his home on the other side of the Atlantic.

However, the people behind the site did warn that the high levels of traffic to the Public Profiler meant that you might have to be patient when using it.

www.publicprofiler.org/worldnames1