Quote Originally Posted by gilmore View Post
Here is an interesting link to a surname profiler that shows the geographical distribution of surnames in two censuses of England, Scotland and Wales in the years 1881 and 1998. http://www.spatial-literacy.org/UCLnames/Surnames.aspx

I ran Wage but found nothing. There must have been at least 100 individuals with a surname in the 1998 Electoral Register for results. The profiler gave the name Wager instead. In 1881 it was most common in southeast England, near the Welsh border and in the Midlands (I think. My British geography isn't the best.)

"Latta" is shown to have been most common in 1881 a bit north of the border, around Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Of course, the only way to really know the origin of a name is through genealogical research, one generation at a time, starting with one's parents and working backward.

What a fascinating website. I pumped in the spelling my family name had when we first arrived in the United States and saw that in 1881 we'd almost all stayed in the traditional lands at the northernost extreme of Scotland.

However, by 1998 most of those with my name had marched southwards as apparently most other Scots have done. However, I noticed that we seem to not wander quite as far afield. Now one had managed to pass far past Hadrian's Wall!!!! And the vast majority were still right where their ancestors had been.

Glad to know my personal hatred of moving is a very strong familial trait. Who would have thought that a hatred of moving vans was congenital.